A must-have copy that untangles the “myth” behind the special operation

The book about how fuel tanks in the heart of the capital city of Zimbabwe then Rhodesia were bombed by guerillas fighting to liberate their country is finally out. The book “The Day Salisbury Fuel Tanks Were Set Ablaze, 11 December 1978” was released on March 29, 2023 by Amazon the world’s largest online retailer and will be available in major book outlets worldwide.

In a widely circulated statement, the authors said the book should end speculation and debate about who conducted the special operation and how it was orchestrated.

“Written for audiences ranging from students to people with an interest in the processes that brought independence to Zimbabwe to participants of the liberation war, the book establishes that Zanu and ZANLA were responsible for the planning and execution of the bombing of the Salisbury Fuel Tanks. “The facts in this narrative are based on numerous interviews with the ZANLA team that carried out the attacks, as well as corroboration by eye witnesses and professionals from that era who ascribed the responsibility to ZANLA,” reads the statement.

From the time Zimbabwe attained independence people had been waiting for a detailed account of the special operation in which the fuel tanks were set alight.

The statement states that the book recounts the story of eight young ZANLA freedom fighters who shocked the government of Ian Douglas Smith by launching a daring attack on the nation’s fuel depot in the heart of Salisbury, Rhodesia, setting off a chain of events that forced the Rhodesian government to reconsider its position on the Patriotic Front’s demand for majority rule through a truly democratic process.

“The book explores Rhodesia’s Hot Pursuit Strategy, where, while former Prime Minister Ian Smith refused to concede to the call for one-person-one-vote at the talks in Geneva, the Rhodesian Security Forces attempted to weaken the liberation movement by pursuing ZANLA and ZIPRA fighters and launching cross-border raids on refugee and training camps in Mozambique and Zambia.

“ As a response, Zanla also weakened the Rhodesian war machine by bombing the country’s biggest fuel reservoir, an act which presented immediate effects by cutting down the occurrence and effectiveness of coordinated raids and forcing the regime to adopt a more reasonable approach to the ceasefire negotiations brokered by world powers.

The attack on the fuel tanks had such an impact that the Prime Minister Smith issued a statement describing the blaze as “a great disaster and one of our biggest setbacks since the war started”

The fire raged out of control and was only contained when a fire engine from Johannesburg, South Africa was flown in to help spray imported protein foam.

April 2015 a feature story by Christopher Charamba published in the Herald newspaper gave snippets of the events through interviews with some eye witnesses.

Mbuya Cecilia Joram said she remembered seeing people fleeing as far as they could. “The fire was massive. There is nothing like it. We did not know what to do and so we thought we should move away in case we were going to be victims.”

No more guessing about events of the historic attack. The book is out.