Eduardo Mondlane
Encyclopedia
Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane (June 20, 1920, Manjacaze
, Gaza Province
- February 3, 1969) served as President of the Mozambican Liberation Front
(FRELIMO) from 1962, the year that FRELIMO was founded in Tanzania
, until his assassination in 1969.
chieftain of the Bantu
-speaking Tsonga
tribe, Mondlane was born in Portuguese East Africa
in 1920. He worked as a shepherd until the age of 12. He attended several different primary schools before enrolling in a Swiss
–Presbyterian school near Manjacaze
. However, he ended his secondary education in the same organization's church school at Lemana in the Transvaal
, South Africa. He then spent one year at the Jan Hofmeyer School of Social Work before enrolling in Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg
but was expelled from South Africa after only a year, in 1949, following the rise of the Apartheid government. In June 1950 Mondlane entered the University of Lisbon, at Lisbon
, the capital of Portugal. By Mondlane's request he was transferred to the United States, where he entered Oberlin College
in Ohio at the age of 31, under a Phelps Stokes scholarship . Mondlane enrolled at Oberlin College
in Oberlin, Ohio
in 1951, starting as a junior, and in 1953 he obtained a degree in anthropology and sociology. He continued his studies at Northwestern University
in Evanston, Illinois. Mondlane earned a doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University
and married Janet Mondlane, née Janet Rae Johnson, a white American woman from Indiana
who then lived in the Chicago
suburbs.
official. One of António de Oliveira Salazar
's most important advisers, Adriano Moreira
, a political science professor who had been appointed to the post of Portugal's Minister of the Overseas (Ministro do Ultramar), met Mondlane at the United Nations when both were working there and, recognizing his qualities, tried to bring him to the Portuguese side by offering to him a post in Portuguese Mozambique's administration. However, Mondlane showed little interest in the offer and latter joined the Mozambican pro-independence movements in Tanzania
, who lacked a credible leader. In 1962 Mondlane was elected president of the newly formed Mozambican Liberation Front (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique or FRELIMO), which was composed of elements from smaller independentist groups. In 1963 he settled FRELIMO headquarters outside of Mozambique in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
. Supported both by several Western countries and the USSR, as well as by many African states, FRELIMO began a guerilla war in 1964 to obtain Mozambique's independence from Portugal. In FRELIMO's early years, its leadership was divided: the faction led by Mondlane wanted not merely to fight for independence but also for a change to a socialist
society; dos Santos
, Machel
and Chissano
and a majority of the Party's Central Committee shared this view. Their opponents, prominent among whom were Nkavandame and Simango
, wanted independence, but not a fundamental change in social relations: essentially the substitution of a black elite for the white elite. The socialist position was approved by the Second Party Congress, held in July 1968; Mondlane was reelected party President, and a strategy of protracted war based on support amongst the peasantry (as opposed to a quick coup
attempt) was adopted.
, Tanzania
. It exploded, killing him. Both the Portuguese intelligence or the Portuguese secret police PIDE/DGS and elements of FRELIMO, have been accused by different historians of this political murder. Former PIDE Agent Oscar Cardoso claims that PIDE Agente Casimiro Monteiro planted the bomb that killed Eduardo Mondlane.
classmate and friend the Reverend Edward Hawley, who said during the ceremonies that Mondlane "...laid down his life for the truth that man was made for dignity and self-determination."
By the early 1970s FRELIMO's 7,000-strong guerrilla force had wrested control of some countryside areas of the central and northern parts of Mozambique from the Portuguese authorities. The independentist guerrilla was engaging a Portuguese force of approximately 60,000 military, which was almost all concentrated in the area of Cahora Bassa
where the Portuguese administration were finalizing the construction of a major hydroelectric dam, one of many facilities and improvements that the Portuguese provincial administration's development commission were rapidly developing since the 1960s. The 1974 overthrow of the Portuguese ruling regime after a leftist military coup
in Lisbon
, brought a dramatic change of direction in Portugal's policy regarding its overseas provinces, and on 25 June 1975, Portugal handed over power to FRELIMO and Mozambique became an independent nation.
In 1975 the Universidade de Lourenço Marques founded by the Portuguese and given the name of the capital of Portugal's Overseas Province of Mozambique, Lourenço Marques (now Maputo
, Mozambique), was renamed Universidade Eduardo Mondlane
, or Eduardo Mondlane University. It is still located in the capital city of independent Mozambique.
Manjacaze
- Economy :The town formerly had a cashew processing plant, which was shut down in the early 21st century.The cashew processing plant was opened up again in 2006, .- Transport :Manjacaze was connected to the port city of Xai-Xai by a 762mm gauge railway...
, Gaza Province
Gaza Province
Gaza is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 75,709 km² and a population of 1,333,106 .Xai-Xai is the capital of the province. Inhambane Province is to the east, Manica Province to the north, Maputo Province to the south, South Africa to the west, and Zimbabwe to the...
- February 3, 1969) served as President of the Mozambican Liberation Front
Mozambican Liberation Front
The Liberation Front of Mozambique, , from the Portuguese Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, was a liberation movement which was founded in 1962 to fight for the independence of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique...
(FRELIMO) from 1962, the year that FRELIMO was founded in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, until his assassination in 1969.
Early life
The fourth of 16 sons of a tribalTribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
chieftain of the Bantu
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
-speaking Tsonga
Shangaan
The Tsonga people inhabit the southern coastal plain of Mozambique, parts of Zimbabwe and Swaziland, and the Limpopo Province of South Africa...
tribe, Mondlane was born in Portuguese East Africa
Portuguese East Africa
Mozambique or Portuguese East Africa was the common name by which the Portuguese Empire's territorial expansion in East Africa was known across different periods of time...
in 1920. He worked as a shepherd until the age of 12. He attended several different primary schools before enrolling in a Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
–Presbyterian school near Manjacaze
Manjacaze
- Economy :The town formerly had a cashew processing plant, which was shut down in the early 21st century.The cashew processing plant was opened up again in 2006, .- Transport :Manjacaze was connected to the port city of Xai-Xai by a 762mm gauge railway...
. However, he ended his secondary education in the same organization's church school at Lemana in the Transvaal
Transvaal Province
Transvaal Province was a province of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1961, and of its successor, the Republic of South Africa, from 1961 until the end of apartheid in 1994 when a new constitution subdivided it.-History:...
, South Africa. He then spent one year at the Jan Hofmeyer School of Social Work before enrolling in Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
but was expelled from South Africa after only a year, in 1949, following the rise of the Apartheid government. In June 1950 Mondlane entered the University of Lisbon, at Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, the capital of Portugal. By Mondlane's request he was transferred to the United States, where he entered Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
in Ohio at the age of 31, under a Phelps Stokes scholarship . Mondlane enrolled at Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
in Oberlin, Ohio
Oberlin, Ohio
Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, to the south and west of Cleveland. Oberlin is perhaps best known for being the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students...
in 1951, starting as a junior, and in 1953 he obtained a degree in anthropology and sociology. He continued his studies at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
in Evanston, Illinois. Mondlane earned a doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
and married Janet Mondlane, née Janet Rae Johnson, a white American woman from Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
who then lived in the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
suburbs.
Political activism
After graduation, Eduardo Mondlane became a United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
official. One of António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...
's most important advisers, Adriano Moreira
Adriano Moreira
Adriano José Alves Moreira , is a Portuguese statesman, deputy, politician, lawyer and professor...
, a political science professor who had been appointed to the post of Portugal's Minister of the Overseas (Ministro do Ultramar), met Mondlane at the United Nations when both were working there and, recognizing his qualities, tried to bring him to the Portuguese side by offering to him a post in Portuguese Mozambique's administration. However, Mondlane showed little interest in the offer and latter joined the Mozambican pro-independence movements in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, who lacked a credible leader. In 1962 Mondlane was elected president of the newly formed Mozambican Liberation Front (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique or FRELIMO), which was composed of elements from smaller independentist groups. In 1963 he settled FRELIMO headquarters outside of Mozambique in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Supported both by several Western countries and the USSR, as well as by many African states, FRELIMO began a guerilla war in 1964 to obtain Mozambique's independence from Portugal. In FRELIMO's early years, its leadership was divided: the faction led by Mondlane wanted not merely to fight for independence but also for a change to a socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
society; dos Santos
Marcelino dos Santos
Marcelino dos Santos is a Mozambican poet, revolutionary, and statesman. As a young man he travelled to Portugal, and Paris, France for an education. He was a founding member of the Frente de Libertacao de Mocambique , in 1962; and served as the party's deputy president from 1969 to 1977...
, Machel
Samora Machel
Samora Moisés Machel was a Mozambican military commander, revolutionary socialist leader and eventual President of Mozambique...
and Chissano
Joaquim Chissano
Joaquim Alberto Chissano served as the second President of Mozambique for nineteen years from 6 November 1986 until 2 February 2005. Since stepping down as president, Chissano has become an elder statesman and is called upon by international bodies, such as the United Nations, to be an envoy or...
and a majority of the Party's Central Committee shared this view. Their opponents, prominent among whom were Nkavandame and Simango
Uria Simango
The reverend Uria Timoteo Simango The reverend Uria Timoteo Simango The reverend Uria Timoteo Simango (born March 15, 1926 was a Mozambican Presbyterian minister and prominent leader of the Mozambique Liberation Front FRELIMO during the liberation struggle against Portuguese colonial rule...
, wanted independence, but not a fundamental change in social relations: essentially the substitution of a black elite for the white elite. The socialist position was approved by the Second Party Congress, held in July 1968; Mondlane was reelected party President, and a strategy of protracted war based on support amongst the peasantry (as opposed to a quick coup
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
attempt) was adopted.
Death
In 1969 a bomb was planted in a book sent to him at the FRELIMO Headquarters in Dar es SalaamDar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. It exploded, killing him. Both the Portuguese intelligence or the Portuguese secret police PIDE/DGS and elements of FRELIMO, have been accused by different historians of this political murder. Former PIDE Agent Oscar Cardoso claims that PIDE Agente Casimiro Monteiro planted the bomb that killed Eduardo Mondlane.
Legacy and homages
Mondlane's death was mourned at a funeral in 1969 which was officiated by his OberlinOberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
classmate and friend the Reverend Edward Hawley, who said during the ceremonies that Mondlane "...laid down his life for the truth that man was made for dignity and self-determination."
By the early 1970s FRELIMO's 7,000-strong guerrilla force had wrested control of some countryside areas of the central and northern parts of Mozambique from the Portuguese authorities. The independentist guerrilla was engaging a Portuguese force of approximately 60,000 military, which was almost all concentrated in the area of Cahora Bassa
Cahora Bassa
The Cahora Bassa lake is Africa's fourth-largest artificial lake, situated in the Tete Province in Mozambique. The name Cabora Bassa is an earlier misspelling of the name...
where the Portuguese administration were finalizing the construction of a major hydroelectric dam, one of many facilities and improvements that the Portuguese provincial administration's development commission were rapidly developing since the 1960s. The 1974 overthrow of the Portuguese ruling regime after a leftist military coup
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, brought a dramatic change of direction in Portugal's policy regarding its overseas provinces, and on 25 June 1975, Portugal handed over power to FRELIMO and Mozambique became an independent nation.
In 1975 the Universidade de Lourenço Marques founded by the Portuguese and given the name of the capital of Portugal's Overseas Province of Mozambique, Lourenço Marques (now Maputo
Maputo
Maputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...
, Mozambique), was renamed Universidade Eduardo Mondlane
Universidade Eduardo Mondlane
The Eduardo Mondlane University is the oldest and largest university in Mozambique. The UEM is located in Maputo and has about 8,000 students.-History:...
, or Eduardo Mondlane University. It is still located in the capital city of independent Mozambique.
Works
- Eduardo Mondlane, The Struggle for Mozambique. 1969, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books.
- "Conversations with Eduardo Mondlane", by Helen Kitchen. In Africa Report, #12 (November 1967), p. 51.