VISITORS   IN    FREE   MOZAMBIQUE
John Saul, a Canadian, visited
Tete Province at the same time
as the British Party. Mr. Saul is
a lecturer who spent seven years
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and
taught political science at the
University there. He is the author of several works on Tanzanian development and is no
stranger to the situation in
eastern and southern Africa but,
as he explains here, the reality
of revolution in Mozambique
exceeded his expectations.
When FRELIMO invited me to visit the
liberated areas of Mozambique this year
I did not expect to be surprised by what I
saw. After all, during my seven years of
residence in Dar es Salaam as a lecturer
at the University, during which time I
had taught courses on Southern Africa
among other things, I had followed
developments in Mozambique closely. I
had also been able to establish comradely
relationships with several FRELIMO representatives and militants and had learned something of the nature of their
struggle. I felt that I knew a great deal
and what I did not know I could imagine.
Yet the reality of military struggle and of
national reconstruction in Tete Province
which I visited in August far exceeded
anything that I had read of, discussed, or
even imagined. In the District of Fingoe,
which we walked 100 kilometres from the
border to reach, we found an on-going
FRELIMO political system growing right
up from the village level, we found
schools, hospitals and first aid posts, and
we found that the Portuguese could penetrate this area only rarely and then only
by jet planes and helicopters. Bear in
mind that this was an area where fierce
fighting had raged as recently as 1970.
Yet if I had been told in advance that
such a level of social and political infrastructure had been attained to in areas
of Cabo Delgado liberated since the mid-
sixties,  I  would  have been impressed!
It is impossible to summarize all my
observations here; it is probable that
only a book will prove adequate to the
task. But several points do stand out
particularly clearly in my mind even when
trying to sort out a myriad of impressions
only a few days after returning from Tete.
LESSON IN
REVOLUTION
FOR A
CANADIAN
LECTURER
One relates to the quality of leadership.
I was continually meeting cadres - very
often in their early twenties — at various
levels of the FRELIMO structure who
astonished me with their sure grasp of
the essentials of struggle and with their
obvious dedication and sense of commitment. I was tempted to contrast them,
perhaps unfairly, with too many of the
conservative students (of the same age
group) whom I had known at the University of Dar es Salaam. Certainly, after
drawing such a comparison the fields of
practice and of struggle come to seem
even better grounds for leadership than
much of the formal education system
which has been inherited elsewhere from
colonialism.
A second point concerns the close relationship between such leaders and the
people. Again, numerous examples of
methods of work which help to ensure
this result come to mind. But one incident  in  particular  suggests itself most
dramatically. In visiting a village of some
200 or 300 people we marched for over
an hour from a district headquarters with
a group of 40 or more armed men. Yet,
when we arrived in the village we were
warmly welcomed; more important, the
soldiers mixed freely with the villagers,
sitting casually with old women by the
fire as the latter cooked supper and so on.
It is difficult to imagine many countries
in the world where the arrival of a group
of soldiers (or even policemen!) would be
a signal for life to continue normally. Yet
in liberated Mozambique this is the order
of the day.
Thirdly, as a student of African affairs, I
was particularly interested in the role of
the military more broadly considered; it
is difficult not to consider the possible
dangers of militarism after the past decade of continental developments. Significantly, FRELIMO itself seemed e-
qually preoccupied with such problems -
and  even   with   any   future  danger for
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