Life in Portugal - Chapter 15

I stayed in Portugal from 1986. I was earning a pension from the USA, for I had worked in the USA while I was a student. The first thing I did on arrival in Portugal, was to start an organization called ‘Friends of Mozambique’. That had been my purpose for going to Portugal, for it was easier to stay in touch with what was happening in Mozambique if one was in Portugal than in America.

The “Friends of Mozambique” was a Mozambican Association, which tried to get scholarships for the refugees who were in Portugal and paved the way for peace and democracy in our country. The organization helped many people who never came back, once they had finished their courses. I earned an extra income by working as a translator of Portuguese to English and French and vice versa.

On the 20th of October 1986, the news reached me that the President of Mozambique was involved in a plane crash. The news came while I was in my office. I was not surprised to hear that, for I knew that his friends would get rid of him. For me it was a relief. I saw it as a good way of starting a process to lead us to democracy. Our people were dying on the ruling side as well as on the Life and Walks of Dr. José C. Massinga Chapter 15: Life in Portugal opposition side. Mozambicans were killing one another. I was not shocked at all.

In a way, I felt that Samora was responsible for his own death for he chose socialism and rejected the principle that brought FRELIMO into existence, i.e. capitalism. I knew that Dr. Eduardo Mondlane was a democratic man who never thought Mozambique would be governed in the way Samora had done.

In 1987, I went to Nairobi in Kenya to talk to Daniel Arap Moi. I went to request assistance in freeing our people from misery. Daniel Arap Moi was very angry. He said that it was not possible because he was there when FRELIMO achieved independence for Mozambique. He even said, ‘You José, you were one of those who came to ask for assistance to free Mozambique. What kind of assistance do you need now, because blacks are ruling that country?’ I told him that blacks were killing one another. We needed help so that everyone would realize why Dr. Mondlane wanted democracy for our country. Apart from love, Dr. Mondlane had married a white lady as a symbol of unity with whites.

Finally, Arap Moi agreed to my request. He organised the Mozambican churches, and he asked me to get Afonso Dhlakama’s photograph so that he could issue a passport to him to cross the border via Malawi to Nairobi. FRELIMO were invited to a meeting which took place in Nairobi. It was the first meeting between FRELIMO and RENAMO after the death of Machel.

I organised Afonso’s photograph with the help of the Portuguese secret police. Afonso’s passport was made in Kenya, and RENAMO’s representative in the USA, Artur Velancolos, helped me to take it to Gorongosa (the RENAMO barracks). Alexandra was one of the priests I used to communicate with, who helped me to get in touch with church members. I did not attend the meeting and I heard that the two parties never came to an agreement.

I arranged another meeting between RENAMO and FRELIMO with the help of the Germans. We, the refugees, were mediators between the two parties. The meeting was a success despite the fact that the two leaders of the parties did not attend; the two parties agreed that it was the beginning of the road to peace.

Even during lunchtime, the representatives of the two parties sat together and were talking seriously and laughed. Representative, Aguiar Mazulu of FRELIMO, was heard saying that he had never thought that RENAMO people were people like him. In addition, RENAMO’s representative, Boa Ventura Lemane said, ‘You call us animals.’

After the conference in Portugal, Chissano was heard saying that Mozambique was tired of being helped by others to end the war. Mozambicans could do that for themselves. That is when I realised that we were heading for peace in Mozambique. After that, I contacted Pastor Mazulu,who was close to Chissano, with the aim of meeting Chissano, but with no success. The conference in Portugal was followed by the main conference in Rome, where a General Peace Agreement was signed. I was not there to represent the FRELIMO government; mainly because Sergio Vieira refused me the right to attend. I approached Chissano and he told me that they had enough representatives.

I approached Afonso Dhlakama with the aim of helping them with ways to approach FRELIMO, and he refused. That’s when I decided to forget about the conference.

I now saw the relevance of my future in Mozambique. After the signing of the peace agreement in Rome, I decided to return home. I travelled to Mozambique via the USA to bid my family farewell. I struggled for a while looking for a place in Maputo where I could stay. I stayed with my niece, Celia, for a week and then I rented an apartment with my nephew Joao’s help. From where I was staying, I organised my political activities. I then started a party called the National Democratic Party (PANADE). My nephew, Joao Chitofo, helped me start the party, although he was still working as a junior court judge in the FRELIMO one party system .