Youth delegates and scholars attending the “Aluta Continua: Samora Machel, Liberation Movements and the Unfinished Decolonial Project” symposium at Rhodes University in South Africa (SA), have called for a declaration outlining concrete actions to bridge the gap between anti-colonial promises and modern socioeconomic realities.<\/p>\n
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The two-day conference enters its final day today in Makhanda, SA, bringing together researchers, Pan-African thinkers, and members of Samora Machel’s family, including humanitarian Gra\u00e7a Machel and Samora Machel Jr., to mark 40 years since the passing of Mozambique’s founding President.<\/p>\n
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Emerging outcomes from the conference highlight growing frustration among young participants from SA, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Tanzania over persistent youth unemployment, gender-based violence, and economic stagnation across the region.<\/p>\n
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“The unfinishedness of it is taking it back to the promises that a lot of liberation movements made not just to their countries but to young people, and the realities that we face today,” noted Professor Siphokazi Magadla, Dean of Humanities at Rhodes University. “A slogan that kept coming out from young people was that we need to ‘push the boat’ in very realistic, small, and tangible ways.”<\/p>\n
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Delegates are finalising a “Declaration on Decolonial Futures” focused on integrating African liberation histories directly into regional educational curricula and pushing for economic models tailored to post-independence governance.<\/p>\n
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