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^ journalist in search of
the facts
Excerpts from articles on the Mozambique struggle written by
Mr  FERDINAND  RUHINDA, News Editor of the 'Nationalist'
I must admit that before I went to Mozambique I had hazy notions of a liberated zone. There were times I thought
this to be part of FRELIMO's propaganda and that if one dared to cross the
Ruvuma, one would immediately land
into Portuguese hands. A number of
persons I have talked to in Tanzania hold
similar views. When therefore I crossed
the Ruvuma, stepped on Mozambican
soil and looked around, I was a little disappointed to see nothing different from
what I had seen on crossing rivers in Tanzania. It was even difficult to believe
that I had crossed the border from free
and independent Tanzania into what some refer to as a Portuguese Overseas Province.
THE Portuguese claim that there are no
liberated areas in Mozambique. They say
that the «terrorists)) in Northern Mozambique have been overrun and that «acts
of terrorism)) which occur in these areas
are carried out by «communist agents))
from Tanzania who cross the Ruvuma
under cover of darkness and return the
FRELIMO's President (left) and Mr. F. Ruhinda
same night. During the period I was
guest of FRELIMO in the Niassa Province, a little over two weeks, I noticed
the Portuguese presence only in planes
flying overhead, in the marks of their
brutality on innocent villages and from
their Radio broadcasts. I was told that
the Portuguese have a dozen fortified
garrisons in the whole province manned
by a few hundred soldiers. We actually
passed near one of these garrisons at a
place known as Valadim on our way back.
But the Portuguese soldiers dare not venture out of these fortified garrisons. Their only way out is by air. All the roads,
and we crossed three, have been abandoned. Grass was already ankle deep on
two of the roads we crossed. I did not of
course see everything, but I saw enough
to convince me that the whole countryside is under the control of FRELIMO
and that there must be other areas in Mozambique which FRELIMO controls as
effectively.
BUT the liberation of zones does not consist merely of eliminating Portuguese con
trol. Liberation to FRELIMO means the
liberation of the people. «It is not enough
to drive the Portuguese from our areas
and then say we have liberated our country. We must also liberate the productive
forces of the people. We must liberate
their mentality and destroy all the forces
that combined with the Portuguese to oppress them.)) Comrade Samora explained.
He said, for example, that in the liberated
zones there was no corruption of any
kind, FRELIMO is also abolishing exploitation that used to be carried out
even by chiefs through metaphysical and
religious myths. «We are going ahead
with the constructing of a new society.
It is for these reasons that we call our
areas liberated zones,)) he added.
THE repressive regime of the Portuguese
in Niassa has been replaced by a peoples'
democracy, the evidence of which I saw
at the public meeting which Samora addressed on May 23, at Msawisi village a
day's march from the Central Base. About 300 peasants turned up for the meeting.
THE problems of the liberated zones are
many. In the Niassa region the peasants
are faced with lack of many things. The
schools, hospitals and shops which the
Portuguese used to run have been closed
down. It is FRELIMO which now runs
schools, hospitals and brings in consumer
supplies. It is a gigantic task of national
reconstruction and many problems are
facing both FRELIMO and the people.
I was told that there are over a million
people living in the liberated areas of
Mozambique, an eighth of the total population of the country but more than the
population of a number of independent
African states.
TWO important issues emerged at the
first public meeting we attended at Msawisi village, one of which was to recur
again and again at every other meeting
One is the participation of the peasantry
in the war of liberation and the other is
the question of the Mozambican refugees
in Tanzania.
The peasants' participation in the war of
liberation is at the moment limited to
transportation of materials from one place
to another, to the production cf food on
the land and the formation of militias for
the defence of their villages. It struck me
that the peasants would like to contribute more. Too many young men are demanding to join the regulars but FRELIMO has no facilities for all of them.
However, I noticed one danger from
some of the questions that were asked.