12 October 2001
Former President Mandela,
The Machel Family,
Comrades,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A few weeks before his tragic and untimely death, President Samora Machel invited me to a meeting to discuss a statement made by the then Minister of Defence, Magnus Malan, who had threatened, among other things to stop Mozambicans from coming to work on South African Mines. We also discussed a number of other issues.
That was my very last meeting with President Machel.
Tonight we are celebrating his life and contribution. As I stand before you in this moving occasion, I am filled with memories, of a brother, friend, comrade, revolutionary, a leader, political and military strategist, a great thinker and a true man of action.
I am bumbled to be speaking about President Machel, whose visionary foresight played a motivational and inspirational role in influencing the liberation struggles of some of the Southern African states.
I feel even more inspired given the nature of the relationship between our two countries.
The relationship between the people of South Africa and the people of Mozambique dates back many decades, and runs deep. This relationship was nurtured in the trenches as we fought to liberate our countries from colonialists and oppressors.
The late President of the ANC Oliver Tambo, aptly summed up this relationship, when he said at a rally in February 1981, after the Matola raid:]
"It was as comrades in arms that the combatants of FRELIMO and the ANC trained, worked, ate and sang together in Algeria, Tanzania and elsewhere. It was because of the comradeship that commanders of FRELIMO and MK found themselves in the war zones of Cabo Delgado and Niassa in 1967 and Tete in 1970 where the ANC commanders were learning from the experience of their comrades in arms.
"The same comradeship found the Mozambicans fighting with MPLA in defence of the newly-independent People's Republic of Angola in 1975/6 and joining the Zimbabwean people in the liberation war against the Rhodesian and South African regimes."
Our comradeship survived the brutality of the apartheid regime, including its intimidatory acts such as the Matola raid in 198. The Pretoria regime had defiled the sovereignty and integrity of Mozambique, in an attempt to stop our efforts of freeing our country from oppression.
Our struggle for liberation laid a firm foundation for a long and enduring relationship between the ANC and FRELIMO. One of the highlights of the comradeship was the celebration of the Day of Solidarity on 14 February 1982, where then the President of the ANC handed over the ANC Flag to president Machel for it to returned to South Africa after liberation.
A true internationalist, President Machel also played an influential role in organising the Front Line States for the liberation of Zimbabwe and partnered the ANC and SWAPO for the liberation of Namibia and South Africa.
He demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the liberation of Africa from the colonialist yoke of repression. His view was that as long as racist settlers and apartheid surrounded Mozambique, it would never be free.
President Machel did not just bring about a FRELIMO victory, but he brought socialism to the doorstep of apartheid South Africa, and that made the apartheid regime fear him even more. The impact of that victory was felt in South Africa more than in any other country in Southern Africa. For example, young freedom fighters in South Africa organised pro-Frelimo rallies in 1975, leading to repressive measures by the regime.
The FRELIMO victory in Mozambique also brought our freedom closer, and South Africa was never the same again. For the first time we had a country which we could utilise as a base, which shared direct borders with South Africa.
The Mozambicans under the leadership of President Samora Machel paid a heavy price for this solidarity. The apartheid regime took serious measures to blockade Mozambique, mainly economically, and sponsored counter-revolution in Mozambique causing untold hardship.
The apartheid regime knew that for as long as President Machel lived, they would never rest. We believe that the truth will come out one day to confirm our conclusions as to what really killed this great leader.
As we commemorate his life, we also need to look ahead and ask ourselves what it is that President Machel would have wanted us to do to make our continent a better place to live in.
He believed in democracy and people's power and he would expect us to maintain and work for these beliefs. He shared an ideal of democratic and free Southern Africa. The ideals of an African Renaissance and the New African Initiative are what he would share.
Knowing him as I do, he would also approve of the warm and excellent relations between South Africa and Mozambique, as that is what he advocated and worked for during his lifetime.
President Machel saw the Mozambican and South African people as one. The relationship between the governments of Mozambique and South Africa are warm and strong, and that is what he would have wanted. To complement that, we need to strengthen the people-to-people co-operation.
We are pleased with progress made thus far in cementing our relationships economically, and the Maputo Corridor and Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative are some of the projects that take the thinking of President Machel further, as he fought poverty and underdevelopment.
Given his love and appreciation of culture, it is befitting that he should be remembered in this manner, with the creme of South African music serenading to the memory of this great freedom fighter.
The Machel family should take comfort in the fact that President Machel symbolised the struggle for a future in which the peoples of the region would live in peace and control their own destiny, free of oppression.
May his spirit give us the strength to continue with the struggle for a better life for all the people of this continent.
I thank you.