Ramaphosa pays tribute to 'African giant' Dr Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday urged leaders to educate and provide young people with tools that will enable them to continue to fight poverty and unemployment.

Not only that, he also believes that the youth should be helped to become “conscious, active and responsible citizens”.

“We must draw inspiration from the life of Dr [Eduardo] Mondlane to confront the challenges of underdevelopment, lack of diversity in our economies, slow industrialisation, widespread poverty, youth unemployment, insecurity, climate change and the current Covid-19 pandemic,” said Ramaphosa.

The president was speaking during the 53rd commemoration of the assassination of Mondlane, the founder and first president of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo).

Ramaphosa, in his capacity as the chair of the South African Development Community (Sadc) organ on politics, defence and security co-operation, is on a working visit to Mozambique at the invitation of President Filipe Nyusi.

His office said during the trip Ramaphosa — who is accompanied by deputy minister of international relations and co-operation Candith Mashego-Dlamini and deputy minister of defence and military veterans Thabang Makwetla — will also visit military troops that are part of the Sadc mission in Mozambique (Samim).

Honouring Mondlane and his son, Ramaphosa said: “Dr Eduardo Mondlane was a giant of the Mozambican liberation struggle, a revolutionary pan-Africanist and an unquestionable internationalist who paid the ultimate price for the freedom of his people.

“We therefore have a revolutionary duty, in his honour, to continue the fight against racial discrimination, oppression and inequality wherever they occur and whatever form they take.”

Ramaphosa said Mondlane stood for “human dignity, equality, freedom and social justice”.

“He fiercely fought against the racial inequality and oppression upon which colonialism was founded. A revered scholar and academic, Dr Mondlane chose the difficult path of a revolutionary, to fight for national liberation, justice, equality and the restoration of the dignity of the oppressed.”

Ramaphosa said Mondlane deeply loved humanity and that the unity of the Mozambican people against colonialism was “best expressed in the unity of Frelimo and became the basis for the defeat of the colonisers”.

Ramaphosa said SA and Mozambique share a special relationship, which was forged over the long struggle against colonialism and apartheid.

“Our relationship is a reflection of the personal sacrifices made by the people of Mozambique in their support for South African freedom fighters. The people of Mozambique understood that without the liberation of SA there could never be freedom in Southern Africa.

“SA will always be grateful for this profound gesture from the people of Mozambique, who risked life and limb for the freedom of their neighbours. The history of our liberation struggle binds us together.  

“The solidarity and comradeship between our liberation movements continues to inspire us to work harder for our people in pursuit of our shared vision for the Sadc region and the African continent.”

Ramaphosa said Mondlane’s lifelong commitment to the emancipation of the people of Africa “should inspire us as we continue to seek justice and freedom for those who are still oppressed and colonised”.

 “We must continue strengthening our economic relations by enhancing co-operation among our people and increasing trade and investment between our countries.

 “We must strengthen our partnership to pursue our common objectives, which are the promotion of peace and security, sustainable economic development as well as regional and continental integration.

 “We must intensify our efforts to silence the guns on our continent, because there can be no economic development or social progress where there is conflict,” said Ramaphosa.

He said he was pleased that he will have the opportunity to visit the Sadc mission in Mozambique to commend their efforts towards the restoration of peace and stability in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The province has been plagued by Islamist insurgency. 

In June last year, TimesLIVE reported that the Sadc extraordinary summit approved the deployment of a Sadc standby force rapid deployment capability mission in Mozambique from July 15 with a mandate to combat acts of terrorism and violent extremists in Cabo Delgado province.

When the regional leaders met in October last year they agreed to extend the Sadc mission in Mozambique (Samim) deployment until January 15 at a cost of almost R1bn to the SA taxpayer.

Last month when Sadc leaders met, they decided that the mission should be extended.