Minister Dlamini Zuma departs for Mozambique to participate in Commemoration service of the 1981 Matola Raid on ANC houses

Pretoria – South African Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma today Friday 13 February left for Maputo where she will deliver a keynote address tomorrow, Saturday 14 February at a ceremony to mark the 28th anniversary of the Matola raid carried out by apartheid security forces on ANC safe houses in Matola, Mozambique in 1981.

Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan and South Africa’s High Commissioner to Mozambique Thandi Lujabe-Rankoe will accompany Minister Dlamini Zuma to the ceremony.

The Matola Raid on ANC safe houses was carried out on 30 January 1981 by a unit of the South African Defence Force, as part of apartheid’s destabilisation efforts of southern African countries that supported the South African liberation struggle led by the ANC.  Sixteen South Africans and one Portuguese national were killed during the attack.

Although the raid was carried on 30 January 1981, it was the late ANC President Oliver Tambo who declared 14 February as the “day of friendship between the people of South Africa and Mozambique to mark the Matola raid.

In addition to Ministers Dlamini Zuma and Dr. Pallo Jordan the service is also expected to be addressed by, among others, the Mayorof  Matola and a representative of Frelimo, Mozambique’s ruling party.

Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853

Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

13 February 2009