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MBUZINI
The Death of Samora Machel
19 October 1986
Dossier MZ-0017
The Crash
At just after twenty minutes past nine on the evening of 19 October 1986, the Tupolev TU-134A-3 airliner, registration C9-CAA, carrying President Samora Machel and 43 other people crashed at Mbuzini, just over the Mozambican border with South Africa. Machel and 33 other people were killed; 9 passengers and one Russian crew member survived. Despite four commissions of enquiry and a session at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), it is widely believed that the causes of the crash have still to be satisfactorily explained.
Above: The presidential Tupolev TU-134, although an old design, was specially built to specification for the Mozambican government, was properly maintained, and was equipped with modern navigational technology. Photo: Aad van der Voet, original here, used with permission.
This page presents contemporary news reports and official communiqués on the crash event itself. Other material relating to the disaster and its outcomes is presented on separate pages, organised as indicated on the green buttons above. Click on a button to jump to the page that you wish to consult.
Publications and Links
Questions remain about the circumstances of the Mbuzini disaster, and various authors, academics and journalists have written books and articles advancing different arguments about what really happened. Below are some links to a selection of such works: please note that this is by no means an exhaustive list.
Above: The covers of four of the various books and pamphlets that have been written about the Mbuzini disaster. From left to right: Samora: Why He Died (Maputo: Mozambique News Agency [AIM], 1986), 95 pages; Álvaro Belo Marques, Quem Matou Samora Machel (Lisbon: Ulmeiro, 1987); António Ramos, Samora Machel: Morte Anunciada (Johannesburg: África Repórter, 1998), 110 pages; and João M. Cabrita, A Morte de Samora Machel (Maputo: Novafrica, 2005), 85 pages. Below: Covers of three more general works on Samora Machel and his life and times, as well as a recent Portuguese publication on the crash. From left to right: Samora: Homem do Povo; Iain Christie, Samora: uma biografia; José Milhazes, Samora Machel, atentado ou acidente; and Sarah LeFanu, S is for Samora (Durban: UKZN Press, 2012).
◊ 1986
Allen Isaacman, Samora Moises Machel and comrades: a tribute. Africa Today vol.33 no.1 (First Quarter 1986), pages 3-5. Available here. Requires subscription.
◊ December 1986
Shubi Ishemo, Samora Machel. Review of African Political Economy no.37 (December 1986), pages 1-2. A tribute written on behalf of the ROAPE editorial collective. Available from JSTOR here, subscription required.
◊ December 1986
Maria Eloisa Gallinaro, La scomparsa di Samora Machel. Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell’Istituto italiano vol.41, no.4 (December 1986), pages 636-639. Available from JSTOR here, subscription required.
◊ 1987
Barry Munslow, Samora Machel, president of Mozambique. Journal of Communist Studies vol.3 no.1 (1987). Available here, requires subscription.
◊ 1987
Jordi Duch i Sesplugues, Moçambic sense Samora Machel: l’ombra de Sud-áfrica plana sobre el magnicidi: l'hereu de Machel. [Mozambique without Samora Machel: South Africa’s shadow looms over the assassination. Machel’s legacy. Catalan]. DCidob no.16 (1987), pages 14-15. Available here.
◊ January 1988
Barry Munslow, Mozambique and the death of Machel. Third World Quarterly vol.10 no.1 (January 1988), pages 23-36. Available here.
◊ 2003
Chris J. van Vuuren, Memories, a monument and its meaning: the monument on the site of the Samora Machel plane crash. South African Journal of Art History vol.18 (2003) pages xx-xx. Available here.
◊ September 2006
Phyllis Johnson, Samora Machel, 1986-2006. Review of African Political Economy [London], vol.33 no.110 (September 2006), pages 769-771. Available from JSTOR here, requires subscription.
◊ 2006
David Robinson, A Case of Assassination? President Samora Machel and the Plane Crash at Mbuzini. Postamble vol.2 no.2 (2006), pages 45-64. Available here.
◊ 24 November 2006
João Cabrita, Re: David Robinson’s «A Case of Assassination? President Samora Machel and the Plane Crash at Mbuzini», h-luso-africa (24 November 2006), available here.
MHN Resources
◊ 20 October 1986
Death of President Samora Machel: official communiqué. Communiqué on victims. Mozambique Information Office [London] (20 October 1986), p.1-4. In English. Click here to download a PDF file, size 196 kb. Two documents: an unofficial English translation by AIM of the full text of the statement read on radio on the evening of 20 October by Marcelino dos Santos, on behalf of the Political Bureau of the Frelimo Party, the Standing Committee of the Assembleia Popular, and the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of Mozambique; and, an unofficial English translation by AIM of the communiqué on the victims who died alongside President Machel.
◊ 20 October 1986
South African president expresses deep regret over Machel’s death. SAPA report dated 20 October 1986, reprinted in the Summary of World Broadcasts [London]. Click here to download a PDF file, size 119 kb. Reports the disaster and summarises other reports from Lisbon and Maputo. Says that the police commissioner, General Johan Coetzee has gone to the crash site.
Above: The front page of the Maputo daily newspaper Notícias for 21 October 1986, printed entirely in black, officially announcing the death of President Samora Machel.
◊ 20 October 1986
Auguste Mpassi-Muba. Pan-African Agency report on Machel’s death: accidental or planned? Text of PANA report datelined Dakar, 20 October 1986, published in the Summary of World Broadcasts [London]. In English. Click here to download a PDF file, size 124 kb. The Pan-African News Agency immediately raises the question of whether the disaster was accidental.
◊ 21 October 1986
Alan Cowell. Mozambican chief dies in air crash in South Africa: at least 25 others killed. Samora Machel was traveling from Zambia meeting, Pretoria denies a role. New York Times [New York] (21 October 1986), p.1. In English. Click here to download a PDF file, size 744 kb.
Above: One of the last photographs ever taken of Samora Machel, in Zambia just before boarding the presidential aircraft for the ill-fated flight back to Maputo.
◊ 21 October 1986
Tony Stirling and Erik Larsen. Machel crash: claims he was shot down, but pilot was off-course. Citizen [Johannesburg] (21 October 1986), p.1-2. In English. Click here to download a PDF file, size 1.5 Mb. Pages one and two are entirely devoted to photographs of the crash site and speculative reporting.
◊ 22 October 1986
Mozambican communiqué announces death of Samora Machel. Summary of World Broadcasts [London] no.ME/8396 (22 October 1986), p.B/1-B/3. In English. Click here to download a PDF file, size 383 kb. Transcribed and translated from the statement read on Radio Mozambique on the evening of 20 October by Marcelino dos Santos, on behalf of the Political Bureau of the Frelimo Party, the Standing Committee of the Assembleia Popular, and the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of Mozambique; and, the second communiqué on the victims who died alongside President Machel with the addition of notes from SAPA reports on those injured and killed. This communiqué was also republished elsewhere; see for example the version in the Review of African Political Economy no.37 (December 1986), pages 2-4, available from JSTOR here, subscription required.
Above: The section of fuselage from just above the wing lying in pieces on the ground at Mbuzini. Some South African police uniforms can be seen.
◊ 21 October 1986
Alan Cowell. Mozambique leader killed in plane crash. International Herald Tribune [Paris] (21 October 1986). In English. Click here to download a PDF file, size 706 kb. Another version of Cowell’s report in the New York Times, see above.
◊ 21 October 1986
Mozambicans weep in the streets. The Citizen [Johannesburg] (21 October 1986). In English. Click here to download a PDF file, size 66 kb.
◊ 21 October 1986
Mozambique on full alert: media power tussle reports refuted. New Nation [Johannesburg] (21 October 1986). In English. Click here to download a PDF file, size 530 kb.
◊ 21 October 1986
The death of Samora Machel. Summary of World Broadcasts [London] no.ME/8395 (21 October 1986), p.ii. In English. Click here to download a PDF file, size 77 kb. A short summary of radio reports of the disaster, with the times of the broadcasts.
◊ 24 October 1986
[News item]. Financial Mail [Johannesburg] (24 October 1986). Click here to download a PDF file, size 461 kb. A laconic one-paragraph report from South Africa’s main business weekly dismisses out of hand the claim that the aircraft «was shot down», asserting already, after four days, that «the evidence suggests otherwise».
◊ 24 October 1986
The last photos of Samora Machel: all aboard for the ill-fated trip home. Weekly Mail [Johannesburg] (24-30 October 1986), page 1. Click here to download a PDF file, size 612 kb.