African unity

On this day in 1986, the apartheid regime in South Africa assassinated Samora Machel, Mozambique’s first president and one of Africa’s most fearless revolutionaries. Machel was returning from a regional summit in Zambia when his Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft veered off its intended flight path and crashed into a hillside near Mbuzini, inside apartheid South Africa, killing 35 of the 44 people aboard. Soviet investigations concluded that a false navigational beacon had diverted the aircraft from its intended route. South African radar tracked Machel’s aircraft as it entered restricted airspace, yet no warning was issued. South African security personnel were present at the crash site. Documents were also removed from the wreckage, and Mozambique was informed only hours later. The circumstances surrounding his assassination pointed directly towards the apartheid regime. Machel stood firmly against white-minority rule, supported liberation movements across Southern Africa, and gave the ANC a base from which to fight apartheid. Pretoria saw him as a threat to its racist domination of the region. They wanted to crush that resistance. Samora Machel was a revolutionary Africa could not afford to lose. The struggle for which he lived continues. A LUTA CONTINUA! 🇲🇿✊🏿