Josina Machel

Josina Muthemba Machel (August 10, 1945 – April 7, 1971) was a significant figure in the social and political modern history of Mozambique. She was born with a twin brother, Belmiro, in Vilanculos, Inhambane, Mozambique on August 10, 1945 into a family of 5 sisters and 3 brothers. Her grandfather was a lay Presbyterian evangelist who preached nationalism and cultural identity against European assimilation. Her father worked as a nurse in government hospitals and this required him to periodically move the family to accommodate his job transfers. At one time or another, Josina, her father, two of her sisters, and two uncles were all jailed as a result of their participation in clandestine opposition to the Portuguese colonial administration. She became a key figure in the Mozambican struggle for independence, promoted the emancipation of African women, married the man who would become the country’s first president, and died at the age of 25 years.

At age 7, Josina entered the primary school “Dom João de Castro” in Mocímboa da Praia, a school for the children of Portuguese and assimilated African families. Two years later her father is transferred to the town of João Belo, and Josina enrolls in the school “Mouzinho de Albuquerque” in the nearby town of Xai-Xai. Finishing 4th grade, Josina has exhausted the options for local schooling and is obliged to move to the capital city of Lourenço Marques in order to continue her education. There she lives with her grandmother.

In 1958, now 13 years old, Josina entered the commercial school “Dr. Azevedo e Silva” to pursue an interest in accounting. Two years later, she joined the Nucleo dos Estudantes Secondários de Moçambique (Mozambican Secondary Students Group), which encourages cultural identity and political awareness among secondary students. Then abruptly in March 1964 she fled the country with several other students (including Armando Emilio Guebuza) with the intention of joining the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO), which is based in Tanzania. They manage to travel as far as the border between Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Zambia at Victoria Falls, a distance of some 800 miles, when they were apprehended, returned to the police in Lourenço Marques, and jailed. Five months later, in the month of her 19th birthday, Josina was released from jail as a result of an international campaign carried out by FRELIMO. She resumed attending secondary school, but she was watched by police agents.

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