Umkhonto Penetrating Mozambique Alongside FRELIMO Forces
On 20 June 1967, the African National Congress (ANC) leadership decided that infiltration through Mozambique was impracticable. Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) soldiers would have had to cross hundreds of kilometres of territory controlled by the Portuguese forces, and their inability to speak the local language would have vastly added to the possibility of discovery. The original idea was for MK team to infiltrate South Africa in the northeastern part, to go and create bases, mobilise people and fight there.
This decision followed a report on an attempt in May 1967, when a group of MK cadres led by Josiah Jele was sent to northern Mozambique to investigate potential infiltration routes into South Africa. The ANC leadership was facing mounting pressure from the MK cadres at the MK Kongwa Camp, near Dodoma, in Tanzania, to explore every possibility for sending guerrillas back to South Africa. This included finding a route through South West Africa, even though the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) considered that impossible in the light of escalating armed conflict in the region. The unit that was led by Josiah Jele was to seek a passage via Mozambique to the northeastern corner of South Africa.
In early May 1967, Sandi Sijake, Spy Motsela and Duncan Khoza were collected from Kongwa by ANC Secretary General Duma Nokwe to Morogoro, where they found Tennyson Makiwane, Josiah Jele, George Tau, Linda and Kala
