guest column:Miriam Tose Majome THIS is the second in a three-part series about the hijacking of an Air India Boeing 707 flying from Harare to New Dehli India on November 26, 1981. The plane flew into a coup attempt in the Seychelles executed by a group of South African and ex-Rhodesian mercenaries fronted by British former soldier Mike Hoare (Mad Mike). The aeroplane had 65 passengers, the majority of whom were Zimbabweans. One of them was my father Kenneth Rambakupetwa Majome who was travelling as part of a group of senior government officials which included former late Ambassador Angeline Makwavarara and late businesswoman Kiki Divaris to a conference on women entrepreneurs in New Dehli. The plane was stopping over briefly to refuel at Seychelles Mahe island’s Pointe Larue International Airport when it flew into a gunfight between the mercenaries and the Seychelles army. The mercenaries under the command of Hoare had seized the airport after their concealed weapons had been discovered when they tried to sneak in disguised as a team of rugby players. Albert Rene was the President of Seychelles after seizing power from James Mancham in 1977 in a coup a year after the country became independent from Britain. Four years later, he found himself facing a similar political fight for survival. Hoare, now retired from his mercenary exploits of the 60s in the Congo, was living in Durban, South Africa, had accepted the contract to spearhead the coup. He had recruited approximately 44 white men from crack units of the former Rhodesian forces and the elite South African Recce Commandos. Most of the former Rhodesians had served in the Special Air Service, the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Light Infantry. All in all it was a bunch of gritty ex-military men with combat experience in Africa. Five hours after it left Harare, the Air India 707 carrying my father swung low towards the runway at Point Larue International Airport. It went down straight in the path of one of two army trucks which had suddenly appeared on the runway. Its occupants oblivious to the approaching aeroplane in the din of exploding gunfire charged wildly at a group of mercenaries in a ground hold out. The aeroplane made contact with the tarmac just as the vehicle occupants noticed it ploughing headlong at them. They abandoned the truck with lightning speed and scurried for cover just as the huge aeroplane’s right wing tore straight into it, tearing it to bits in a deafening collision and spraying a spectacular shower of sparks engulfing the plane. This was the first time the passengers knew that something was not right. The earsplitting sound, the spectacular fireworks and skidding sent a hushed wave of terror throughout the plane. People looked at each other agape but silently in the grip of terror. The nerves which usually precede the hard contact of solid rubber wheels on tarmac were still alive. The plane taxied swiftly to a halt with the passengers still in shocked silence. Its halt was greeted with the ferocious sound of reignited gunfire each side spu
