On the fortieth anniversary of the death of Samora Machel, Mozambique's first independent president, a quiet memorial at Mbuzini on the South African border became the stage for an unexpected quarrel over memory. South African minister Ronald Lamola, standing where the plane came down in 1986, pressed a reminder that the road out of apartheid ran through neighbouring lands and was paid for by their people too. The occasion turned on a deleted post by opposition leader Herman Mashaba, who had suggested such sacrifices belonged to Mozambique alone. The exchange reveals how difficult it remains f
Lamola Rebukes Mashaba Over Deleted Post on Samora Machel's Legacy
Samora Machel and 34 others died in a 1986 plane crash in the Lebombo Mountains near Mbuzini.
The price of freedom was paid not only by South Africans
On the fortieth anniversary of the death of Samora Machel, Mozambique's first independent president, a quiet memorial at Mbuzini on the South African border became the stage for an unexpected quarrel over memory. South African minister Ronald Lamola, standing where the plane came down in 1986, pressed a reminder that the road out of apartheid ran through neighbouring lands and was paid for by their people too. The occasion turned on a deleted post by opposition leader Herman Mashaba, who had suggested such sacrifices belonged to Mozambique alone. The exchange reveals how difficult it remains for a nation to decide whose struggle it claims and whose debts it chooses to remember.
On Monday, at the Samora Machel Memorial in Mbuzini, in Mpumalanga, a crowd gathered to mark forty years since the death of Mozambique's first independent president. Mozambican President Daniel Chapo, Graça Machel, survivors of the crash, and relatives of those who died were among those present, along with South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola.
Afterward, Lamola turned to a social media post by Herman Mashaba, leader of the opposition ActionSA. Mashaba had replied to a video in which one of Machel's daughters spoke of protecting her father's legacy, writing that Machel was president of Mozambique, not South Africa, and that his sacrifices belonged to Mozambique. The post has since been deleted. Lamola called the comments deeply disturbing and said they reflected the policies Mashaba and his party promote.
Lamola's answer rested on geography and history. Machel died on South African soil, returning from a Lusaka meeting devoted to liberation in Southern Africa. The price of freedom, he said, was paid by neighbours such as Mozambique as well as by South Africans.
Machel died on October 19, 1986, when his plane crashed in the Lebombo Mountains. Thirty-four others died with him, among them Cuban doctors and ambassadors from Zambia and Zaire. The reporting rests on a single outlet, and it is not yet known whether Mashaba or ActionSA has responded or explained the deletion.
On Monday, at the Samora Machel Memorial in Mbuzini, in South Africa's Mpumalanga province, a crowd gathered to mark forty years since the death of Mozambique's first independent president. Among those present were Mozambican President Daniel Chapo, First Lady Gueta Chapo, Machel's widow Graça Machel, survivors of the crash that killed him, and relatives of the others who died.
South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, also attended. Afterward he turned his attention to a social media post by Herman Mashaba, leader of the opposition party ActionSA. According to TimesLIVE, which UA.News cites, Lamola called Mashaba's comments deeply disturbing and said they reflected the policies that Mashaba and his party promote.
The post itself has been deleted. Mashaba had been responding to a video in which a daughter of the former Mozambican leader spoke about the need to protect her father's legacy. In his reply, Mashaba wrote that Samora Machel was the president of Mozambique, not of South Africa, and that his sacrifices should be honored in Mozambique. He later removed it.
Lamola's rebuttal rested on geography and history. Machel, he stressed, died on South African soil, returning from a meeting in Lusaka devoted to the liberation of oppressed peoples in Southern Africa and elsewhere. South Africans, the minister said, have to recognize the sacrifices of neighboring states in the fight against apartheid. The price of freedom, he noted, was paid not only by South Africans but also by their neighbors, Mozambique among them.
Machel was a leader of the liberation struggle and became the first president of independent Mozambique. He died on October 19, 1986, when his plane crashed in the Lebombo Mountains near Mbuzini, close to where South Africa meets Mozambique and Eswatini. Thirty-four other people died with him, among them Cuban doctors and the ambassadors of Zambia and of what was then Zaire.
Nelson Mandela opened the memorial at the crash site in 1999. It was there that this week's ceremony took place, and where Lamola made his remarks about the regional cost of ending apartheid.
The reporting so far rests on a single outlet's account of the minister's comments, and the source does not say whether Mashaba or ActionSA has responded to the rebuke or explained the deletion. The exchange arrived at the fortieth anniversary, and it suggests that the question of whose liberation history South Africa claims, and whose sacrifices it acknowledges, can still draw sharp political lines. Whether Mashaba answers publicly is the next thing to watch.
Citações Notáveis
Mashaba's comments were deeply disturbing and reflected the policies he and his party promote.— Ronald Lamola, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (paraphrased)
The price of freedom was paid not only by South Africans but also by neighboring countries, including Mozambique.— Ronald Lamola (paraphrased)
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