National Heroes, Uria Simango And Place Names Should Not Be Politicized, Says Frelimo In Beira, Mozambique

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National Heroes, Uria Simango And Place Names Should Not Be Politicized, Says Frelimo In Beira, Mozambique

2:09 CAT | 08 Dec 2015

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In file Club of Mozambique / Andre Matade Matsangaissa's Square in Beira's Munhava neighbourhood. Matsangaissa was Renamo's first military leader.

Beira, the second-largest city in Mozambique and one regarded as an opposition stronghold, is gearing up to change 900 colonial place names with those of “national heroes”, in a controversial process involving political parties and people’s suggestions.

Speaking to Lusa, Estefan Mataveia, head of the municipality majority Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) party, said that the city council was preparing to overhaul 900 names.

“There are many avenues, buildings and squares in our city with colonial names and the young generation does not know their history,” Mataveia said, proposing that this no longer makes sense in view of the country’s more recent past.

Beira’s place name reassignment process began with popular consultations in October, with a 30-day extension at the request of the city council. Agreed names will then be submitted to the Municipal Council Assembly and afterwards sent to the Council of Ministers.

One of the names which aroused controversy in the preliminary debates is that of Uria Simango, a co-founder of Frelimo (Liberation Front of Mozambique) executed for the alleged betrayal of his party, the father of the mayor of Beira and president of the MDM Daviz Simango.

“Given that, at independence, the one one-party regime was in power in the country and that now Beira is governed by the MDM, the people wondered how it could be”, and some names are still seen as “reactionaries”, he said.

Renamo is out

In parallel with the popular hearings, separate meetings were held with the MDM and Frelimo, the only parties represented in Beira since Renamo boycotted the last municipal elections.

António Domingos, head of Frelimo in the municipal government, says that the new place names must first bolster national unity.

“There is no politics here. We only have to know what a person did for the Mozambican people, or in sports or cultural life. And why not a Frelimo national liberation struggle combatant?” Domingos asks.

For the municipal deputy, Portuguese names should be replaced by “Mozambican heroes,” helping the new generation learn about the sacrifices they made for Mozambican independence.

“Mouzinho de Albuquerque, for example. He deported Gungunhana, the last king of Gaza, who became a symbol of resistance to colonialism. Does it make sense to keep his name?” he continues.

Frelimo does not however see why André Matsangaissa, founder of Renamo killed during the civil war with the government of Frelimo, should continue to lend his name to a square of Beira – the only one across the country – insisting that place names should not be politicized.

Source: Lusa