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On arrival at the Harare International Airport yesterday, President Mugabe said Graca Machel indicated to him that she will be visiting Zimbabwe to discuss the request.
“I take that some investigations of a preliminary nature were done before, but she wants much more information of what really happened and whether we can connect the incident to some underhand . . . technological manipulation of the flight control system, guiding the plane towards a wrong place. Of course, we have been wanting that done, but the initiative is for Mozambique with assistance from South Africa.
“She might feel that not enough is being done. She said she might be coming here.”
President Machel was killed when his plane, a Russian-made Tupolev 134, crashed in the Mbuzini mountains leading to widespread suspicion that this had been planned by the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Cde Machel died alongside 34 other passengers in the plane who included ministers and other top Mozambican government officials.
There were only nine survivors.
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In the book, “Samora – Man of the People” published in 2001, several conspiracy theories of what could have caused President Machel’s death are put forward with the strongest one linking the apartheid regime.
In the book, one Marcelo Mosse wrote about suspicious events that took place before this fateful day in 1986 saying: “On the 11th October, Samora Machel’s government accused the RSA (South Africa) of preparing a direct attack against Maputo and the overthrow of the regime . . . On the 16th, the newspapers report massive infiltrations of Renamo’s elements, ‘strongly armed’ through the Malawi border. Observers in Maputo believe that the assassination of the Mozambican leader seems to be in the minds of the South African generals, existing public indications in this direction, writes Carlos Cardoso on the 16th October.
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“Analysing the events on the day before, the journalist came to the conclusion that Samora Machel was the chosen target by the RSA military hierarchies.”
During his opening speech at an International Symposium to mark the 25th Anniversary of the death of Cde Machel, Mozambican President Guebuza said his government will not rest until they find who really killed Mozambique’s founding father.
As she made the plea at Independence Square yesterday, Graca Machel received a standing ovation from thousands of Mozambicans who, 25 years down the line, seem to have woken up to the realisation that Cde Machel made immense contributions to the birth of their country.
Also in attendance were former Mozambican leader Joachim Chissano, former Zambian leader Dr Kenneth Kaunda together with top government officials from many countries that included Angola, Tanzania, Malawi and Namibia.
The ceremony yesterday started at the Mozambican Heroes Acre where President Mugabe and the other Heads of State and Government laid a wreath on Cde Machel’s grave and later moved to the Independence Square where the statue of Cde Machel was unveiled.
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