Machel’s Death Is Blow to Southern Africa

President Samora Machel of Mozambique, who died Sunday in a plane crash, was little known to most Americans. Yet to his country, and to the entire region locked in conflict with South Africa’s apartheid regime, his death is comparable in impact to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. or John F. Kennedy. For Africa, and for millions elsewhere who know Africa, the vibrant revolutionary statesman was one of the continent’s modern heroes.

When I first met Machel in 1966, he was the guerrilla commander of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), fighting for independence from Portuguese colonial rule. He already was playing a central role not only in military strategy but in fostering a sense of national unity and dedication to the welfare of ordinary Mozambicans.

In 1969, when Frelimo’s first president, Eduardo Mondlane, was assassinated by Portuguese agents, it was Machel who pulled the movement together and led the country to independence six years later.

The new nation confronted immense difficulties. It was the least developed in southern Africa, with an illiteracy rate of more than 95%. It depended on the export of migrant labor to South Africa’s mines and on its ports, which handled the commerce of white-ruled Rhodesia and South Africa. The majority of settlers, who had monopolized technical and administrative posts, fled, fearing Frelimo’s Socialist policies or simply unwilling to accept equality with blacks. Many destroyed machinery and livestock before they left.

The new government made its share of mistakes, some out of ideological fervor, others from inexperience. Machel took the lead in criticizing his party’s errors, exhorting the people to identify government failures and repeatedly adjusting his policies in response. But disastrous floods and the most prolonged drought in this century added to the president’s difficulties.

Despite his country’s problems, Machel played a leading role in the group known as the Frontline States during the campaign for Zimbabwean independence and in the negotiations that ended the guerrilla war there. He also was a catalyst in the Southern African Development Coordination Conference, formed to promote regional development and efforts to lessen dependence on South Africa. While he recognized that his country could not afford to supply military aid, Machel was outspoken in support for the African National Congress in South Africa.

These efforts made him the target first of the Rhodesian regime and then of South Africa. In addition to direct attacks, the Rhodesians founded a paramilitary group, the Mozambique National Resistance (MNR), which they handed over to the South African military in 1980. By recruiting dissidents and forcing others into their ranks, these South African-sponsored bands laid waste to the Mozambican countryside, despite a 1984 non-aggression pact between the two countries. The MNR has failed to establish political credibility and its claim to control substantial territory is dubious, but its capacity to destroy and to erode confidence in the government is undeniable.

Mozambique’s ability to respond has been weakened by South African economic sanctions, which cut traffic through the ports and, most recently, by the decision to repatriate more than 60,000 Mozambican migrant workers. The cumulative military and economic damage has exceeded $4 billion. In recent years, many observers concluded that only the sheer determination of the Mozambican people and Machel’s charisma were holding the country together.

His death comes as South Africa is stepping up its destabilization campaign. MNR troops have moved in from Malawi in the northwest and South African troops have massed on the southwestern border. A Mozambique News Agency story only days before the crash referred to South African plots to kill Machel. Whether the crash eventually is traced to foul play or an accident, or remains a mystery, the MNR and its South African sponsors are sure to escalate the fight to topple Frelimo.

Such an outcome would be a drastic blow to Africa’s campaign against the apartheid regime. It would isolate landlocked Zimbabwe and Zambia, cripple efforts to build economic independence and cooperate in sanctions against Pretoria. Machel’s colleagues in the Frelimo leadership inherit his legacy of stubborn determination against great odds, and they will carry on. Zimbabwe and other countries will continue to aid Mozambique with troops and other assistance. But the future will be grim without large-scale international support.

Machel had a unique ability to inspire enthusiasm. His energy and capacity for dialogue with people ranging from illiterate peasants to conservative Western politicians won him love from his people and respect even from many of his enemies in South Africa. His vision of liberation was tempered by the conviction that compromise and patience might often prove the surest road forward.

His death is an incalculable loss for all who hope for a southern Africa free of racism and strife. But he would be the first to say, as he did in those troubled days after his predecessor’s assassination, that the death of one man, however great, is not cause for despair but for renewed commitment.