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The Rhodesia Herald,
26 June 1975
A FORMER male nurse, top guerrilla and a convinced Marxist: this is Samora Moises Machel, the bearded, charismatic Mozambican with the piercing black eyes who is the first President of independent Mozambique.
Born in 1933 of a poor Lourenco Marques family, Samora Machel had become a medical assistant by the time he met Eduardo Mondlane, founder of FRELIMO in 1961.
Mondlane’s plans for the liberation of Mozambique inspired Machel, and in 1963 he went to Algeria for training as a guerrilla fighter.
A year later he led a 200-strong guerrilla band on a raid from Tanzania into Mozambique which marked the beginning of the war.
Machel’s devotion to the cause, his efficiency and military abilities impressed Mondlane and the Frelimo hierarchy. By 1966 he had become secretary for defence of the movement. In 1968, with Frelimo’s success increasing, Machel was named commander-in-chief of the guerrilla army.
When Mondlane was assassinated by a letter bomb in 1969 in Dar es Salaam, it was clear that at least part of the blame lay within Frelimo itself. Machel remarked at the time that there was “no revolution without traitors”.
By the time the coup d’état in Portugal ended the war in April last year, Frelimo controlled much of northern Mozambique and appeared to be well on its way to ultimate victory in the war which had ravaged the land for 11 years.
Independent Mozambique will be shaped by Machel’s Marxist leanings.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
It’s not surprising that the Rhodesia Herald headline chose to focus on Machel’s ideological leanings, instead of his greatest achievement — freeing the people of Mozambique from Portuguese colonial rule. By so doing, they were warning their kith and kin in other colonies in Southern Africa that Marxism/Communism must be brutally dealt with.
Machel was a pragmatic military commander who became head of Frelimo in 1970 after the assassination of Eduardo Mondlane. Infiltration by enemy forces has been blamed for the multiple assassinations and/or unexplained deaths among liberation cadres.
One of Zimbabwe’s closest allies, Machel sheltered Zanu and its military wing Zanla, during the liberation struggle. For that Mozambique paid a heavy price, as the Smith regime bombed Zanla camps in a genocidal manner several times.
Machel died in a plane crash along the border with Mozambique and South Africa on October 19, 1986 on his way from a Frontline States meeting. There are counter conspiracy theories regarding the cause of the plane crash.
Despite the insurgencies by Renamo and jihadists, Mozambique has managed to hold general elections as stipulated by its constitution. Frelimo has been at the helm since 1975. Two former presidents are still around, while current leader Filipe Nyusi was this week elected Sadc chairperson (2020-2021).
Online Reporter