Maputo — "Our only consolation are the seeds that he left behind for the younger generations", declared Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano on Thursday, in his first official reaction to the death of the country's greatest poet, Jose Craveirinha.

Craveirinha died of cardio-vascular problems in a South African clinic at about 05.00 on Thursday morning.

Speaking to reporters, Chissano said Craveirinha "became an important person at the moments when he was unable to reveal all his talent, the moments of colonialism, the moments of suppression of our culture, and above all, of our desire for freedom and independence".

Craveirinha had a deep knowledge and love of Mozambican culture, the president recalled. He praised the work he had undertaken in the 1950s in the African Association of Lourenco Marques (as Maputo was then known), where he had even put on shows of the dance marrabenta, then despised by the colonial authorities as "the natives' dance".

"It was as from then that we saw marrabenta played in dance halls", Chissano said. "Our artists of those days used to think that playing this sort of music at gatherings of people who regarded themselves as civilised was degrading".

"We were concerned about Craveirinha's illness for a long time", Chissano added, "and there were times when we were convinced we would no longer have him with us. But he knew how to resist. His body and his mind resisted, and so we were able to pay tributes to him on several occasions, even when he was already ill".

Craveirinha had now lost his final battle. "He will no longer be here in person, but he has left seeds and they will be reproduced, and that is our only consolation", declared the president.