Author’s biography. Born in 1935 in the Gaza region, he was first a sheppard. Raised in several homes, he went to Maputo at the age of 13 and to South Africa at the age of 19, to work in the mine where his father had lost his life, and also in a factory. He only began his studies at the age of 14. A guerrilla fighter in FRELIMO, namely in Niassa and Tete, he was later Governor of Manica and Maputo provinces.