19-29 October 1986: University Students Protest Death of Mozambique's President

Denver, Colorado, March 30, 2023

During my year at the University of Botswana, students held at least two protests.  The first occurred during the week after the October 19 death of Mozambique’s President, Samora Machel, in a plane crash.  The incident occurred on the South Africa – Mozambique border when Machel and a large entourage were flying back to the Mozambican capital, Maputo, after a meeting of southern Africa’s Frontline State leaders in Zambia.

Machel’s death was front-page news in the Botswana press.  The photo in this article shows Machel during a visit to Gaborone.  Botswana’s President, Quett Masire, is to Machel’s left.

 

In Botswana, Zimbabwe, and other Frontline States, Machel’s death was immediately blamed on South Africa which was accused of sabotaging the plane.  University of Botswana students marched on President Masire’s offices in protest to push the Botswana government to demand a full investigation of the crash and express their anger at the South African government.  


I followed the students who marched on the Presidential offices in Gaborone taking care to be discrete with my camera.  I didn’t want to get busted by the police as a suspected South African spy.  The Botswana flag at half-mast in front of the building signified the country’s official mourning of Machel’s death.    

 

A commission, set up by the South African government, investigated the crash.  It was concluded that the accident was caused by pilot error (the pilots were Russian).  Despite participation by international representatives in the investigation and its acceptance by the International Civil Aviation Organization, suspicions have lingered for years as to whether South Africa was somehow involved.  The Soviet Union even claimed that the pilots were lured off-course by decoy radio signals.  Machel was a Marxist and ally of the Soviets, and the Pretoria government certainly had no love for him.     

The following week, I went on a class field trip with Paul Shaw’s geomorphology class to Letlhakeng, two hours northwest of Gaborone.  One of the great bennies of my job was being able to tag along on these trips to see and learn more about Botswana.  After one of our stops on this particular trip, our university bus became stuck in the mud.  The students rallied behind the bus and pushed her free getting splattered with mud in the process.  


Professor Paul Shaw (red & white hat, wearing shorts) discussing the calcrete cap rock in this area of karst (limestone) topography 110 km northwest of Gaborone.  



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