“The history of Mozambique should be revised”

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“The history of Mozambique should be revised”

4:01 CAT | 26 Jun 2018

A revision of Mozambican history is needed, because some liberators of the motherland are now forgotten, and their achievements do not appear in the history of the country as it marks its 43rd year of independence.

Mozambique marked the 43rd anniversary of national independence yesterday. To celebrate the anniversary, President Filipe Nyusi presided over the official ceremony of the laying of a wreath in Heroes’ Square, in honor of the Mozambican heroes who directly or indirectly fought for the independence of the country, proclaimed on the 25th of June, 1975.

According to the head of state, Mozambicans only have value if they exist as a nation, and if Mozambicans are free in their own land.

Neutralization of armed groups

The Mozambican president stressed that the government would be relentless in neutralizing the armed groups that have carried out attacks in the north of the country, commending the performance of the Defense and Security Forces in the area.

“We will not rest until the perpetrators are neutralized and held accountable, and our Defense and Security Forces are on the ground, firm and relentless,” Filipe Nyusi said in a message to the nation in Maputo.

In Quelimane, former liberation combatants met on Monday afternoon with academics and students to reflect on the passing of this event.

Broadening the range of knowledge

The participants in the debate said that a revision of Mozambican history was necessary because some liberators of the motherland were forgotten and their deeds not recorded in the history of the country.

One of them, the philosopher David Mudzenguerere, said in an interview with DW Africa that the history of Mozambique had to be revisited in order to broaden the knowledge of future generations on this important subject.

“Forty-three years is not a short time … for the history that we have perhaps some details still need to be added. We already have several works that former combatants have written. We may not find great differences between the various texts written about our history. But something may still be missing,” Mudzenguerere says.

For the philosopher, marking another anniversary of Mozambique’s independence is a moment that “invites us to review our historical past, and if at some point there are certain aspects and relevant facts that should be included in our history, all of us as Mozambicans, fighters and liberators, it is time to rethink our history and reconstitute it.

This must be a challenge of our generation both of the youth and of the elders to accommodate all the efforts of those who have been at the forefront of the independence we celebrate. This moment invites us to rethink and see if there are no more facts to make a more inclusive history in the construction of this land”.

Mudzenguerere explained however that there is much information about the history of Mozambique that is dispersed, and that its reconstitution cannot be seen as a threat.

“In a context of intergenerational interaction, it costs nothing that texts already produced independently – memoires, autobiographies and so on – can be revised into something more enlightening and more consistent. I do not see any intergenerational conflict in sitting down and swapping ideas to see what we can do,” he concludes.

Attacks in northern Mozambique

But File Salato, head of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) in Quelimane Municipal Assembly, believes that the history of Mozambique is not what is being offered.

“The history of Mozambique is a fallacy. Mozambique is a whole, not just a politicized part of the southern region of the country.”

He criticizes the independence of Mozambique, which “this year is being celebrated with attacks and murders”, most notably in Mocímboa da Praia in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

“I say that the country is not independent, because there have been very few attacks and murders in Mocímboa da Praia, something that has not been allowed in an independent country for 43 years. The current government is crossing its arms as if nothing is happening, while people who are dying are our family members. The government must take urgent action,” he says

Identify the real heroes

Toair Manana Saide, a former Mozambican Liberation Fighter who also participated in the debate, said that “young people must know how to position themselves vis-a-vis Mozambican history. It is a process in which we must all participate, and we must identify the heroes and what they have done for this country. If they are heroes, this is no problem, but rather a challenge and an example for the youth who want to see this country on the path of progress and development”.

Source: DW