President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Mozambican counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi, are expected to address an event to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the death of former Mozambican leader Samora Machel on Tuesday.

The ceremony will be hosted by both countries at the site of the accident which claimed Machel’s life at Mbuzini in Mpumalanga.

Machel died when the airplane he, together with other African leaders, was flying in crashed into the Lebombo mountains in 1986.

It is alleged that the plane crash was caused by the apartheid government because of Machel’s support for liberation in South Africa at the time.

According to the Sports, Arts and Culture department, the event is an opportunity to remember, honour and “express appreciation to those who gave their lives to guarantee that Southern African countries attained their freedom and democracy”.

“President Samora Machel’s regime was instrumental in the independence of South Africa and several other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. Those who assisted in the Liberation of South Africa, they wholeheartedly embraced South African liberation warriors fighting to destroy the apartheid regime,” the department said.

Source: South African Government News Agency