Samora Moisés Machel ( 29 September 1933 &ndash; 19 October 1986 ) was a Mozambican military commander , politician and revolutionary . A socialist in the tradition of Marxism – Leninism , he served as the first President of Mozambique from the country 's independence in 1975 . Machel died in office in 1986 when his presidential aircraft crashed near the Mozambique-South Africa border
crashed
1986 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crash
Samora Machel