‘Your comments are deeply disturbing’: Lamola slams Mashaba over Samora Machel remarks

International relations and co-operation minister Ronald Lamola has criticised ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba over his now-deleted comments about the commemoration of former Mozambican president Samora Machel, saying they reveal the type of politics advanced by him and his party.

“Your comments are deeply disturbing,” Lamola said in a tweet on Tuesday.

This comes after Lamola attended the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Machel’s death at the Samora Machel Memorial in Mbuzini, Mpumalanga, on Monday.

“President Machel died in South Africa coming from a meeting in Lusaka which concerned itself about the liberation of the oppressed people in South Africa and elsewhere. This is deeply revealing of the type of politics you and your party advance,” he said.

Lamola said South Africans should recognise the sacrifices made by neighbouring countries during the struggle against apartheid.

“Peace-loving South Africans know that the cost of freedom was borne not only by South Africans; the front-line states like Mozambique also paid the ultimate price for our freedom,” he said.

The minister’s remarks followed a now-deleted post by Mashaba, who was responding to a video featuring Machel’s daughter, Josina Machel, speaking about the importance of preserving her father’s legacy four decades after his death.

“Africa’s sense of entitlement to South Africa is unbelievable. Samora Machel was the president of Mozambique, not South Africa. Honour his sacrifices in his own country, but do not hold South Africa at gunpoint and demand that we honour him,” Mashaba wrote.

In the video, Josina said the anniversary was an emotional moment that also provided an opportunity to recognise the sacrifices made by those who fought for liberation and ensure their legacy was passed on to future generations.

“This is a site that needs to be kept and be known because my father and the three others that died here died because of the liberation of South Africa,” she said.

She explained that her father and his delegation had travelled to Zambia to discuss regional issues, particularly preparations for South Africa’s liberation.

“Samora is a hero, not just for Mozambique but should be considered a hero who lost his last breath, his last drop of blood in South African soil to represent how Africans have fought for deliberation, which they always said until South Africa is free, none of us as Africans are free,” she said.

Machel, a prominent liberation struggle leader and the founding president of independent Mozambique, died on October 19 1986 when the aircraft carrying him and members of his delegation crashed in the Lebombo Mountains near Mbuzini, close to South Africa’s borders with Mozambique and Eswatini.

Thirty-four other people, including Cuban doctors and the ambassadors of Zambia and the then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), also died in the crash.

The Samora Machel Memorial was unveiled in 1999 by former president Nelson Mandela to honour those who died and commemorate solidarity between the peoples of Southern Africa.

“We honour the legacy of President Machel and memorialise all those who perished alongside him. We also celebrate the ideals they championed: freedom, human dignity, solidarity and the right of all people to determine their own future,” Mandela said at the time.

Addressing Monday’s commemoration, Lamola said South Africa and Mozambique had a responsibility to ensure younger generations understood the sacrifices that made their freedom possible.

He also spoke about the pledge made after Machel’s death that the monument at Mbuzini would symbolise the shared suffering of Southern Africa’s people and affirm their common destiny of liberty, peace and social progress.

The commemoration was attended by Mozambican President Daniel Chapo, First Lady Gueta Chapo, Machel’s widow Graça Machel, survivors of the crash, and families of those who died alongside government leaders and representatives from both countries.

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