Graça Machel: Meet woman who became First Lady of two different countries
Graça Simbine Machel is the only woman to have become the First Lady of two different countries – Mozambique and South Africa.
She is only person in history to have been the first spouse to two different democratically elected African leaders.
Machel was born on October 17, 1945, in Mozambique. Her journey is one of resilience, activism, and an unwavering commitment to education and social justice.
She excelled in school; earning a scholarship to attend the University of Lisbon in Portugal where she studied German. She developed a love of languages and today is fluent in her native Xitsonga, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, and English.
Her father died three weeks before her birth and left an instruction that she must be educated through high school — a will that was carried out by her older siblings.
After completing high school, the Methodist church granted her a scholarship to study at Lisbon University, Portugal. And she chose to major in languages.
Due to surveillance from the Portuguese secret police, she was forced to abandon her education and fled to Switzerland.
In 1973, she returned to Tanzania and joined the FRELIMO where she met her first husband, Samora Machel – the first president of Mozambique.
On June 25, 1975, Mozambique gained independence and Samora Machel was made the first president of the new country.
When he was sworn in as the president of Mozambique, Samora Machel was a widower as his wife, Josina, had died of leukaemia in 1971.
In September of 1975, Graça married Samora Machel and became the first lady of the country. She combined this position with her cabinet portfolio as Education minister till 1986.
Samora Machel died in a plane crash on October 19, 1986, and this made Graca to resign her post as minister.
Machel became acquainted with Nelson Mandela after his release from prison on Robben Island.
They developed a close relationship and were married on July 18, 1988 (Mandela’s 80th birthday). Mandela was President of South Africa and Graca became the First Lady. She assumed the position of the First Lady of South Africa at age 52.
After Mandela’s death in 2013, Graca Mandela continued to be active in national and international efforts to help children and the less fortunate.
She is a founding member of “The Elders,” an independent group of former global leaders formed in 2007 by Nelson Mandela to work together for peace and human rights.
Graca Mandela is also the Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, Chancellor of the African Leadership University, President of the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, and an active leader in numerous other educational and charitable organizations.
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