Imprisonment under FRELIMO - Chapter 12

One day in 1981, the Minister of Safety and Security summoned me. It was strange because I had never communicated with him before. I was surprised to see two security guards storming into my office, “Sir, the Minister of Safety and Security wants to see you”, they said. I asked for a reason but they could not answer. Instead they emphasized the message from the Minister. They took me out to their van and drove me to one of the prisons in Maputo. On arrival, I was searched and told that I was under arrest. “Why?” I asked.

One policeman answered, “The government is not happy with you. You are working with outsiders and might sell us back to the white people. The programme you want to start is the idea of white people from Brazil, and you know we fought to gain independence in this country.”

It was unfortunate, that during those days, Matola City was bombed by the then South African apartheid government who was looking for ANC exiles. I was said to be one of those who was networking with the then South African government.

That was not the only reason; I was accused of being an agent for the CIA. My contact with officials in Western Embassies, asking for funding, brought me under suspicion with FRELIMO security officials. My establishing of the Institute of International Relations was seen as a head office in Maputo to overcome the FRELIMO government.

I believed that I was persecuted because I refused to mimic the government’s inflammatory slogans, “Down with capitalism, down with capitalism, Viva socialism.” Or maybe it was that I was the most educated person among them. I was labeled an imperialist, a traitor and a CIA agent. My name and photograph was constantly in the newspapers, on radio and TV. I was referred to as an imperialist in books written in communist countries. During the FRELIMO’s rule, hundreds of civilians and soldiers were arrested on false charges of involvement with the CIA.

I hated Samora, and I hated those who were around him. People like Sergio Vieira, Armando Guebuza, Marcelino dos Santos and many others. By this time, Samora was showing signs of becoming a dictator.

I hated everything he was doing - the speeches he was making and the full day rallies he was organizing while the masses were suffering from hunger.

I hated the sjamboking of people in public, and the public confessing to things they had not done. I hated the removal of people from their places of birth, to far away places, under the Operation Production law put in place by Armando Guebuza. That law displaced our families to the extent that we still don’t know where they are today.

I hated the forceful abduction of people to the war camps, especially the youth. I failed to follow what he was doing, for I was not a communist. I was not like a chameleon. I remembered that I had once advised the Portuguese to allow us to study so that we may prevent communist rule in our country, but they did not take my advice and communism was the order of the day in Mozambique. I was very angry.

I hated his one party style of leadership and it became worse when he vowed, “ I
will never move from the Presidency and no one will remove me.” While people were dying of hunger, he would export food to Russia in exchange for guns. He also passed a law that said, “One kilogram per person for one month”. It meant that an individual should survive with a kilogram of mealie-meal or rice for one whole month. Sometimes, one would queue for an entire day without receiving anything.

I hated the forced labour system and the empty promises to the people. Mozambique was known as the PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE.

Samora Machel and his men were not the only ones I hated, for there was RENAMO on the other side. People were dying in the far north of Mozambique. People were living a miserable and enslaved life. People were forced to carry their own belongings over long distances to the RENAMO barracks. People were forced into sexual activities and their breasts, arms, feet and lips were amputated.

Pregnant women had their stomachs cut open and their babies were stamped to death. The situation was getting tense. I asked myself why the people of Mozambique were doing this after we had successfully defeated the Portuguese?

Why were we not united? No-one could answer me. FRELIMO accused RENAMO and RENAMO accused FRELIMO.

I was one of many people sent to prison. We were all believed to be spies. One of the men I remember was Alberto Santos. We were together in the same cell. He was not the only one. I was also with my former instructor from Nachingweya.

This was when we were still in Jamangwane Prison in Machava, Maputo. My training project stopped the day I was imprisoned. That is why, even today, our people lack the necessary skills.

I remember very well, just before I was imprisoned, the minister I was serving under, Joaquim Chissano, came under fire from the FRELIMO government. I know that this is a story he cannot tell now, but this is what happened. He was once jailed after he was accused of co-operating with the imperialists. Sergio Vieira (he was the Deputy Minister of Safety and Security by then) spread lies about Chissano while he was overseas. Vieira told Samora Machel that Chissano
was co-operating with the imperialists.

When Chissano returned from his overseas trip, he was imprisoned. He was then summoned by the then president, together with Vieira. The president told Vieira to repeat exactly what he had told him about Chissano, but he could not do so, and that’s how Chissano survived. What Viera said about Chissano were pure lies. I know that he wanted to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs but he couldn’t, because Samora Machel trusted Chissano, who had worked with him from the time of the struggle as a trustworthy man.

By that time, RENAMO was powerful, even after the death of its leader, Andrea, in the early 1980s. The fighting continued and, after Andrea’s death, the harassment of people worsened. RENAMO was now killing innocent people, even more so under Afonso Dhlakama. People’s lips were cut off so that they could go and laugh at Machel. Pregnant women’s wombs were cut open and children were stamped in mealie grinding containers. Although I was in prison, I could not
support RENAMO.

By that time, there were not too many Portuguese in Mozambique. Those who opposed Samora Machel were given 24 hours to leave Mozambique, by Armando Guebuza, and some were killed. On the other hand, FRELIMO would kill innocent people and claim it was the work of RENAMO.

Students were forced to leave school under the People’s Demand Law by Graça Machel, who was Minister of Education.