14 December 2011
Maputo — South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday pledged that his government’s commitment to “a full investigation” into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mozambique’s first President, Samora Machel, is “unwavering”.
Machel died on 19 October 1986 when his plane crashed into a hillside at Mbuzini, just inside South Africa. It is widely believed that the crash was engineered by the apartheid military, who diverted the plane from its correct flight path by using a pirate radio beacon broadcasting on the same frequency as the Maputo airport beacon.
Addressing the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on the second day of his state visit, Zuma said he wanted “to pay homage and respect to the people of Mozambique for their unstinting support for the liberation of the people of South Africa. The support this country gave to us in the fight against apartheid is immeasurable”.
“The people of Mozambique faced hardships while supporting their South African brothers and sisters who were fighting the apartheid monster”, he added. “But they soldiered on, and the people of South Africa will never forget what this country sacrificed for South Africa to be free”.
Among those sacrifices was the death of Samora Machel. “Mozambique is a country that lost its leader in mysterious circumstances because of his support for the liberation of his sisters and brothers across the border who were still toiling under the yoke of apartheid”, Zuma declared.
The struggle today, he continued, “is no longer about national liberation, which we have obtained. The fight is now against destitution, poverty, underdevelopment with the ultimate aim to attain the economic and developmental emancipation of all our peoples”.
“This struggle is proving more difficult than we thought”, Zuma admitted. “It requires that we work together in the same manner we did during the fight against colonialism and apartheid”.
He noted that Mozambique is one of South Africa’s top trading partners on the continent, and applauded Mozambique “for its investment attractiveness due to its conducive regulatory framework and legislative environment, making the country a model for doing business”.
“South Africa, the region and the continent have a lot to learn from Mozambique regarding its ability to catch the attention of investors”, he said.
The South African government uses the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) “as a catalyst for investments and development in Mozambique”. Zuma said that currently “40 per cent of IDC’s financial exposure on the continent is in Mozambique, to the tune of 1.76 billion rand” (about 211 million US dollars).
Zuma expressed pride that South African investments in Mozambique “have become an integral part of efforts to boost economic growth and create employment opportunities, thus making a contribution in fighting against poverty”.
He called upon the private sectors of both countries “to identify major investment opportunities for Mozambican companies in South Africa, share knowledge, expertise and technological know-how with each other and identify joint partnerships and joint ventures”.
On security matters, Zuma said that the Somali pirate raid in the Mozambique Channel in December 2010 (when a Mozambican fishing vessel, the “Vega 5”, was hijacked) “was a wake-up call to the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region that we are not immune from this phenomenon”.
“It is clear that our waters and the Mozambique Channel in particular have become an attractive alternative to Somali pirates as they try to avoid the clampdown by various maritime task forces around the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden”, he continued.
Hydrocarbon discoveries and exploration (notably off the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado), and the fact that six million tonnes of oil is shipped around South Africa’s western coastline every month made these waters “a prime target for pirates”.
Zuma said he was pleased that Mozambique and South Africa are meeting the piracy challenge “head-on”. An Anti-Piracy and Maritime Security Memorandum has been signed between the two countries, providing the framework “for our two countries to further cooperate in dealing with the scourge of piracy”.
He thanked Mozambique for its “constructive engagement” during last week’s United Nations climate change conference in Durban. Zuma believed the conference had produced a “stunning outcome” which “has rescued climate change talks and provided renewed hope for the world”.
“We arte proud that such a landmark deal was struck on African soil”, he declared. “It proves that our methods of negotiations and of doing things generally in Africa are effective and that we have a lot to teach the world”.
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Mozambique: Zuma Promises ‘Full Investigation’ Into Samora Machel’s Death