October 19, 1986: Samora Machel killed in the Mbuzini crash, forty years without a verdict

On the evening of October 19, 1986, the Mozambican presidential plane crashed in the Lebombo Mountains, at Mbuzini, in South African territory. Samora Machel, 53, the first president of independent Mozambique, was killed. Forty years later, no investigation has established why his Tupolev TU-134A deviated from its flight path.

From the Maputo infirmary to the presidency

Born on September 29, 1933, in Chilembene, Machel was a nurse in Maputo before joining Frelimo, which sent him for training in Algeria, Britannica recalls. After the assassination of Eduardo Mondlane in 1969, he took the helm of the movement in 1970 and led the war against Portugal until independence in 1975.

His Mozambique became a rear base for liberation struggles in Southern Africa, notably for the ANC, while Pretoria armed the Renamo rebellion. The Nkomati Accord of 1984 was supposed to end this mutual support: it did not hold. On October 7, 1986, South African Defense Minister Magnus Malan warned that Machel would "collide head-on" with South Africa, according to South African History Online.

One crash, two contradictory reports

The aircraft was returning from a summit of African heads of state in Zambia. The death toll varies according to sources: the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) writes that Machel and 24 others perished, South African History Online counts 34 people on board and 9 survivors, and in 2016, Cyril Ramaphosa spoke of the "34 other people" who died with the president.

Rescue efforts were delayed: the South African police took about four and a half hours to reach the site, and Maputo was not officially notified until 6:50 a.m. Documents were taken to be photocopied, which intelligence chief Niel Barnard acknowledged, and the black box, seized by General Lothar Neethling, was only returned after weeks, according to South African History Online.

The inquiry led by Judge Cecil Margo sat in Johannesburg from January 20 to 28, 1987; Maputo and Moscow withdrew from it, feeling they were treated as subordinates. Margo concluded that there was an error by the Soviet crew, who locked onto a beacon they mistook for the one in Maputo. The Soviet report, by contrast, noted a 37-degree turn to the right and supported the theory of a decoy beacon. In 1998, the TRC did not validate either version but judged that circumstantial evidence cast doubt on Margo's findings.

Forty years of memory without justice

On May 16, 1999, Graça Machel declared to the SABC that the apartheid regime was responsible for her husband's death, while acknowledging the lack of evidence: "I know they did it," reported the Mail & Guardian. In February 2006, Pretoria announced the resumption of investigations with Maputo.

Key takeaways

Samora Machel died on October 19, 1986, in South African territory, in the midst of a war of destabilization against his country. Forty years and three investigations later, his death remains without a judicial explanation.