Africa-Press – Mozambique. Lopes Tembe Ndelana, co-founder of UDENAMO – one of the nationalist movements that gave rise to Frelimo – who died on June 4th of an illness, was laid to rest in Maputo on Tuesday afternoon, The wake took place at the national headquarters of the Frelimo party and was led by the party’s president, Daniel Francisco Chapo.
For the president of the ruling party, Mozambique lost “one of its best sons”, one of the “staunch nationalists” who “from the very beginning devoted himself to the cause of the Mozambican people”, becoming an “indisputable figure in the history of liberation and affirmation of the Mozambican nation”.
According to Chapo, Lopes Tembe stood out for his charisma, humility, responsibility, competence and humanism. His life, Chapo said, “was marked by rigour, modesty, humility and commitment to the values of independence, the homeland, national unity and, above all, self-determination”.
“With his departure, Mozambique and Frelimo have lost one of their most important libraries, one of the true repositories of our history as a nation. We will always remember comrade Lopes Tembe as a freedom fighter, an upright diplomat, a nation builder, a leader committed to the fundamental values and principles of Frelimo, of being the first in sacrifice and the last in benefits.” […] “We will never find enough words to fully describe his path.”
In turn, the Ndelana family stated that it had not been easy to face the absence of Lopes Tembe during the time of the national liberation struggle, but “it was in the belief in better days” that they endured the situation, especially since the results are known: the country’s independence. In fact, his children remember their father with nostalgia, especially the love and affection he gave them during his lifetime, as well as his teachings.
Lopes Tembe Ndelana was born on 20 March, 1937, in the former Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, and attended primary school in neighbouring South Africa. He also later studied in Ghana and Tanzania and completed his military training in Egypt.
He was a founding member of UDENAMO (National Democratic Union of Mozambique), one of the movements that founded the Mozambique Liberation Front (current Frelimo party), together with MANU (Mozambique African National Union) and UNAMI (National African Union of Independent Mozambique).
After national independence in 1975, Lopes Tembe served as Chief of State Protocol (from 1975 to 1978); Deputy Director of the National Commission of Communal Villages (1978-1983), a position he combined with his duties as a member of the then Popular Assembly (1977-1994). He was also Ambassador of Mozambique to China, Japan, North Korea, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Swaziland (now Eswatini).
During his lifetime, Lopes Tembe Ndelana was awarded medals for the 20th anniversary of the founding of Frelimo; for the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle of Mozambique; and at the centenary of the victory of Adawa (1896-1996), awarded by Prince Ernias Sahle Selassie (grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie) of Ethiopia, in recognition of his contribution to the liberation movements in Southern Africa.
Declared an honorary member of Frelimo in 2022, during the 12th Congress, Lopes Tembe Ndelana leaves behind a wife and children.
Liberation struggle veterans speak of a man of integrity and patriotic values
Former fighters in the national liberation struggle describe Lopes Tembe Ndelana as a man of integrity and with unwavering values of patriotism and defence of the homeland.
This was repeated this Tuesday by the Secretary-General of the Association of Fighters of the National Liberation Struggle (ACLLN), Carlos Siliya, in the farewell to one of the founders of the Mozambique Liberation Front, a nationalist movement that launched and led the fight for the country’s independence.
According to Siliya, Lopes Tembe Ndelana will be remembered as “a man of integrity”, “full of vicissitudes” and with “values of patriotism and unlimited dedication to the defence of his homeland”. Carlos Siliya added that many fighters admire Lopes Tembe, “as a humble and exemplary militant”, on the one hand, and “as a revolutionary who had the people in his heart”, on the other.
“The veterans of the national liberation struggle have lost an expressive guerrilla fighter, with strong convictions of love for the country and whose existence only had a reason to exist after the Mozambican people achieved independence,” said Siliya, stressing that Lopes Tembe Ndelana “never let himself be fooled by the colonialists’ propaganda to give up the fight” and that “he was always on the front line until independence was achieved”.
Someone else who sees Lopes Tembe as a “Mozambican with strong patriotic convictions” is Armando Emílio Guebuza, former President of the Republic and veteran of the national liberation struggle. He met Tembe when he joined Frelimo, and was fundamental to Guebuza’s integration into the then nationalist movement.
“He was a Mozambican with strong patriotic and nationalist convictions and who set this example until the end of his life. I was lucky enough to spend time with him, we were friends, I met him in Frelimo and he helped me a lot to understand the issues of the national liberation struggle,” Guebuza said.
Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, former President of the Republic and of Frelimo, described Lopes Tembe as a “coherent” man and “a politician who is not noisy”. Nyusi argued that Lopes Ndelana “did not speak to be heard”, but that people approached him because of the values he conveyed.
“He did not need to shout loudly or talk a lot in meetings – we took advantage of his experience,” Nyusi said.
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