FUNDA SAWMILL.ZAMBIA

28^th JUNE,1968.

At 5p.m. on Wednesday 26^th June, 1968, my husband, Jack, arrived home from the Mill, and my houseboy, James, went off duty. As my husband was suffering from a very bad attack of bronchitis, and had been ordered by his doctor to rest as much as possible, as soon as he had taken his bath he went straight to bed, having taken drugs which he had been given and which had the effect of making him very drowsy, and almost immediately he was asleep.

After watching the children’s programme on T.V. which finished approx at 6.15 p.m. my two youngest children, Allan  aged ten, and Marianne aged 6, went through to have their baths, and my eldest daughter Lynda aged nineteen, who had arrived home the night before from college, went through to her bedroom to write some letters.

I was in the kitchen finishing off the preparation for our dinner, which we normally have at 6.45 p.m. while watching the news on T.V.

Usually we can always hear if a motor vehicle comes down the road leading to the two senior houses, but on this occasion neither the two younger children or myself heard a car approaching, possibly because they were running the bath water, and I had the pressure cooker steaming away in the kitchen. Lynda being a comparative stranger to Funda, would have assumed that it was our neighbour Me Engelbrecht coming back home from the mill, if only she had heard the car approaching.

At approx 6.30 p.m. I heard the Englebrecht’s two young bull terriers barking furiously, and Marianne came through to the kitchen in her dressing gown and said that she thought the dogs were after our fowls, and I told her not to worry as I thought the barking was coming from the river and probably the dogs had gone out hunting with Mr. Englebrecht. Just then we heard a gunshot, and the sound of people shouting. I ran through to my bedroom where my husband was sleeping, and pulled aside the net curtains and looked towards my neighbour’s home.I couldn’t see anything as it was starting to get dark, but I heard someone moaning and a man’s voice saying “Why are you doing this to me, I’ve never done anything to you ?” I turned towards the bed and said to my husband “oh my God I think Koos has shot someone by mistake.” I don’t know whether he heard me or not, but he didn’t reply, so I think he was still sleeping deeply. By now all three children were in the bedroom with us, and I told Lynda to stay with the two younger ones, and not to let them follow me as I was going over  to the Engelbrechts to see if I could help in any way, as I do all the first aid at the mill.

I ran across our side lawn towards the belt of young Blue Gum trees that grow between the two houses, and as I neared the Engelbrechts driveway I saw a figure approaching me through the trees, and thinking it was Koos Engelbrecht I called out “ What has happened Mr. Engelbrecht?”. The man didn’t reply, instead a very bright light was suddenly switched on full into my face, and blinded me for a moment. From the position of the light it appeared to be fixed to the man’s forehead. I tried to shield my eyes with my right hand, and suddenly I was violently grasped by the right shoulder, and a gun was pushed into the middle of my back. The man appeared to be left handed as he had approached me from the right side, and was grasping my shoulder with his right hand. He didn’t say anything to me, but pushed me forward through the trees and onto the road. I first saw Mrs. Engelbrecht standing in the middle of the road with a man on the either side of her, both being armed, and about 8’ away I could see Mr. Engelbrecht sitting hunched over with his back against their garden fence, and blood running down the side of his face, and I then realized it was he who was doing the moaning. Standing close up on either side of him were another two men, one a  very well built man about 5’9/5’10 with a round face and bulgy eyes, the other man had a woolen stocking cap on his head and a short wispy type of beard. These two men were also armed, and the one with the beard was pointing what appeared to me to be a sten gun at koos. The other man hit koos across the side of his head with either the gun he was carrying, or a piece of wood and I shouted out “what the hell are you doing to him, can’t you see he is helpless?” The man guarding me had released me by then but was still pointing the gun at me, and I ran across the road to Koos and asked him if he was alright. He appeared to be in a dazed condition, but he replied “I don’t know what they want Mrs. Gammon.” I then realized that there were five men all armed, grouped around the three of us, and that there was a two toned car parked well off the road under the trees, and facing up the road. During all this time Mrs. Engelbrecht hadn’t said a word, and she just stood there with her arms hanging down at her sides, and she looked as if she was in shock, but didn’t appear to be injured. She didn’t even seem to realize that I was there.

The men with me had still not said anything, but he motioned me away with his gun. I walked a few feet away to the other side of the road and then he said just one word “lie”. I just stood there, and again he said it I replied “I won’t bloody well lie down, I’ll sit but I won’t lie”. And I did so. I thought he intended to shoot me while I was lying down as I was then positive we were going to be killed. The two men with koos then started kicking him from side to side and he fell over, and they turned him onto his stomach and still went on kicking him. The other two men started pulling Mrs. Engelbrecht along the road towards the car, and Mr. Engelbrecht saw them and shouted to out to me. “go with them Mrs. Gammon, don’t let my wife go alone”, so I got up and told the man with me I wanted to go with the other lady, and he let me go along behind her, but he still had his gun in my back. They got her to the car and opened the back door, and I could still hear her telling them “I’ve got about K40. In the store and there’s beer there also.” They pushed her into the back of the car, and then changed their minds and pulled her out again, and both of us were taken back to where Mr. Engelbrecht was lying. I then saw that the two men with him were tying his hands and feet behind his back and they finished off by pulling his arms back as far as they would go and tying his hands and feet together. The big man had a wooden fencing plank which he had picked up from the side of the road, and was hitting Koos with it while the others did the tying up. By this time he seemed to be unconscious as he wasn’t even moaning.

Again they motioned us back to the car, and I realized then from the language they were speaking, that they were Congolese. While we were walking towards the car, I took Mrs. Engelbrechts hand, and she said “Oh Mrs. Gammon, what can we do?” and I said “There is nothing we can do but pray Mrs. Engelbrecht, because they are going to kill us”. I suddenly realized that the children would be wondering why I hadn’t come back to the house, and I pleaded with them to let me go back to my own house as there were two little ones there and they would be frightened, and all the time I was trying to talk as loudly as I could hoping Lyndy would realize something was wrong and would try and get help.

By now all five men were with Mrs. Engelbrecht and I and were pushing and shoving us towards her back door, the language they were all using to us was appalling, and appeared to be the only English words they knew well. There was no sign of the two dogs and I thought they had both been killed already. All five men accompanied us into the house, through the small kitchen and lounge, and along the passage into the main bedroom. Two of the men then smashed the lock on the built-in cupboard and pulled everything off the shelves and the hangers. We were both made to sit on the floor with our backs against the tallboy. As we came into the bedroom, the T.V. in the room was on and a Zambian announcer was giving the news. The big man, who appeared to be the leader, walked up to the T.V. and pulled the plug out, saying as he did so “Shut up you Zambian Bastard”. He kept on saying to us “Money, big money” and eventually I told him that I never kept money in my house, and that pay day at the Mill was only on the 28^th, but he ignored me and kept asking Mrs. Engelbrecht. She eventually told him where she kept the key of her safe, and he opened it and took out a wad of notes. I believe about K600, and there was also some jewellery which he took too. He had already taken her gold watch off her arm, and the silver watch, cigarette lighter and glasses from Mr. Engelbrecht. My Mothers ring was on my wedding finger, but as it had slipped around to the back of my finger it looked as if I was wearing a broad wedding ring, and they made no attempt to remove it from my hand. I was not wearing my watch as the strap was broken.

After they had piled all the clothing and linen onto the double bed and had wrapped it up in the bedding, all of them left us and went back into the lounge, and I decided I would try and get away to my own home and raise a warning. I ran along the passage and through the lounge, but one of the men saw me go and chased after me. In my confusion I ran straight into the garden hedge and he caught me up. He hit me with the barrel end of his gun over my left eye and threw me to the ground. He tried to kick me in the stomach but I rolled over and instead I was kicked in my right side. I then heard Lyndy calling in the distance “Mummy, Where are you, what’s wrong?” and I shouted out as loud as I could “Run, Lyndy run”. I then heard guns going off and several shots were fired and I thought that they had shot my child.

Two men brought Mrs. Engelbrecht out of her house, and then one disappeared and she and I were taken over to my house by the two men who were left. I didn’t know what had happened to the other two men, but I thought they were still in the Engelbrechts house. We were taken along the road around the circle and up my driveway towards my back door. The kitchen door was open and the light streaming out lighting up the breezeway and the car, and they must have thought that someone was waiting in the kitchen for them, as they suddenly pushed us into the garden at the left side of the house and along the path around to the front entrance.

As we reached the stoep I saw that the double doors were open and lying face downwards over the step, with his feet lying on the step itself was my husband. I thought he was dead and I broke away and ran towards him and lent over him. He was groaning and a man was tying his hands behind his back, and my husband was having difficulty breathing. I said to this man “oh please don’t hurt him, he hasn’t any hips and he is ill”. I was pulled to my feet and I then saw Allan and Marianne sitting against the bookcase. Allan had Marianne on his lap with her face against his chest and he had his arms wrapped tight around her. She kept saying over and over “Please don’t hurt my Daddy, oh please don’t hurt him” Allan didn’t say anything just looked at me. Lyndy was standing in the middle of the lounge with the big man standing next to her, holding the sten gun, and Mrs. Engelbrecht by then was sitting in the chair next to where my husband was lying. She appeared to be in a daze as she took no notice of anyone, just stared straight ahead of her at the paneled walled opposite. My daughter Lynda ran towards me and I put my arms around her and brushed her hair out of her eyes, and told her I was alright as the blood from the cut over my eye was still running down the front of my dress. The big man then forced the two of us along the passage towards my bedroom and again demanded money. I said “All I have got is in my handbag on the dressing table” and he picked up the bag and emptied the contents onto my bed. The few notes I had left over from my housekeeping money and the loose coins in my purse fell out, but my gold watch was jammed under the zip and he didn’t notice it in the purse which he tossed on the floor. My husband’s watch was on the shelf under the bedside table, and this too was overlooked. The transistor radio was also on the dressing table and this he picked up, and then he ordered us back along the passage into the dining room.

Again he demanded “Big money”, and once again I told him that was all we had. I don’t know what Lynda said to him, but at the time she was in front of me, all I know was that he suddenly picked up the hunting lantern on the tea trolley and tried to hit her with it, but only grazed her mouth. I pushed her behind me, and he then pretended to shadow box with me, grinning all the time. I kept trying to guard my face each time he lunged at me, but he pretended to hit me with his left hand and as I protected this side of my face, he brought his right hand up and with his clenched fist hit me on my lower lip and the side of my jaw. I felt my lip balloon out, but it wasn’t bleeding then. I fell back against the wall, and I stood up again and said to him “you seem to like hitting defenseless women, why don’t you hit me again?” He then drew his right arm back as far as it would go and again hit me with his fist and this time my lip burst and the blood poured out. For some reason he then left us alone and went back into the lounge where all the other men were guarding my husband, Mrs. Engelbrecht and the two younger children. I said to Lyndy “Lyndy, I’m going to get away and get help”, and she said “please Mummy don’t go, they will shoot you in the back”. I said “I must Lyndy, You don’t know the bush, and we are going to be killed”. I then ran along the passage and into the girl’s room, where I closed and locked the door. As I ran towards the window I noticed that the window was broken and the mosquito gauze had a big hole in it, and I remember thinking that Marianne must have done it and she hadn’t told me.

I opened the broken window and ripped the gauze apart and looked out towards the kitchen door as I thought one of them might have missed me and be waiting in the breezeway hiding behind the car. I couldn’t see anyone, so I climbed onto the window sill and dropped down into the flower bed and crouching down, ran across the driveway and onto the path leading to the Mill. As I ran I suddenly thought that I was a clear target for anyone looking for me, so I took to the bush at the side of the path. There had been a brush fire a few days before, and there were charred stumps sticking up all over the place, and I kept falling down, and once I lost one of my shoes.

When I was almost at the mill timber yard, I heard a great many shots going off at the house, and I thought that they were shooting at those I had left behind, but I still couldn’t believe that they were dead. I ran on zigzagging backwards and forwards between the high stacks of cut timber, and then up the path towards the store. There was no-one there so I crossed the road and into the compound. I ran to the second house where Chanda John lived, and hammered on the door calling him all the time. The door was finally opened by a young boy who told me Chanda wasn’t there, so I ran to the next house and women and some children came out. I said “Please get all the people together, five Congolese have attacked us, and they all have guns with them. Both Bwanas have been tied up and I think that Bwana Jack is dead and all my children” The woman took me inside and I sat down as I was exhausted. She wanted to wash my face, but I wouldn’t let her instead I asked for water. I remember a young girl bringing me a mug of water and while I was gulping it down the thought passed through my mind that if it wasn’t boiled I might get Bilhasia!  then saw a group of woman coming in and I ran out of the front door and around to the back of the hut, there I fell down and lent against the wall and I said to the woman “Please don’t let them know I am here, I’m the only one left alive and only I can identify the men”.

By now the whole compound was roused and I then ran into the middle of the football field and shouted as loud as I could to the people “ Everybody come and bring Pangas, choppers and knives, some Congolese have attacked us and they have killed Mr. & Mrs Engelbrecht and my husband and children. The men ran into their houses and came out carrying all sorts of weapons and they began to move up the road. I ran after them and said “I must go back with you”. I was walking ahead of them and suddenly I found myself alone again on the road and I didn’t know where the people had gone, so I ran back past the store and across a path into the burnt bush. I thought I saw a glare in the sky and I thought they had fired my house, but it was only the electric lights shining.

When I was almost at the house I saw car lights coming down the road, and in my confusion I thought it was the bandits looking for me so I hid behind a big tree. Then I heard six shots going off, a slight pause and then six more. I thought then that this really was the bandits finishing off all my family and the Engelbrechts- two shots for each of them. I knew then I had to go back and try and find the keys for Mr. Engelbrechts lorry and take all of them into Kitwe to the hospital.

I was still alone so I carried on to the house and crawled on my stomach across the path and under the big lounge windows. On peered between the gap in the curtains and into the room. I saw Allan still sitting with Marianne on his lap, and she appeared to be praying, but Allan was just staring into space.

I couldn’t see Jack at all, but lying in the middle of the room was Mrs. Engelbrecht and Lyndy with their legs tied at the ankles and their arms tied behind their backs, lying right up close to Lyndy was Mitzi , one of the Engelbrechts dogs. I scratched the window to attract Allan’s attention and he looked up, saw me at the window, put his fingers to his lips, shook his head and motioned me away with his hand, so I knew the bandits were still in the house. I then crawled across the lawn and down to the river bank and along until I found a tree stump I could hide behind and keep watch on the house until they had gone.

I had been hiding about five minutes when I saw three men coming towards our house from the direction of the Engelbrechts house and as they approached the front door I saw that each of them was armed with a Panga. They went inside the house and I was certain then that they had gone to finish the children and Mrs. Engelbrecht – I still didn’t know they had done with Jack. I could hear talking going on inside the house, but couldn’t make out what was being said. I heard Allan calling “Mummy, Mummy, but I thought the men were using Allan as a ruse to get me out of hiding, so I just lay still and didn’t answer him.

Then I heard my husband’s voice, and I thought Thank God and when I saw him come into the stoep with Allan and Marianne, I climbed up the bank and stumbled towards them, and as I saw two of the men come towards me I realized it was old Fink and Chanda John. They caught me as I fell and supported me onto the step where the children and Jack were standing. Then Lynda and Mrs. Engelbrecht came out of the house too and I saw that all of them had been untied. Jack kept insisting that Lynda must run a hot bath for me, while I kept saying that I must turn off the oven and make a cup of tea.

I realize now that all of us were in a shocked condition. I was told that our Toyota stationwagon had been taken and that the wires had been ripped out of the Engelbrichts car and also their lorry, but that Chanda had replaced the wires in the car – the tyres had also been slashed on the lorry. Mr. Engelbrecht kept saying that we must hurry and go at once to Kitwe as the bandits had said they were coming back so Lynda, Jack and Allan went over first while I collected some clothing for the family and Marianne stayed with me. Just then we saw headlights coming down the road, and Lynda grabbed Allan’s hand and took off past the Engelbrechts house and into the tall elephant grass, while Marianne and I who were still coming across the lawn ran into the trees and I pushed her down under a low growing tree and lay on top of her. Then Jack, who was standing out in the open called out that it was alright, and we all came back to the Engelbrechts house. Mr. Engelbrecht had also been released but his leg was in a bad state where they had hit him.

Although Jack was ill, he was in a better state to drive the car than Mt. Engelbrecht was, but he insisted on doing the driving so we all piled into the car and set off. This was a real nightmare journey , as the bush was burning in various places, and we never knew whether the bandits had deliberately set it alight so that they could ambush anyone trying to follow them. We eventually got to Charti where the forestry ranger telephoned the police in Kitwe, and Mr. Engelbrecht and I were given first aid by the Nursing sister there, then the police came and escorted us into Kitwe and to Nkane Hospital where we were all examined and all but Jack and Allan were hospitalized for the night. Lynda, Marianne and I were put in the same room, Marianne sleeping in the same bed with me as she wouldn’t sleep alone. All night long she kept waking up whenever she heard a noise in the hospital, and Lynda woke up twice screaming and I had to go over to quieten her down. I was x-rayed the next morning as it was thought my jaw had been broken, but it only had a slight crack and my eye didn’t need stitching so Lynda, Marianne, Mrs. Engelbrecht and I were allowed to leave the hospital after lunch on Thursday, after I had been given an Anti Tetanus injection, followed by two more later on.

Allan stayed on in Kitwe for a week with a friend of his, while Jack, and I and the girls returned to Funda, although the Manager wanted us to stay in town for a while until we got over our experience, but as Jack had to go back Marianne and I wouldn’t let him go back alone as he was still a very sick man. Lynda was in such a nervous state we sent her back to South Africa on the Saturday morning and she stayed with a friend of mine in Kitwe until she left.

I am proud of my children, especially Allan. The way he looked after his sister and comforted her all through that terrible ordeal would have done credit to a far older boy than a ten year old, and as for Marianne she was far more concerned about her Daddy being hurt than about herself, and Lynda although she was in a terrible state having been fired on as she ran, didn’t go into hysterics or panic and also tried to shield the two younger ones.

Despite all this I loved the bush and my home at Funda, and my only regret is that this one incident marred our quiet peaceful life out there.

Leonora Victoria Gammon