Wankie Campaign – Main Group Retreats to Botswana after Discontentment
On 25 August 1967, having been marching for two days after leaving the donga, the Main Group, under the command of Mongameli Tshali (aka “Lennox Lagu” or “Mnqarwana” or “Mjojo”), began to experience grumblings within the rank-and-file. There were concerns about the disappearance without trace of the Team of Eight, including their Zimbabwe African People Revolutionary (ZIPRA) Commander and Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Commissar. The Group Commander, John Dube (aka “Sotsha Ngwenya”), and Commissar Chris Hani, who were part of the team of eight guerrillas, which went to get water to drink for the entire group were nowhere to be found.
In the afternoon, on 24 August 1967, while the Main Group were waiting for the Group Commander, John Dube, and the team of eight guerrillas, including the Group Commissar, Chris Hani, to return from getting water for the entire group, Shooter Makasi shouted that he had found water. He maintained to the Group that he found water while digging in the donga. Following the discovery of the water source, the rest of the group started drinking the water and filling their water bottles, while waiting for Dube and the others to return.
Meanwhile, the Dube-led group of eight also managed to find a water source on the bed of the Manzamnyama River. However, on their way back, they got lost. As they fired into the air about three times to confirm their location with the
