Suburb

Today I went to a museum buried in the nearby suburb of Matola, commemorating a particularly violent episode in the history of apartheid South Africa and its relationship to neighbouring countries.

When the African National Congress (ANC) leaders decided that armed resistance was their only path to liberation, Mozambique and other regimes that were sympathetic allowed their territories to be used as bases. Some agents from the armed wing of the ANC used locations in Maputo and Matola to plan missions and conduct guerrilla operations. In 1981 a reprisal attack was made on locations in Matola by the South African Defence Force, which resulted in multiple deaths, including of a Portuguese civilian.

Now the monument and interpretation centre hidden away in Matola and marking the event gives a surprisingly detailed account of this under-appreciated chapter of history.

This is a church on the same block, rather than a museum looking like a church.