Many years ago, I sat beside Brigadier General Hashim Mbita, then Executive Secretary of the OAU Liberation Committee, at a World Veterans Federation meeting in Maputo, where I heard heroic accounts of Mozambique’s liberation struggle. One story stood out: Samora Machel, pistol in hand, later to become Mozambique’s first president, coordinated the evacuation of a visiting OAU delegation that came under attack from Portuguese forces during Mozambique’s armed struggle. I told Mbita that his generation had witnessed – and produced – far more exemplary youth heroism than mine. That era, I feared, was gone for good.
Mbita said the difference between those I admire and those who admire them is action. Heroes of liberation were not born as historical figures; they chose to act on their convictions. History later transformed some acts into heroism. It is misleading to look back and imagine people were different then.
Those figures faced the same fears, risks and uncertainties that have shaped history. History does not create heroes and then provide opportunities to act. People act, despite fear and uncertainty; history merely decides which actions will be remembered as heroic.
In his book The Origins of Political Order, Francis Fukuyama argues that political order often begins to form around individuals admired for their courage, wisdom, physical prowess or sound judgement. People voluntarily accept their authority because they appear more capable than others. This may help explain why liberation movements so often produce towering figures who come to embody the struggles they led.
Fukuyama identifies a further crucial stage in political development: Recognition shifts from glorifying exceptional individuals to respecting institutions, rules and established predictable patterns of behaviour. Authority becomes less dependent on personalities and more rooted in systems. This stage defines a mature political society.
Younger Africans may admire Nyerere, Mandela, Machel, Cabral, Neto and Lumumba without asking what they actually did. Statues, anniversaries and speeches can make history seem as though it was shaped by giants. Our histories presented one clear objective suited to individual leadership: The struggle against colonialism and the pursuit of independence. Today’s challenges require action from each one of us.
We cannot wait for heroic individuals to move us forward. We, collectively, are the engine of change. A society that continually needs a great leader has not completed the transition Fukuyama describes: from dependence on exceptional individuals to placing confidence in institutions.
Individual courage remains necessary because it lays the foundation for creating institutions. Someone must create the spark that challenges injustice, takes risks, or imagines a different future. The task of our generation may not be to find another Machel. It may be to become courageous enough to act – and wise enough to build institutions that make heroism less necessary.
