Detailed information obtained by ZANU (Patriotic Front) from a captured member of the Smith regime's security forces tends to confirm the widely held belief that the Selous Scouts have been responsible for numerous atrocities against the African population. Wonderful Mukoyi, aged 18, was interviewed in a ZANU guerilla camp by a correspondent of the official party organ, Zimbabwe News. His story is a precisely detailed one, and the incidents described, notably the massacre of Zimbabwean refugees at Nyadzonia in Mozambique in August 1976, can be matched by communiques issued by the regime and other contemporary press reports.
Prior to joining the Selous Scouts, Mukoyi was a member of a grade 7 class of 40 pupils at Mupamombe Primary School, Gatooama. In November 1975, the class, who had nearly completed their final examinations, was addressed by a representative of the security forces. The students were ordered into a military truck and driven to Llewelyn Barracks, Bulawayo, where they were told that they were to start military training as special anti-guerilla units, or Selous Scouts. An officer whose name was given by Mukoyi as Aiden Dereck explained to the class that their assignment after training would be to infiltrate among the rural population by posing as guerillas, and to punish those found to be sympathetic towards the armed struggle.
The 'special' military training took three months, during which the students were taught to use Chinese semi-automatic rifles and AK 47 Soviet sub-machine guns, hand grenades, mortars and rocket launchers. In February 1976, Wonderful Mukoyi and two others were taken to Inyanga Barracks, in the eastern region, where they were instructed to join a ten-man section of the Selous Scouts. In mid-March, the section was assigned to the Chikore area. Incidents in which Mukoyi was involved included: * March 1976 - a 13 man section of the Selous Scouts, including Mukoyi, interrogated Mr. Nyadiriri of Nyadiriri Kraal, Chikore, on suspicion of being a guerilla sympathiser. He was then shot dead and his body left lying in the centre of the village. Relatives were ordered not to weep for the dead man on pain of death. * 28 July 1977 - the same band of Selous Scouts shot Mr. Nyarumbi at Hwesa Inyanga on the Mozambique border, crippling him for life. His wife's right ear and lips and two fingers from the right hand, were cut off and roasted. Mr. Nyarumbi was forced to eat the "meat". According to Mukoyi the Selous Scouts had suspected that food was being prepared in the village for the guerilla forces. * 20 July 1977 - Mr. Manyengavana, of Manyengavana Kraal near Inyanga Ruangwa Camp, suspected of being a guerilla sympathiser, was forced to eat his wife's roasted fingers and lips.
Mukoyi further supplied a detailed description of the massacre of Zimbabwean refugees at Nyadzonia camp, Mozambique, in August 1976. 90 African troops took part in this "special mission" of whom 40, including Mukoyi, were Selous Scouts; 50 whites and 10 coloureds. They were instructed to kill everyone at the camp.
