15 August 2008
analysis
Maputo — After the death of Mozambique's first President, Samora Machel, in 1986, there was indeed a switch in the country's economic organisation that facilitated corruption, declares Sergio Vieira, one of the leading intellectuals on the left of the ruling Frelimo Party, in a lengthy interview published in Friday's issue of the weekly paper "O Pais".
The change in economic policy, as the country dumped its planned economy and embraced the market, "facilitated the emergence of negative phenomena, such as corruption and the hoarding of state property", said Vieira, who was security minister under Machel, and currently heads the Zambezi Valley Planning Office.
He recalled that, two months before Machel's death, he saw a report from European Union ambassadors saying "it was very difficult to do certain things in Mozambique, that the government of Mozambique was incorruptible".
Could anyone say the same today?, asked the interviewer. "I think not", replied Vieira.
When talking of matters such as corruption, citizens frequently say "if Samora were alive, this wouldn't have happened". Did Vieira agree with that assessment?
"There's one thing I know", he replied. "Samora Machel was not a man who wanted property. From that point of view, he was completely disinterested".
Summarising the change in economic system, Vieira quoted the country's most prominent architect, Jose Forjaz, who remarked "we've abandoned a good system which has mistakes, for a bad system which contains some good things".
Asked if he remains a marxist, Vieira replied "Absolutely! Because the principles of political economy, the principles of political materialism, of dialectical materialism, have not yet been surpassed as scientific instruments".
That did not mean that the works of Marxist thinkers should be treated as a bible. In particular, Vieira criticized Lenin for his belief that it was possible to jump from a backward, pre-capitalist society straight to socialism.
"Marx said you don't pass from one mode of production to another by mere good will", he said. "Each stage of production must be exhausted before moving to the following stage". Vieira has thus adopted positions similar to those of Lenin's critics in the early 20th century, notably the German social democratic leader, Karl Kautsky.
Asked about the night of Machel's death, Vieira revealed that the President had ignored guidelines from himself, as security minister, and from Defence Minister Alberto Chipande not to fly at night.
There was an "absolute ban" on the President traveling at night. But on 19 October 1986, Machel wanted to return urgently to Maputo, after a regional summit in Zambia. Vieira said there was "a birthday he wanted to celebrate" - though hitherto, it has always been said that Machel had scheduled a meeting of the General Staff of the armed forces for the following morning, at which he intended to make changes in the military leadership.
"At the door of the aircraft, the captain said "I have orders not to fly at night". The President asked "Orders from whom". The pilot responded "from the defence and security ministers". Samora said "I'm the commander-in-chief". If the captain of the plane had been a civilian, he would have refused, but since he was a soldier, he saluted the President and obeyed his orders". Vieira gave no source for this dialogue - but it must have been one of the survivors of the plane crash.
"All great men have great defects", said Vieira. The plane's Soviet crew than phoned him and said they were taking off "because the commander-in-chief gave the order".
This was not the first time Machel overrode security norms. Vieira recalled arguing with him immediately prior to independence when Machel wanted to travel in an open vehicle from Maputo airport to the presidential palace, and Vieira, thinking it too dangerous, advised "if you want to die, die after you've proclaimed independence".
"He was like that right up to his death", Vieira recalled. "Samora was a man of great integrity and of great daring, and he did not always obey protocol or security norms".
As for the claim that there must have been "an internal hand" in the plane crash because "great figures of Frelimo" did not die alongside Machel, Vieira pointed out that the Foreign Minister (later President) Joaquim Chissano, could not go to the Zambia summit because he was in New York, at the UN General Assembly. But the Deputy Foreign Minister, Jose Lobo, did go - and died with the President when the plane crashed into the hillside at Mbuzini, in South Africa.
As for himself, he did not go to Zambia, because he had returned from a meeting in Botswana the previous day, and Machel told him to stay in Maputo.
He recalled that those who pushed the "internal hand" theory had even tried to drag the Maputo air traffic controller into the conspiracy, claimed that he had turned off the runway lights. That was a lie, said Vieira, and the runway was fully lit all night.
Asked about claims that Machel was still alive after the crash, Vieira (who headed the government delegation sent to recover the bodies) said that when he saw the President's body, his skull seemed crushed, and the autopsy showed that death had been instantaneous.
But, apart from the nine people who did survive the crash, there were others who could have been saved, if medical help had arrived in time, including Machel's two Cuban doctors. But the South African troops who arrived at the crash site showed no interest in helping any survivors. They were only interested in searching for documents and for Machel's body.
Vieira has no doubt that the plane crash was an assassination, and that the apartheid military had used sophisticated equipment to lure the plane away from its correct flight path. He recalled that the South African Foreign Minister, Pik Botha, phoned him up the night after the crash and claimed that the Soviet pilots were to blame because they were drunk. But the autopsies showed they had no alcohol in their bodies other than the small amounts produced naturally during decomposition.
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