BY G. MADARAKA
Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere rarely displayed anger in public. In fact, he had unique body language that matched his captivating speeches and a trademark hissing chuckle to drive home his moments of happiness and pleasure, for which he was largely known.
However, one of the few days that Mwalimu got really furious and angry was on February 3, 1969, when he was informed at his Dar es Salaam Msasani residence that Eduardo Mondlane, the founding president of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), had been killed by a parcel bomb.
According to his widow, Mama Maria Nyerere, Mwalimu threw a fit blaming Mondlane, rather than his assassins for his death. Mama Maria recalled seeing a furious Mwalimu saying angrily that Mondlane had been warned not to personally open letters or packages addressed to him.
But with the raw confidence often demonstrated by freedom fighters, Mondlane apparently ignored that simple security protocol and it cost him his life, robbing Mozambique also of a calm and highly strategic leader. But killing one person never kills the struggle.
The death of Mondlane ushered in Samora Machel, a bearded firebrand leader who led Mozambique to independence from Portugal after nearly ten years of war. Frelimo first attacked a colonial post at Chifunde on September 25, 1964 and signed a formal ceasefire with Portugal on September 8, 1974. The country gained independence on June 25, 1975 after the signing of the Lusaka Accord.
Mama Maria’s recollection adds an interesting detail to the established history of Mondlane’s assassination; that Tanzanian government officials had specifically warned him against opening correspondence and packages himself.
political and logistical support to movements fighting Portuguese colonial rule and white-minority regimes in southern Africa.
That no other top liberation leader was killed on Tanzanian soil after the Mondlane debacle also goes a long way to show and tell the lesson that the country learnt from the assassination and obviously the vow: “Never to happen again.”
Yet much of this history remains outside the familiar accounts of the liberation struggle. The experiences of Tanzanian officials who protected liberation leaders, the warnings they issued, the threats they received and the precautions taken to keep their guests safe remain largely unknown.
If documented elsewhere, the warning would raise important questions about the security precautions taken around liberation leaders living and operating in Tanzania and the then capital city, Dar es Salaam, which was arguably the mecca of Southern Africa’s liberation movements.
Dar es Salaam was not merely the diplomatic headquarters for southern Africa’s liberation fighters. It was also a city in which their leaders lived, worked and socialised as well as travelled and met supporters while hostile intelligence services and their agents sought to disrupt their activities and eliminate their leadership.
The Mondlane assassination therefore illustrates the extraordinary security challenge and cost that Tanzania faced at the time as the country provided
Similarly, there were many Tanzanians who laid down their lives fighting alongside freedom fighters in Southern Africa, many of whom were top calibre professionals like doctors and engineers. Many wives in Tanzania were widowed and children orphaned as their husbands and fathers never came back home from the front line.
Mama Maria’s recollection suggests that important pieces of that history could still be lying somewhere in the memories of witnesses. After nearly 30 years since Mwalimu died on October 14, 1999 at St Thomas Hospital in London, part of that history deserves open closure for the peace of families and for the country too to eventually celebrate their hitherto unknown heroes.
To conclude, as Tanzania prepares to mark Nyerere Day on October 14, such recollections offer more than a glimpse into Nyerere’s personal anguish. They point to fragments of history that should be documented and preserved for future generations and for the pride and the enduring love of our country.
