Ivan Zhakata and Gibson Nyikadzino
\PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has called on African countries to silence guns, accelerate industrialisation and harness their natural resources for economic development as part of efforts to honour the legacy of Mozambique’s founding president, Cde Samora Moises Machel.
In a statement yesterday marking the 40th anniversary of Cde Machel’s death, the President said peace and economic sovereignty remained central to the vision pursued by the late revolutionary leader and other founding leaders of independent Africa.
“The guns must fall silent on our continent, as the late Machel would have wished, to release Africa’s collective energy towards greater peace and development under a just social order,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said Africa should increase its share of the benefits derived from its natural resources through value addition and industrialisation, rather than relying on the export of raw materials.
“Our region and our continent’s quest to claim a greater share in our God-given finite resources through deliberate value addition and industrialisation at their African source can only resonate with the dear departed,” he said.
He said Cde Machel and his fellow Frontline States leaders had fought for complete sovereignty for African countries, adding that the current generation of leaders has a responsibility to advance that vision.
“We dare not fail this founding generation of visionary leaders of our Africa,” President Mnangagwa said.
The President said the late Mozambican leader’s commitment to peace, social justice and equality remained relevant as African countries continued working to overcome the effects of colonialism and apartheid.
“Indeed, the greatest tribute our region can pay to the dear departed is to fulfil the high ideals which drove him and were rooted in the anti-colonial struggle,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said Cde Machel had pursued the transformation of Mozambique into a society where equality prevailed and no one was left behind.
He said the late leader’s desire for peace in Mozambique and the wider region remained a lasting responsibility for successive generations of African leaders.
The President also recalled Zimbabwe’s close historical ties with Cde Machel and described him as a committed ally in the struggle against colonial rule and apartheid in Southern Africa.
Cde Machel died in an air disaster in South Africa on October 19, 1986.
Explained the President: “On that fateful day in 1986, the revolutionary founder President of the sister Republic of Mozambique and a doughty comrade and ally in the fight against colonial rule and apartheid in our Southern African region, met his violent end, alongside 33 other compatriots who also perished in that air disaster.
“Our whole region was thrown into deep mourning by the tragic incident, with the pain keenly felt here in Zimbabwe, a nation and a people towards whose liberation and founding this great African revolutionary gave all, sparing nothing.”
President Mnangagwa said 40 years later, the impact of that “devastating loss remains fresh in our minds here in Zimbabwe, indeed painfully felt and defying any healing”.
He described Cde Machel as a militant freedom fighter, internationalist and advocate of social justice and equity whose legacy continued to inspire the region.
The President also recalled his personal relationship with the Machel family and said he cherished the moments they shared both during and outside official engagements.
“I became a friend of the Machel Family,” he said.
On behalf of Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa extended his respect to the late leader through the Government of Mozambique and wished his wife, Graca Machel, and their children continued good health and long life.
He said African leaders, working collectively through the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the African union should continue pursuing the ideals championed by Cde Machel.
“We strive to walk in late President Machel’s footsteps until our African continent claims its just place in the comity of nations,” he said.
