 Magaia was born in Mocuba, in the Zambezia Province of Mozambique, the son of Samuel Guenguene Magaia, a health practitioner, and his wife Albinic Ana Perreira Magaia.During his years as commander of the FRELIMO forces, Magaia sought assistance from Algeria in training his men.He outlined the strategy of the guerrilla forces as one of the "gradual wearing down, morally, psychologically and materially, of the enemy forces, and of the entire machinery that sustained the colonisation of Mozambique".