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“Marcelino lives on in each of us”
7:48 CAT | 19 Feb 2020
Photo: Noticias
“Marcelino dos Santos has not departed – he lives on in each Mozambican”, declared President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday.
He was delivering the funeral eulogy for dos Santos, the veteran revolutionary and founder member of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) who died last week at the age of 90. Dos Santos is one of only a handful of people declared national heroes during their lifetime: he was awarded the title by Nyusi on 2015.
Addressing the open coffin, lying in state in Maputo City Hall, Nyusi recalled “you told us that a people can never say goodbye to its history”.
He was citing an earlier funeral eulogy – the speech given by dos Santos himself at the funeral of the country’s first President, Samora Machel in October 1986 – and he recalled that it was from the voice of Marcelino dos Santos, broadcast over Radio Mozambique, that the country first learned of the death of President Samora.
Dos Santos had also insisted, Nyusi added, that “as long as there is a revolution to be made, there is no time to die. So how can we say goodbye to you?”
He recalled one of dos Santos’s best known poems, “E’ preciso plantar” (“We must plant”), and declared “you taught us to plant the cause of independence”.
“We shall plant more trees of independence that will make Marcelino’s presence eternal”, he added.
Dos Santos had died “at a key moment in our history”, said Nyusi, “when forces foreign to the interests of Mozambicans are seeking to put a brake on our march to peace and to our economic and social emancipation”, referring obliquely to the islamist insurgency in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
He pledged that, in the face of the current threats, “we shall not vacillate. We swear to defend with our lives every inch of our territory, we shall defend our sovereignty and our national unity, and all the gains that our people have made”.
Nyusi revealed that, during one of his recent periods of illness, dos Santos had declined an offer of medical care in India. “I had to go personally to his house to persuade him to accept the offer”, the President said.
Later, doctors insisted that dos Santos should continue treatment abroad, in countries such as Portugal, Cuba or South Africa, and again he refused. Nyusi recalled him as saying “use the money for people who really need treatment abroad”.
Nyusi concluded his speech with a further quote from the eulogy given by dos Santos at Samora Machel’s funeral: “To the earth we deliver your body, but you remain with us”.
During the ceremony some of dos Santos’s poetry was declaimed, and a choir sang songs from the national liberation struggle. The words of some of these were changed for the occasion. Thus the lyrics to the best known of all liberation songs, “Khanimambo Frelimo” (“Thank you, Frelimo”), were altered to become “Khanimambo Marcelino”.
The main opposition party, Renamo, frequently boycotts state events – but this time Renamo leader Ossufo Momade was present, as were several Renamo parliamentarians.
At the close of the ceremony, the coffin was closed and driven to Maputo’s Monument to the Mozambican Heroes. There dos Santos, who held the rank of Major-General in the Mozambican armed forces, was buried with full military honours, including a 19 gun salute. He now lies beside others who devoted their lives to the country’s independence, including Eduardo Mondlane and Samora Machel.
Source: AIM
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