for women. Women must know the work
their husbands are doing, particularly in
time of war. There are some people who
think that women cannot do anything
when men are not around. But this is
insulting to our Mozambican women. They
have already shown that they can take
initiatives and responsibility when given
the chance. This opportunity was denied
them by the colonialists and even by our
traditional society. But now with the
revolution this has changed. We have
women on the Central Committee and
have women at the War Command, and
are always doing our utmost to raise the
status of women. Some of our women
trained and experienced in Cabo Delgado
and Niassa are now working in Tete.
Another member of the Committee, comrade Shaban Namwelo, speaks about the
successes they have achieved in the zone,
specially in increasing production. He
says that for more than 6 months the
enemy has not entered their region, and
that peace is complete there. Comrade
Samora:
«We have achieved much but we must not
pause in the struggle, we must continue
the fight and in particular in areas like
this, from where the enemy has been
driven out, we must never relax but be
constantly vigilant. You know that when
a crocodile bites someone and that person
escapes, the animal will walk for many
miles following the scent of the blood.
It is the same with the Portuguese enemy.
He is now in the town - isolated - but he
is always making plans to come out again
and carry on what he started. We have
the advantage because this is our home,
and just as a woman knows where is her
fire and her pans, so we know where are
our weapons, we know the terrain, what
products grow well, things that the Portuguese have to make long studies before
they can discover. I have been marching
for some weeks in Tete province and
have seen that we have already cultivated
very much here. But we must be aware
that the enemy can still come and try to
destroy everything. In some regions where
the people had good production and had
come to take their peace too much for
granted, the people used to dance at
night. But then the next day they were
not fit for work. It is also at such time
that different kinds of vices appear, and
this is very bad for the war, and also there
sometimes appear those people who try
to live off the work of others, stealing
instead of working. This is against our
life and our independence. We must build
a healthy society where men and women
respect and love each other. This is the
only way to build a strong Mozambique.
10
In connection with a discussion which ensues on the fact that the Portuguese are
trying to alienate some people from the
struggle by giving them some privileges
and cutting down certain taxes, FRELIMO's President replies:
«At the beginning I said that we must
know what we are fighting for. Many
comrades have spoken about all that they
suffered under the Portuguese, and nearly
all of them spoke of the oppressive taxes
and beatings. If these things were stopped,
would we then stop fighting? Of course
not. Because we are fighting Portuguese
colonialism of which these are just one
aspect. After independence we will have
a government that will need taxes to
build up our country and to do things for
our people. All the things that FRELIMO
does now will be government tasks then.
The taxes we give the Portuguese are bad
because the money does not stay here
and does not benefit our people, it benefits
the Portuguese. The bad thing is not to
pay taxes, but the way the money is used.
It should be used to develop our agriculture not Portuguese settlements, to improve our health, give us an education,
improve our transport. All that the Portuguese have ever done in this field has been
with the intention of increasing their
exploitation of us. And even if they build
hospitals and schools, the struggle must
still continue against them. In the first
place, the concession of some material
advantages or privileges by the Portuguese
to Mozambicans would be just a deceptive
manoeuvre to try to alienate our people
from the revolution. We must be aware
of this and vigilant. And in any case, the
basic issue is the one of our independence.
And colonialism means domination. We
are already building ourselves schools,
hospitals, shops and improved agriculture
in the liberated areas. And they are serving
us and not a foreign group or a foreign
country.
One fighter, comrade Lakeyo Mgana, asks
about the best way to defend their camps
and methods for improvement in production. Comrade Samora summarisesthe
directives: extend the war to new zones,
and work collectively.
((Together we are all building a new life
in Mozambique. When the war started we
had only light weapons, later came the
automatic weapons, bazookas and mines.
Then the enemy abandoned the roads.
Later there came heavy weapons so that
we could attack the enemy from afar.
Then we were able to start cultivation in
peace. The production you are doing here
is due to the fact that you always carry
far to advance zones to permit the fighting
comrades to spread the war there. As
there is no forced labour here you have
committees to decide on transport, just
as you have committees in many other
fields.
(dn production you are growing new
crops introduced to you by FRELIMO.
You produce more than before in order
to feed the fighters and also to be able to
exchange some for clothing. You are able
to do this because although one man alone
might be able to produce enough to feed
himself, he cannot produce more and
therefore you began to work together in
cooperatives. You must continue to work
collectively and increase production of
those crops formerly unknown in Tete
and recently introduced - particularly
those that are adapted to war conditions,
which are more resistant to bombing
raids and grow easily.
((When we started the war, the Portuguese
despised us. They said we would never be
able to fight them. At the beginning
they would conceal the facts about the
struggle, particularly about the deaths of
Portuguese soldiers. Only reports about
the Africans in the Portuguese forces
were given and they would show pictures
of these to the populations in an attempt
to mobilise them by showing that FRELIMO killed black people. When the
Portuguese killed children in their operations they told the people that they were
killed by FRELIMO. And all the time
they concealed the war. When foreign
newspapers wrote about the war in Mozambique the Portuguese would deny it.
When the struggle spread to Tete they
denied this too for a long time. They
claimed that it was just people from
Zambia who were causing disturbances
here. But even though the Portuguese use
such tactics of lies, we must never hide
the truth. To do this is like rubbing fire
with grass. Today the Portuguese have
been forced to change their tune. At the
beginning they said we were small groups
of bandits but now they are going through
the world asking for weapons to fight us.
((Our main objectives are to expel the
Portuguese and to liberate our country -
to liberate everyone, men, women and
children. And by liberating we mean not
only from Portuguese colonialism, but
also to establish a new life for our people
with justice and equality, a society where
no exploitation will be possible. In their
propaganda outside the enemy say that
we are Portuguese. But by our struggle
and our work we are showing them and
the rest of the world that we are not
and never will be Portuguese. Our country, Mozambique will be free. A LUTA
CONTINUA.))