Samora Machel: The failed vision of a United Africa

The third part of the story of Samora Moisés Machel accounts his pan-African leadership and his great contribution to the liberation struggles of the northern part of Africa.

Samora struggled to lead his country to prosperity, but at the same time neighbouring colonial Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa continued to destabilise Mozambique.

Samora Machel with the other leaders of the Front Line States (FLS) spearheaded the decolonisation of Southern Africa. Leaders of FLS club included Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania, Samora Moisés Machel of Mozambique, Quett Ketumile Masire of Botswana, José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola and Kenneth David Kaunda of Zambia. Led by Julius Kambarage Nyerere the Father of the Southern African liberation, the FLS carried the torch that liberated Africa from colonial bondage.

In 1977, Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo), launched a ferocious rebellion backed by Rhodesia and South Africa, plunging Mozambique into a fierce civil war that killed many innocent civilians and destroyed property. Although there were many attempts to reconcile the war between Frelimo and Renamo backed by South Africa, the war raged on much longer.

By 1984, there were deteriorating military and economic conditions in Mozambique that drove Frelimo into signing a non-aggression Accord with South Africa.

This agreement known as the Nkomati Accord on Non-Aggression and Good Neighbourliness was signed on the 16th of March, 1984, between Samora Machel and South African President Pieter Willem Botha. The agreement required South Africa to stop supporting Renamo in exchange for Frelimo stopping to support the ANC.

The Accord did not last as in 1985, Mozambican and Zimbabwean armed forces launched a joint offensive to eliminate Renamo; but the group fled north, and established the Renamo HQs in the Maringue District.

The war continued, with Renamo operating from the north supported by Malawi and Zaire; and in collaboration with the Angolan opposition movement called União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (Unita).

Once again in an effort to resolve the Renamo crisis on the 14th of October 1986, Samora was invited to the African Leaders Summit in Mbala, Zambia, that was called to pressurise Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and Kamuzu Banda of Malawi to stop supporting Renamo.

On the night of the 19th of October 1986, Samora was returning to Maputo from the meeting when his plane crashed into the hillside of the Lebombo Mountains, in the Transvaal Region inside South Africa at Mbuzini, and he died.

Joaquim Alberto Chissano one of the founding members Frelimo succeeded Samora Machel as the second President of Mozambique, and he ruled from 1986 to 2005. Chissano managed to end the Mozambican Civil War in 1992 by negotiating a peace treaty with Renamo.

Chissano gave Renamo 50 per cent of the positions in the Mozambican army. Renamo participated in the subsequent multiparty democratic elections in Mozambique in 1994 and 1999.

Although Samora’s leadership was shortened by the South African apartheid regime, his brief yet prized political leadership is a light to be reckoned as heroic.

Samora Machel is the name most closely associated with the liberation of Mozambique from Portuguese colonialism. While Samora Machel is revered for his freedom fighting spirit to liberate Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano is credited with transforming the war-torn country of Mozambique into one of the most successful African democracies.

Today, a memorial monument towers Mbuzini area in tribute of Samora Moisés Machel. The monument was inaugurated by Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique on the 19th of January 1999, at the Mbuzini, the place of his death to cherish this hero of the African Continent.

There are also other tribute sites for Samora, like the large street in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that is called Samora Avenue and the largest street in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, was also renamed Samora Machel Avenue from Jameson Avenue after independence of Zimbabwe to remember this great leader.

Dr Kafumu is the Member of Parliament for Igunga Constituency