AFRICA should never accept as authentic the artificial borders separating close relatives, which were created as Western colonial powers scrambled for a lion’s share of territory from this vast continent after the Berlin Conference of 1884.
For instance, the part of southern Zaire which ‘intrudes’ into the Zambian Copper Belt area is a prima facie case of an unnatural demarcation of territory and its people.
The case of Namibia’s Caprivi Strip which suspiciously protrudes into Botswana, Angola and Zambia is yet another case of awkward demarcation of territory and its people.
There are several others.
Zimbabwe is no exception, for our eastern colonial border with Mozambique can easily be determined by thumbsuck.
And Mozambique is one country which demonstrated the nullity of artificial colonial boundaries during our liberation struggle.
To them, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans were one.
That is why, when Mozambique attained independence on June 25 1975, Cde Samora Machel, their President, had no problem in making available to ZANLA cadres the
1 100-km border for their incursions into Rhodesia.
Zimbabweans who had been subjected to years of dehumanising institutionalised racial segregation accepted the offer with both hands.
With the border now open, thousands of Zimbabweans, mostly secondary school students, flooded Mozambique after June 1975, to get military training.
Here was a chance to rid ourselves of racist suppression through the gun.
While FRELIMO felt duty-bound to assist their ZANLA counterparts, racist forces were not sitting idle.
With the defeat of the Portuguese, who used to be helped by Rhodesians to fight FRELIMO in order to keep ZANLA at bay, Ian Smith’s situation became untenable.
What with the closure of access to the Mozambican ports.
However, as racists with permanent interests, apartheid South Africa, for a while thought it could rescue its neighbour.
Together with Rhodesia, they did what they could to destabilise Mozambique’s economy, including the creation of RENAMO, a bandit organisation meant to divide Mozambicans.
But the harder they tried, the more determined Mozambique was to help Zimbabwe.
Mozambican bridges were destroyed and disrespect of the country’s territorial integrity saw Rhodesian war mongers fly into a sovereign state to bomb refugee camps.
Despite all this, President Machel declared that so long as Zimbabwe was not free, Mozambique would not consider itself free.
Mind you, this was in spite of the artificial colonial boundary between the former Portuguese colony and racist Rhodesia.
Eventually, however, the determination of colonial victims bound together by the conviction that they were one despite the colonial artificial borders won the day.
The superior weaponry and moral support by their Western kith and kin proved no match to the just cause of the oppressed.
We eventually got our independence.
What is clear from the Mozambican example is, despite difficulties and a combined siege from racist forces, Africa can unite and fight a common cause.
When in 1963 African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Ben Bellah, Abdel Nasser, Emperor Haile Selassie and Sekou Toure, among others, formed the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) the love of a member of one’s continent as demonstrated by Cde Machel, is no doubt what they had in mind.
Certainly Cde Machel belongs to this rare breed.
Africa’s attitude towards one’s neighbour should not be guided by the colonial artificial boundaries.
What should guide Africa is the realisation that they have been victims of racist exploitation since the days of slavery.
Sometimes we have to give the devil his due.
The West is always united when it comes to tackling a common cause.
Machel did it when an African brother was in need, regardless of the consequences.
Thank you Mozambique.
We wish you a happy 41st Uhuru anniversary.