Samora Machel, the leader of Mozambique’s independence struggle and the country’s first post-independence president, was born on this day in 1933.
He was born into a family of subsistence farmers forced off their land to pave the way for Portuguese settlers. This experience made Machel politically conscious at a young age.
After primary school, Machel trained to be a nurse and later worked at a hospital in the then-capital, Lourenço Marques. The poor working conditions for Black nurses at the hospital compared with those their White counterparts enjoyed further politicised Machel. In the early ‘60s, he left for Tanzania to join the country’s liberation movement, the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO).
After undergoing military training in Algeria, he quickly rose through the ranks and, in 1970, he became FRELIMO’s president after founding leader Eduardo Mondlane was killed in a bomb attack in 1969.
In 1975, he became Mozambique’s president when it gained independence from Portugal.
Machel quickly embarked on an ambitious programme to develop the country. He also welcomed liberation movements fighting against racist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia.
However, his time in power was far from easy. He fought rebels from the Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO), whom Malawi and the two racist regimes backed. RENAMO targeted rural populations and destroyed vital economic and social facilities such as power stations and bridges.
This crippled Mozambique’s economy, forcing Machel to sign a non-aggression pact with the South African apartheid regime. However, Pretoria continued to support RENAMO clandestinely.
In 1986, Machel died in a plane crash in South Africa – with accusations that Pretoria was behind the tragedy. Subsequent investigations into the crash have produced more questions than answers, and after nearly 37 years, the exact cause is yet to be determined.
What is clear, however, is that Machel was one of the finest revolutionaries and leaders the motherland has produced. His legacy is one of sacrifice and struggle for the total emancipation of the African people. Long live the undying spirit of comrade Samora Machel!