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Samora Machel

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World Leader

The Resume

    (September 29, 1933-October 19, 1988)
    Born in Gaza Province, Mozambique
    Samora Moises Machel
    Mozambican military commander, Revolutionary socialist leader
    Chairman of the Mozambique Liberation Front (1970 – 1986)
    1st President of Mozambique, elected in June 19, 1975
    Died, along with 33 other passengers, in a plane crash over South Africa in 1986
    Husband of Graça Simbine Machel, who would later become the second wife to Nelson Mandela
    Site of the Mbuzini crash was declared a national monument by the Mozambican government (Jan. 19, 1999)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize (1977).
    He proudly hosted Romania's Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
    He pressured the Liberation Front to reinvent itself as a Leninist party.
    He oversaw the nationalization of Portuguese plantations/property.
    He was a male nurse (in all fairness these were the only jobs available to lower class Africans at this time).
    He endorsed public shootings and public beatings as forms of capital punishment.
    He relocated citizens from urban areas to rural ones; pretty much drafting them as field hands.
    He issued an ultimatum to loyalists of the ousted Portuguese colonists, giving them twenty-four hours to assimilate or leave the country for Portugal.
    He was hot for his Education Minister and married her within only three months of national Independence.
    He was prone to making divisive Marxist statements like 'the rich man's dog gets more in the way of vaccination, medicine and medical care than do the workers upon whom the rich man's wealth is built.'
    A heated debate still rages as to whether or not his plane crash was part of a conspiracy to assassinate him.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He grew up impoverished in a small Mozambican village.
    His family was forced to work in the mines of South Africa to avoid starvation (his brother died in a mine explosion).
    He began his political activities as a hospital worker; protesting the pay inequality between whites and Africans.
    He was a revolutionary leader who actually led from the front-lines as opposed to behind the scenes.
    He led the first guerilla attacks against the Portuguese colonists in northern Mozambique, eventually driving them out by 1974.
    He helped Zimbabwe to gain independence from the British.
    Truth be told, many Zimbabweans probably would have preferred to keep Machel and lose Mugabe, if given a choice.
    He was an instrumental figure in the decolonization of the African continent as a whole.
    As President, the Frelimo government established public schools and health clinics for the poor.
    He was beloved as a personable and humble leader; so much so that people throughout Africa were seen crying in the streets when they learned of his death.
    While it is not known if South Africa's government had any role in his death, they may have had good reason to be rid of him, as he posed a direct threat to the Apartheid system.
    His daughter later recalled once being gifted an expensive BMW by a wealthy Swaziland businessman. Her father - never accused of being a hypocrite - made her return the car.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 141 Votes: 54.61% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 28 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 160 Votes: 65.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying