Mozambique: “Simango was the servant of his country”, says Nyusi – Watch

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Mozambique: “Simango was the servant of his country”, says Nyusi – Watch

9:14 CAT | 28 Feb 2021

Photo: TVM

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi declared on Saturday that the late mayor of Beira, and leader of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), Daviz Simango, “was more than just a political leader – he was the servant of his country”.

Simango died of illness in South Africa last Monday. The immediate cause of death was a heart attack, though it is known that he also suffered from diabetes.

Nyusi delivered the elegy at Simango’s official funeral in Beira, where he mourned a man who was both a political rival and a personal friend.

With the death of Daviz Simango “it is not only the MDM that feels an irreparable pain”, Nyusi said He too, “and all Mozambicans”, felt the grief that shook the Simango family.

Reported by the independent television station STV, Nyusi added that Simango will be “collectively remembered” for his work, shown from the moment that he took office as mayor of Beira, in 2004. He would also be remembered “for his commitment, righteousness and sense of state”.

Simango, he continued, “was a public servant, and a man of convictions who helped in solutions for peace in the country”. With his untimely departure, “Mozambique has lost an agent in the struggle for democracy”.

Although Simango had led an opposition party “he had a comprehensive vision of the national interest” and “he showed it was possible to attain political power without resort to guns”.

He did not lead Beira against the government or against other political parties, said Nyusi. “We worked together to mobilise important investments for Beira, such as the construction of drainage facilities”.

He recalled in particular that Simango had agreed to join him on a visit to Holland a few years ago, precisely to raise funds for Beira. From this joint effort, “it was Mozambique that won”.

One of the ways of honouring the memory of Simango, he said, “is to build bridges of dialogue, and to preserve his work, to defend the values of honesty, work and social justice. We shall honour him by putting an end to the armed attacks in Sofala and Manica provinces, combating terrorism in Cabo Delgado, and with the same strength defending the democratic rule of law, and fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic:”.

Simango’s oldest son, Uria, told the ceremony “understanding the purposes of God is often a very difficult task, particularly when we are burying a father who has left for the afterlife so early”.

Nonetheless, he was sure that Simango “will become an angel who will protect and illuminate our lives. This premature departure took us by surprise and has left an enormous vacuum in our hearts”.

Uria said that his father taught his children values such as “honesty, loyalty and love for one’s neighbour. Early on you taught us that you didn’t belong just to us. Your mission went well beyond the family”.

Simango’s children believed that their father “complied very well and with great determination and courage the purpose of his life on earth. Our father has gone. The man who dreamed of a ‘Mozambique for all’ (the main slogan of the MDM) has gone”.

Daviz Simango named his oldest son after his own father, the Presbyterian pastor Uria Simango, who become the deputy president of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) in the 1960s, but was later expelled from the movement. He was executed after independence – a stain on its history that Frelimo has never explained.

The MDM General Secretary, Jose Domingos, stressed that Daviz Simango had valued love for one’s neighbours and solidarity.

Simango “was an example of integrity in the management of public assets”, said Domingos, an example that MDM members intend to follow.

Mozambicans had been orphaned, he added. They had lost a father who “fought tirelessly for inclusion and for the well-being of the residents of Beira”,

Domingos noted that Simango had died before he could implement his dream of building 25,000 houses for young people in Beira. “But we shall continue the mission of creating a Mozambique for all”, he pledged.