HomeOld_PostsMachel and Sankara: Heroes who never died

Machel and Sankara: Heroes who never died

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BOTH Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara and Samora Moises Machel’s profiles had the billing of unmissable renowned global leaders, but the hands of the West and apartheid South Africa blighted the month of October by murdering these two great African leaders.
For Zimbabweans, both presidents were more than friends.
Zimbabweans happily embrace memories of these two legendary men whose stories and inspiration will forever remain etched in their hearts.
Machel helped Zimbabwe attain independence, while Sankara’s robust pan-Africanist stance resonated with Harare’s drive to uplift the lives of the majority.
On October 19 1986, Machel was killed in an air disaster when the plane he was travelling on was lured to crash in South Africa.
The crash had the workings of apartheid South Africa.
The mercurial Machel, born on September 29 1933, in a village in the District of Gaza in the south of Mozambique, led his country’s fight against colonial Portugal and became one of the continent’s finest leaders.
Soon after attaining independence in 1975, Machel’s Government moved quickly to bring key areas in Mozambique previously controlled by the colonialists under state control.
He nationalised all the land in Mozambique through a policy that saw individuals and institutions ceding control of the asset to the state on a lease agreement basis.
On July 24 1975, a month after independence, he also nationalised health and education institutions. 
A fierce champion of black empowerment, Machel set up national health and education services and all private schools and clinics were abolished.
During Mozambique’s first decade of independence, Samora Machel or ‘President Samora’, as he was popularly known in Mozambique, faced the immensely difficult task of national reconstruction.
He spearheaded socialisation of services and nationalisation of wealth and oversaw the transformation of FRELIMO into a Marxist-Leninist party in 1977. 
On February 3 1976, during a rally, he announced that his government had nationalised all rented housing.
“Landlords? What do we want landlords in our country for?” asked Machel.
Private ownership of houses was not banned.
Anyone, Mozambican or foreign, could own a house for his/her own use, but building private property for rent was forbidden.
This changed the face of Mozambican cities as black Mozambicans moved from the suburbs into blocks in the centre of the cities, occupying houses and flats once owned by Portuguese landlords, many of which had now been abandoned.
On the other hand, the story of Sankara, one of Africa’s most illustrious sons, cannot be fully told without pointing to his anti-imperialist stance and his championing of women’s rights.
The inspirational Sankara was assassinated in a coup d’état on October 15 1987, widely believed to have been orchestrated by Blaise Kampaore with the help of the West.
Sankara, an extraordinary and charismatic African leader, who strongly believed in African unity, the African liberation struggle, it’s social and economic freedom, had a few months before his untimely demise visited Zimbabwe during the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit held in Harare.
During the visit, Sankara went to the high density suburbs of Highfield and Mbare where he mingled with the people.
Below are some of his achievements as leader of the West African Nation:
l He vaccinated 2,5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles in a matter of weeks.
l He initiated a nationwide literacy campaign, increasing the literacy rate from 13 percent in 1983 to 73 percent in 1987.
l He planted over 10 million trees to prevent desertification.
l He built roads and a railway to tie the Nation together, without foreign aid.
l He appointed females to high Government positions, encouraged them to work, recruited them into the military and granted pregnancy leave during education.
l He outlawed female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy in support of women’s rights.
l He sold off the government fleet of Mercedes Benz cars and made the Renault 5 (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car for the ministers.
l He reduced the salaries of all public servants, including his own and forbade the use of government chauffeurs and first class airline tickets.
l He redistributed land from the feudal landlords and gave it directly to the peasants. Wheat production rose in three years from 1 700 kg per hectare to 3 800 kg per hectare, making the country food self-sufficient.
l He opposed foreign aid, saying: “He who feeds you, controls you.”
l He spoke in forums like the then Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) against continued neo-colonialist penetration of Africa through Western trade and finance. He called for a united front of African nations to repudiate their foreign debt.
l In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army’s provisioning store into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country).
l He forced civil servants to pay one month’s salary to public projects.
l He refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabes.
l As President, he lowered his salary to US$450 a month and limited his possessions to a car, four bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer. A motorcyclist himself, he formed an all-women motorcycle personal guard.
l He required public servants to wear a traditional tunic, woven from Burkinabe cotton and sewn by Burkinabe craftsmen. (The reason being to rely upon local industry and identity rather than foreign industry and identity)
When asked why he didn’t want his portrait hung in public places, as was the norm for other African leaders, Sankara replied: “There are seven million Thomas Sankaras.”
An accomplished guitarist, he wrote the new national anthem himself.
There is no doubt Machel and Sankara were some of Africa’s greats and there is no better time to remember them like in the month of October.
It is the month they faded away because heroes never die.
Let those with ears listen.

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