The fractious history of Mozambique’s anti-colonial movement remains politically charged, just as in other post-colonial states where opposition movements have challenged the ruling party’s exclusive claim to the legacy of national liberation. This article examines the debates over the legacy of the former Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo) vice-president Uria Simango and the Catholic priest Mateus Gwenjere, who continue to be denounced as traitors by the current Frelimo government, and of the protests against the Frelimo leadership by student exiles at the Mozambique Institute in Dar es Salaam in 1967–68. I argue that, for critics of the current government, the figures of Simango and Gwenjere represent a vision that is opposed to the direction taken by Frelimo after Simango was ousted from the leadership in 1969. The events surrounding the protests provide a basis for a narrative about the supposedly exclusive and undemocratic character of the current regime. As Frelimo remains entrenched in power through violence and patronage, the opposition contestation of the official history can be seen as an appeal for a more inclusive imagining of the nation, valorising historic Frelimo figures denigrated by the official version of history, while not challenging the centrality of Frelimo in Mozambique’s liberation.

莫桑比克反殖民运动的动荡历史仍然充满政治色彩，正如在其他后殖民国家，反对派运动挑战执政党对民族解放遗产的专属主张。本文探讨了关于前莫桑比克自由阵线 (Frelimo) 副总统 Uria Simango 和天主教神父 Mateus Gwenjere 的遗产的辩论，他们继续被当前的解放阵线政府谴责为叛徒，以及反对自由阵线的抗议活动。 1967-68 年达累斯萨拉姆莫桑比克学院的流亡学生领导 Frelimo。我认为，对于现任政府的批评者来说，Simango 和 Gwenjere 的人物代表的愿景与 1969 年 Simango 被驱逐出领导层后 Frelimo 所采取的方向相反。围绕抗议活动的事件为关于当前政权所谓的排他性和不民主性质的叙述提供了基础。由于 Frelimo 仍然通过暴力和赞助保持权力根深蒂固，官方历史的反对派争论可以被视为呼吁更具包容性的国家想象，重视被官方历史版本诋毁的历史 Frelimo 人物，同时不挑战中心地位Frelimo 解放莫桑比克。