Samora Machel Museum tells his story
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Sunday April 24, 2022 06:00
In honour of such figures, President Mokgweetsi Masisi and his Mozambican counterpart, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi recently ocommissioned the Samora Machel Museum named after the late Mozambican president. The facility is located at Peleng township in Lobatse. The town is in southeastern Botswana, 70 kilometers south of the capital Gaborone, situated in a valley running north towards Gaborone and close to the border with South Africa. Famous struggle icons like South African’s Oliver Reginald Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Mozambique’s Machel fled their respective countries in fear of attacks from the then Apartheid regime and landed in Lobatse where the Kgaboesele family opened their home to the aApartheid era “fugitives” back in the 1960s.
The old house is a traditional old-fashioned structural set-up. Inside the two rooms is a bedroom and sitting room. In the room, there are single beds and three huge metal trunks (potomente) used to store clothing and other important items while the seating room has a dinner table and chairs together with a kitchen unit (raka).
The other room on the side is a kitchen comprising of kitchen utensils and furniture from old age. Around the lwapana is a fireplace by the corner. The house is situated next to a popular bar known as Ko ga Lemmy (Lemmy’s bar) which hosts the best jazz sessions in the small town. In 2013, the Mozambique government bought the Kgaboesele house to turn it into a museum and built the family a new house in Thema not too far from Peleng. The house bought was the fourth house in the Lobatse Township to be built and it also housed an only shop. Even though there is a new and beautiful structure (gallery) consisting of pictures and information with depth about whom the late Machel was, his struggles fighting for his country’s democracy and so forth, the old three roomed house that was used to house 'fugitives' still remains. According to information displayed in the museum, the facility is located on the ground where a young Machel once stood.
He is said to have stayed in Lobatse for three months in 1963 on his way from Mozambique to Tanzania to join the liberation army of Frelimo in exile. He would go on to lead Frelimo’s struggle for freedom from Portuguese colonial rule and ultimately became president of Mozambique in 1975. He stayed in the Kgaboesele homestead alongside Matias Mboa and a third Mozambican Angelo Vasoues de Lisboa Mucavel. In the information shown at the museum showcasing Machel and his counterparts’ memories of Peleng, it indicates that even though him and his comrades together with the Kgaboeseles had language barrier, they resolved to using their shared knowledge of isiZulu language to communicate. It was stated that Mboa recalled the family’s abundant hospitality and willingness to accommodate them in its home.
“He was not a man with a lot of possessions. The space was so small that we had to sleep in the lounge. When we left Mozambique we had to get off at the border to exchange escudos for pounds. It was not much but it was what we had with us. So we made our weekly contribution. But I must confess that it was close to nothing. I remember that a great part of the days we spent there we only had tea or water or at most a slice of bread but we understood the difficulties of that family,” read Mboa’s words recorded at the museum. Although the role the Kgaboeseles played in protecting the struggle stalwarts was selfless, it also put the family’s lives in danger because the aApartheid government could have very well sent a parcel bomb to their home, or even torched it. This is because around the 1980s there were reports of the Apartheid regime sending parcel bombs to Botswana (Lobatse and Gaborone in Bontleng) where many people lost their lives.
The Museum was built in memory of one of Africa’s greatest freedom fighters, a statesman and the former President of the Republic of Mozambique. That was in the spirit of the cordial friendship that existed for decades between the people of Botswana and Mozambique. The museum also paid tribute to John Kgaboesele for hosting President Machel at his house during the liberation struggle. For her part, Kgaboesele’s daughter Beauty Kgaboesele said her father was born in South Africa, Rustenburg and moved to Botswana seeking greener pastures.
She added that he took it upon himself to shelter people from all walks of Africa seeking asylum. John, who was a deputy mayor for Lobatse at the time and with his big body structure, is said to have intimidated many and therefore no one could question him about 'fugitives' therefore his nickname 'Giant'.