Face to face with Samora machel’s pistol
3 min read
By Margaret Kamba
When I visited Mozambique some years ago during an official assignment, you could tell the nationals were very happy with their hero and man of the people, Samora Machel.
Knowing very well how he had been instrumental in the liberation of my country, Zimbabwe, it was prudent for me to buy a book that spoke about this selfless man who demonstrated that indeed the freedom of Mozambique was incomplete without that of the region.
The book entitled “Samora Man of the People”, I got to appreciate today, years later, as the different comrades narrated the steps walked by the visionary leader, as we interviewed many of them in preparation for another book by Professor Allen Isaacman and his wife Barbara.
The common camps in the photo biography, such as Nachingwea, where Cde Joseph Khumalo stayed with Cde Machel, are well appreciated.
What topped the icing of the cake in the first batch of the interviews was Cde Khumalo’s exhibition of the late President Samora Machel’s pistol and binoculars, which he said were given by President Machel during the line of fire when his pepeshe from the DRC jammed.
I could picture myself being present in that fierce gun fight that sought to take the life of Machel who had become very instrumental in the attainment of independence Zimbabwe.
“Between 1972 and 1973, Samora had started moving to different places like Manica, Zambezi and to Dande. The MMZ (Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe) border. Someone had been captured from FRELIMO and another from ZANU and they had disclosed the information that Samora was going around the Provinces,” Cde Khumalo said.
“Mercenaries from South Africa, Israel, and Rhodesia then attacked Samora. I was part of that fierce battle to protect Samora in 1973 at the Mukumbura border. The battle was fierce it went on for two hours. We were with his commanders, Karuru Osapezeka, Binda, Shatel, Shakeshake, and Zhuao.
“Shatel and Shakeshake had formerly been FRELIMO and were given to us so they could reinforce the ZANLA forces.
We defended Samora because of what he was doing for us. He was telling the people by the border to support us by giving us everything that we needed.”
Cde Khumalo disclosed that “the mercenaries had also been hunting for Joseph Khumalo because they had been told that if they captured me, then the war would be over,” he said
“It was during those two hours of intense gun fire exchange that Cde Samora gave Cde Khumalo his pistol, binoculars, and submachine gun.”
At this time, Cde Khumalo opens his bag to take out the pistol and the binoculars.
The gun in its beautiful brown leather case and the binoculars also in their own are put on the table.
We are all excited to see the equipment as though we are seeing the dead man alive.
He takes out the pistol first, and we begin taking photos of it. It is like we are living in that historical moment where we meet the late legendary hero President Samora Machel.
Who knows how long he had this equipment and to think at that moment he felt the need to hand over these to a fellow comrade in arms? He did, and had he not done so, God knows what could have happened.
The selflessness of this leader is beyond measure indeed, which is why Cde Khumalo emphasizes that “Samora was showing so much interest in ZANU and that’s why we became part and parcel of him. We learnt a lot of political orientation from Samora and Mozambique. Even discipline because Samora always talked about it and that we needed to understand what the people say to us.”
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