Machel I cabinet

The Machel I cabinet formed the first government of the People's Republic of Mozambique to come into office after a transitional government under the dwindling structures of the former Portuguese colonial administration and the socialist- oriented liberation movement FRELIMO, which came to power after the country's declaration of independence on June 25, 1975 . Samora Machel had been president of the now independent state since June 1975 .

Preconditions

On July 5 and 6, 1974, Samora Machel and Portugal's Foreign Minister Mário Soares met in Zambia's capital Lusaka for a working meeting. It was under the political signs of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. Soares had only received a mandate from his government to negotiate a ceasefire , but not to hand over power in Mozambique. The talks therefore proceeded without any significant progress. Further meetings with Portuguese representatives followed.

Negotiating groups of the Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA) led by Ernesto Melo Antunes met with FRELIMO representatives in Rome and Dar es Salaam in 1974 . After the Portuguese government shifted in favor of left-wing political positions, a majority prevailed against the provisional President António de Spínola in favor of Mozambique's independence. He resigned in September. The way was now clear for further negotiations.

Machel, as representative of FRELIMO, signed a treaty with Antunes and Soares as government representatives in Lusaka on September 7, 1974, according to which a ceasefire could begin immediately, the formation of a transitional government under FRELIMO leadership from September 20, 1974 and full independence of the country from the former colonial rule for June 25, 1975 was agreed.

The agreement envisaged the formation of a transitional government headed by a Portuguese High Commissioner to be appointed by the President of Portugal . It should also include a prime minister and six ministers proposed by FRELIMO, as well as three ministers proposed by the High Commissioner. It was also planned to set up a joint military commission, the members of which would consist of an equal number of the Portuguese military and the FRELIMO armed forces. Their goals were to maintain the integrity of Mozambique and to defend the country against possible acts of external aggression. The President of Portugal finally appointed Admiral Vítor Crespo as High Commissioner ( Alto-Comissário ) of Mozambique. The Mozambican side nominated Joaquim Chissano as Prime Minister of the transitional government.

Cabinet composition

According to the available sources, the first Mozambican cabinet after the brief transitional government had consisted of the following departments and people since 1975.

Machel I cabinet - since 1975

Department	Surname	Representative	Representative of
President	Samora Machel	-	FRELIMO
Presidential Minister	José Oscar Monteiro 1975–1983	-	FRELIMO
Presidential Minister for Economic Affairs	Jacinto Veloso since 1983	-	FRELIMO
job	Mariano Matsinhe ÜRF – 1978	-	FRELIMO
Exterior	Joaquim Chissano since 1975	José Carlos Lobo since June 1984 (two deputies)	FRELIMO
Foreign trade	Joaquim Ribeiro de Carvalho since 1983	-	FRELIMO
Mining	José Carlos Lobo since 1983	-	FRELIMO
Domestic trade	Manuel dos Santos 1978–1980 Aranda da Silva since 1980	-
Finances	Rui Baltazar dos Santos Alves since 1978	-	FRELIMO
health	Pascoal Mocumbi since 1980	-	FRELIMO
Ports and railways	Luís Alcântara Santos since 1980	-
Industry Industry and Energy	Mário Machungo 1975–1978 Júlio Carrilho 1978–1980 António Branco since 1980	-	FRELIMO
information	José Óscar Monteiro ÜRF Jorge Rebelo 1975–1980 José Luis Cabaço since 1980	-	FRELIMO
Interior	Armando Guebuza ÜRF – 1977, since 1983 Mariano Matsinhe 1977–1983	Teodato Hunguana , 1983-1986	FRELIMO
Judiciary	Rui Baltazar dos Santos Alves ÜRF – 1978 Teodato Hunguana 1978–1983 José Óscar Monteiro since 1983	-	FRELIMO
Agriculture	Joaquim Ribeiro de Carvalho 1975–1978 Mário Machungo 1978–1981 Sérgio Vieira 1981–1983 João Ferreira since 1983	-	FRELIMO
Public Works	Júlio Carrilho 1975–1978 João Baptista Cosme 1978–1980 Júlio Carrilho since 1980	-	FRELIMO
planning	Marcelino dos Santos (1975–1980) Mário Machungo since 1980	-	FRELIMO
Post and telecommunications	Rui Lousa since 1980	-
safety	Jacinto Veloso , ÜRM 1980–1983 Mariano Matsinhe since 1983 Sérgio Vieira , since June 16, 1984	-	FRELIMO
Lessons and culture	Graça Machel since 1975	-	FRELIMO
traffic	Luís Alcântara Santos ÜRP José Luis Cabaço 1975–1980	-	FRELIMO
defense	Alberto Chipande ÜRM, since 1975	Sebastião Mabote ÜRM, since 1975 Armando Guebuza 1977–1981	FRELIMO

Abbreviations: ÜRF = Member of the Transitional Government, FRELIMO; ÜRP = Member of the Transitional Government, Portuguese; ÜRM = Member of the Provisional Military Commission, FRELIMO

Other high positions in the state administration

• Sérgio Vieira, Governor General of the Banco de Moçambique , until 1981
• José Carlos Lobo, Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1975 to May 1983
• Manuel dos Santos, Ambassador to the United Nations
• Raimundo Pachinuapa , State Inspector
• João Mpfumo , Air Force Commander
• João Baptista Cosme, Ambassador to Portugal
• Armando Guebuza, FRELIMO's military political commissioner

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Joseph Hanlon: Mozambique, Revolution in the Crossfire . edition southern Africa 21, Southern Africa Information Center, Bonn 1986 pp. 61–62 ISBN 3-921614-25-2
2. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1974 . Johannesburg 1975, pp. 109, 112
3. ↑ SAIRR: Survey 1975 . Johannesburg 1976, p. 302
4. ^ Joseph Hanlon: Mozambique , 1986, pp. 330–331
5. ^ ^{A b} Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM): Samora why he died . on www.mozambiquehistory.net (p. 75, PDF document p. 76, English)
6. ^ Colin Darch: State Security: Vigilância Popular and SNASP . on www.mozambiquehistory.net (English)