Harare,Zimbabwe (Oct 20 2006)

AFRICA's history has been shaped by the courage, talent and ingenuity of many of its gifted sons.

In October every year, Africans go down the memory lane and celebrate the lives of historical significant heroes whose achievements and visions helped the African continent to live up to its greatest potential.

During this month Africa celebrates the life and works Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Samora Machel, Edison Sithole and Milton Obote among many others who died in the month of October.

The lives of some of these heroes may have been at some point shrouded in some controversy and or may have adopted policies that failed their countries, but the constant flow of tributes to them remind Africans that they must continue to celebrate their many and varied contributions to the African people.

In this article, Gibbs Magazine, captures the legacy of four legends who contributed to the liberation of the African people.

Samora Machel  (Born Sept 29 1933 –Died Oct 16 1986) (Mozambique)
A far-sighted leader and a visionary politician who understood that the national liberation of the African people through the destruction of the apartheid system and its regime was the foremost goal of Africa's liberation struggle.

He played an instrumental role in the toppling of the colonial Portuguese administration through guerilla warfare. He became the first president of Mozambique when his country gained independence in 1975 and opened doors to liberation fighters from Zimbabwe and South Africa who fighting against Ian Smith regime and the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Machel helped to influence his Frelimo guerilla movement with Marxist teachings of Che Guevera and Mao Tse-Tung. During his 11-year rule, his country suffered major setbacks on the economic front owing to destabilisation by the apartheid regime.

To mark the 20^th anniversary of his death, South African President Thabo Mbeki and Mozambique President Armando Guebuza paid tribute to Machel by unveiling a monument dedicated to honouring veteran guerilla leader's life at Mbuzini, where Machel's presidential plane crashed killing him and 34 other officials on October 19 1986.

Even though an inquiry into his death was opened, no conclusive evidence has been found. Analysts say circumstantial evidence points to a false navigational beacon placed by the former apartheid regime in South Africa to draw the plane off course.

The prominent place of Machel among the great leaders of the African revolution is indisputable and the tributes that have been paid to him speaks volumes of this outstanding guerilla leader of his generation.

"In 1980 we gathered here to welcome Samora Machel at our independence celebrations," Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe told a capacity crowd of more than 40 000 at a rally on October 26 1986.

"Today we are gathered here to mourn the loss of a gallant fighter. Its an irreparable loss. The people of Mozambique, we mourn with you today. Your tears are our tears. Povo Mozambicano, we are together. Aluta Continua."

"And we say to the children of South Africa and Namibia that the liberation struggle should be intensified," he said. "As we mourn his tragic and untimely death, we know that his spirit and love are with us and urge us to re-dedicate ourselves to the principles which he fought for while he lived and continue his just struggle until final victory."

President Mbeki also hailed Machel in a weekly column he writes for the African National Congress.
"It seems a long time ago that we had a privilege to sit with Samora Machel, to hear him speak, to draw inspiration from his seemingly inexhaustible energy…his confidence that Mozambique, South Africa and Africa would overcome their problems. We come to understand that Samora Machel became part of us, our own national hero," he said.

Its nearly two decades after the death of Machel and today Africa still celebrates the life of gallant hero and freedom fighter for the liberation of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia.

And as President Mugabe rightly said in a condolence message to his widow Graca Machel: "There could be no greater revolutionary anywhere, no greater friend anywhere, no greater husband and father anywhere. Please take solace in the immortality of his magnanimous deeds. These shall live forever and tell the undying story of Samora."

Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere (Born in 1922 –Died Oct 14 1999) (Tanzania)

Nyerere's immense contribution to Pan African liberation, international economic relations, African scholarship and philosophy and African unity unquestionably earned him honour in the annals of African and world history.

During the 30 years of his active political life, Mwalimu Nyerere showed what political analyst describe as unwavering courage in the defence of freedom and the rights of the oppressed, the exploited and the dispossessed.

Through the OAU liberation committee, Nyerere nourished the struggle for the liberation of Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and on every corner of Africa.

"He has always held high the banner of respect for man and his rights and has tirelessly advocated a new world economic order where man shall cease to exploit his fellow man. He has been the voice of Africa and the champion and the hope of the exploited in the world," one political commentator observed in 1986.

Stories abound of how Nyerere would break from his life and visit cadres from Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia in their camps during the war of liberation to inspire them with confidence and how he would articulate their struggle at world forums.

"You struggled with us, you agonised with us, you spent sleepless nights with us, you buried our dead with us. Yes, you became and are one with and everyone of us," President Mugabe said when Nyerere came to open the University of Zimbabwe Great Hall in 1986.

Nyerere is one of the African leaders who made Zimbabwean independence and freedom a reality. He was an intellectual of international repute who wrote extensively on socialism, freedom and unity and development, economics and philosophy inspiring many other people the world over.

He was one of Africa's most revered son and respected voice on the continent in the 1960s and 1970s.
With his exceptional insight and his powerful symbolic actions to move people's mind, Nyerere was a powerful human symbol and a forceful advocate who united Zimbabweans in their pursuit for total independence.

Nyerere was a man close to the hearts of the Zimbabwean people and who also shared the same socialist principles as Zimbabwe's main liberation movement, Zanu-PF.

"For his exceptional accomplishments as the luminary and conscience of African nationalism, the fulcrum of liberation efforts in the region and for his outstanding contribution to Zimbabwe's liberation struggle against colonialism and all its tentacles–the government of the Republic of Zimbabwe hereby awards posthumously to Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the Royal Order of Munhumutapa in Gold," read part of the citation of the which was bestowed on him posthumously in 2005.

The award is named after Munhumutapa, the founding father of the greatest empire which once existed south of the Zambezi river stretching from modern day Zimbabwe to Mozambique in the East in the pre-colonial era.

He was born in 1922 at Butiama in the Musoma District of Tanzania. Nyerere died on October 14 1999 of blood cancer in a London Hospital, a date that will remain etched in the memory of millions of Africans who cherish the chequered career of this international statesman who distinguished himself by championing the cause of the poor.

Mwalimu was a rare source of African defiance of Western domination and American influence.
Nyerere who was Tanzania's founding president since independence from Britain in December 1961, won the hearts of many.
His simple and yet enduring policies of ujamaa or bringing people together so that the state could provide them with schools, clinics, clean water, and other essentials – still remain a pressing need for the majority of the poor on the continent.

His idealistic solutions have now been swept away in the tide of the so-called globalisation and IMF structural adjustment programmes, which, too, have not brought the joy that Nyerere's critics envisaged.

Nyerere's biggest success was in bringing together Zimbabwe's rival liberation movement –Zanu and Zapu to form an alliance –the Patriotic Front despite the distrust, suspicion and enmity between these two camps.

This is the root of the Unity Accord which was signed between Zanu PF and PF Zapu in December 1987 and a product of Nyerere's genuine appetite for African unity and the need to fight as one.

"He was the last surviving giant of the days of emerging African independence and until his death certainly the best known and most widely respected East African leader," wrote one commentator in 1999. 

This is the story of the man who was affectionately called Mwalimu, the 'Teacher.' Edison Sithole – (Born -1935   Disappeared Oct 15 1975) (Zimbabwe)

 A firebrand and Zimbabwe's highest qualified legal expert at the peak of the 1970s war of independence who was abducted and believed killed by Rhodesian security agents in 1975.

Dr Edison Sithole was one of the first nationalists to be detained under the notorious Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA). He was instrumental in the formation of the City Youth League which was late renamed the National Youth League in 1956.

The League was the first black political party in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
In 1956, he is credited of successful organising bus boycott and was among the 200 members of the league who later arrested for organising the protest.

By 1975, he had spent 12 of his 38 years in detention. After he was abducted in 1975, Rhodesian police authorities  said: "We have no knowledge of his whereabouts."

The Sunday Mail, interviewed recently his 31-year-old son Edison Sithole Jnr, who was born just three months before his father was abducted together with his young secretary Miriam Mhlanga outside a city hotel on October 15 1975. The report captured the life of this political activist.

Dr Sithole was the brains behind the compilation of a constitution for the National Democratic Party which was formed in January 1960 following the banning of the African National Congress in 1959 by Rhodesian authorities.

The veteran black lawyer attained a BA Law degree in 1962 through correspondence with the University of London while in detention. In the year that followed, Dr Sithole successfully challenged and petitioned the colonial judiciary of Southern Africa for him to practice as a lawyer. He became the second black person to be a lawyer after veteran nationalist and hero Herbert Chitepo who sat on the Rhodesian Bar.

When Zapu split in 1963, Dr Sithole together with President Mugabe and other nationalists founded Zanu on August 8 1963. The black political movement which included Zanu, Zapu and the People's Caretaker Council was banned by Rhodesian authorities. Leaders were arrested and taken to prison.

While in detention, Dr Sithle studied for a Master of Law (LLM) which he attained in 1965. He later studied for an LLD which he got in 1973. This made him to become the first black person in the entire southern African region.

"This degree makes me the only doctor of laws in Rhodesia -either white or black," he said in 1973 after receiving a letter from the University of South Africa notifying him about the award. "I also believe this makes me the only African with this degree so far in South Africa and Central Africa."

Dr Sithole walked the journey of hardship and struggle giving direction and hope to the 1970s struggle for independence. And, his son aptly says: "He was a man of immense commitment to the nationalistic struggle to the extent of perhaps sacrificing his profession and to an extent sacrificing his family.

"I think his academic achievements are what move me most. He was self educated as he did all his degrees while in prison."

His life offers many lessons to the young African generation. "The continent of Africa is on the move," Dr Sithole wrote in an article in May 1958. "Everywhere, from north to south, east and west, a tremendous tide of African nationalism is rising fast.

"The destiny of African nationalism is geared here and will be steered along these lines with hope and confidence. The inscription on Dr Kwame Nkrumah's statue which reads: "To me the liberation of Ghana will be meaningless unless it is linked up with the liberation of Africa," is a prayer with a deep, touching power to steer African nationalism along these lines," said Dr Sithole, a veteran nationalist of Zimbabwe's independence struggle.

Milton Apollo Obote   (Born Dec 28 1924 -Died Oct 10 2005) (Uganda)

Milton Obote was Uganda's first leader when his country gained independence from Britain in 1962. His controversial political career has left his country sharply divided over his legacy. Those who hail him, describe him as a leader who exhibited passion and dedication in the fight against colonialism while his staunchest critics say it is sad that he died without facing up to his crimes in court.

Political commentators, however, say that despite the fact that Obote faced accusations of killing thousands of people in Uganda's turbulent 1980s, Africans should not forget his contribution to the continent's independence struggle and the development he brought to post independent Uganda.

"I worked under Dr Milton Obote's government as national youth chairman until his overthrow in 1985. He is my hero and he inspired me to go to school and university," said David Nyekorach, a London-based political commentator.

"His legacy will be remembered as a person who built schools, hospitals, good roads and almost the whole of  Uganda has footprints of Milton."

Obote kept a low profile throughout his life in exile in Zambia and even up to today Ugandans continue to pay tribute to him saying he "embodied charisma and mature politics" something which they say is difficult to find in politicians today.

Many Ugandans have recanted their spiteful opinions about Obote and say the founding father of Uganda made a lasting contribution to their country.

"The wave of support shown to the Obote family and the national grief that accompanied his death and the return of his body to Uganda last October took the NRM government and many observers by surprise," wrote Timothy Kalyegira in a tribute to Obote recently.

"For one thing, it revealed that two-and-a-half decades by the NRM of villifying Obote and portraying him as a dictator who plunged Uganda into chaos had clearly not been believed by Ugandans."

The pipe smoking politician is widely credited for using diplomacy and persuasion to resolve tribal disputes which from time to time threatened to tear Uganda apart.

Obote impressed many people with his writings and some political commentators say "writing was the one gift that Obote had, even more than his ability as a leader. Apart from a great command of English, Obote had a very persuasive way of arguing and reasoning on paper."

They say his enduring strengths were his intellect, powerful oratory, beautiful writing style, popularity with the majority of Ugandans, victories he registered in successive general elections and more importantly the respect he commanded on the African continent for his founding role in the OAU.

Obote was the first African head of state to be overthrown and return to reclaim his office. He led his country to independence in October 1962. He rose to Uganda's highest office from humble beginnings as herd boy and labourer to a teacher and politician.

Analysts describe him as the embodiment of a cool reflective statesman and a tough, resourceful revolutionary who was influenced by his leanings to east, favouring Soviet Union and supporting China over the war in Vietnam.

He ruled Uganda for nine years from independence until 1971 when his own army commander Idi Amin overthrew him in 1972 whilst attending a Commonwealth summit in Singapore. He stayed in exile in Tanzania for eight years until a combined force of Ugandan exiles and the Tanzanian army flushed Amin out of Uganda by 1980. He ruled again until 1985 when Tito Okello ousted him in another coup. Yoweri Museveni took power force in the year that followed.

Obote died at the age 80 in October 2005 at a South African hospital after battling a kidney ailment. Although criticised by some and hailed by others, there is no doubt that when Uganda's historical trials and tribulation are written, the name Obote will have a special place among other heroes who shaped and influenced Uganda's political landscape. 

October in many ways is a month that reminds Africa about its sons who helped shape the history of this continent of a billion people.