Alfred Nikita Mangena
Nikita Mangena was a ZIPRA commander during the Zimbabwe war of liberation and a national hero.
Mangena was born at Fort Rixon in Insiza on 16 March 1945.
He started his education at Namande School and then proceeded to Musume Boarding School. Nikita Mangena was a bright student who usually occupied the number one spot of his class. And his academic performance at Musume was rewarded with the position of head boy.
He left Musume for Chegato Secondary School where he was also always first in his class and was the School head boy. In 1963 he was expelled from Chegato Secondary School after a student strike over fee increases, he was found guilty of instigating these and subsequently expelled.
After his expulsion he crossed the northern border into Zambia to travel to Chingola, in order to go live with a relative and further his education.
At Chingola Secondary School he performed extremely well and came first in his stream, that he earned a Rhodes scholarship he would however not take instead choosing to join the war effort in 1964.
He trained with ZIPRA, the fighting arm of ZAPU first in Zambia and later in Algeria. In 1971 he became the Commander of ZIPRA forces the highest ranking position in this liberation force. He was also a member of the Zimbabwe Peoples Revolution Council and ZIPRA military magazine editor.
In 1976 he was appointed the Chief Political Commissar for ZIPA a coalition of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), the military wing of PF ZAPU, and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) formed with the strategic intention of transforming itself into a political movement.
He was also part of the ZAPU delegation to the Geneva Convention.
Nikita Mangena died in a landmine explosion in Zambia in 1978, he was declared a National Hero and his remains were interred at the national shrine.
