Deadly candor
By Nina Ognianova Posted Mon, Jan 1 2001
The 2000 Index Courage in Journalism award, sponsored by The Economist, didn’t bring joy to Nina Berg’s face. On the contrary, she swallowed back anguished tears and wished her husband, Carlos Cardoso, could receive the prestigious prize himself. But he couldn’t.
Nov. 22, 2000, was supposed to be an ordinary Wednesday in the life of Cardoso as he headed home from the office. He had just finished editing the latest issue of his independent newspaper, Metical, named after Mozambique’s currency. He didn’t realize that this edition would also be his last one. Cardoso was riding with the newspaper’s driver, Carlos Manjate, when their Toyota Corolla was ambushed at around 6:30 p.m. on the central Maputo street of Avenida Mártires da Machava. Two cars drove opposite the newspaper’s vehicle, bringing it to a stop. Seconds later, two unidentified gunmen jumped out and used AK-47 assault rifles to fire more than 10 shots at Cardoso. The journalist was instantly killed. Manjate suffered severe bullet injuries but survived the attack.
Cardoso, 49, had received numerous death threats throughout his 25 years as a journalist. They didn’t scare him. Little before the lethal assault, Cardoso said that having survived the possible dire consequences of his candor for such a long while had given him a sense of confidence and security.
Carlos Cardoso was a believer. He believed in the triumph of democracy and press freedom in Mozambique. He is oftentimes referred to as the Mozambican press freedom’s father, and, like all proud parents, Cardoso invested excessive trust in his infant child.
Cardoso was a firm idealist who would not spare his criticism of both Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo regime and the Renamo opposition. In a tribute after the journalist’s murder, Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said, “We were used to arguing with Cardoso. We argued with him because he raised pertinent problems that demand the attention of all of us. He forced us all to think.”
Carlos Alberto Cardoso was born to Portuguese parents in 1952 in the Mozambican town of Beira. His parents sent him to South Africa for his high school and college education. As a student at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Cardoso developed a taste for Marxist views and became engaged in anti-apartheid politics. He allegedly waved the Frelimo flag on the university campus to protest Portuguese colonialism in 1974. The young leftist had to leave South Africa because of his political beliefs in 1975, the same year Mozambique gained its independence. When he returned to Mozambique, he got his first journalism job at Tempo, a pro-government newspaper. Determined to help build Mozambican democracy, he didn’t hesitate to rebuke the corrupt moves of the ruling political elite. His straight attitude quickly landed him in the music section of Radio Mozambique. That, however, lasted only a year, as the talented critic was back in 1980 as an editor of the government press agency AIM. Cardoso worked there for nine years and became advisor to then-President Samora Machel.
Following Machel’s murder in 1986, which he personally investigated, Cardoso experienced a time of frustration with Mozambican journalism and democracy.
In 1989, he resorted to painting to console his aching heart and mind.
In 1992, he co-founded the world’s first faxed daily paper, Mediafax. The four-page newspaper quickly became a forum for investigative journalism, an approach that had just gained popularity in Mozambique. Cardoso left Mediafax in 1997 in order to start a faxed publication of his own. He started the independent Metical as a business daily that aimed to boost private entrepreneurship and condemn government corruption. As with Mediafax, Cardoso made sure that Metical held to the high criteria of good investigative reporting.
One of the major investigations Cardoso was conducting involved the privatization of Banco Comercial de Moçambique, (BCM). He said US$14 million dollars had been reported missing, and although the names of the major suspects were revealed, no prosecution was launched.
Cardoso’s colleagues at Metical vowed to stand by their murdered editor’s causes of bringing the truth to light and serving society. In a special edition of the newspaper on Nov. 23, they declared that the assassins “have not silenced the voices of a society that want a decent country where people can live in peace and prosperity.” The editorial added: “The pen of Carlos Cardoso shall not lie on the ground where it fell after he was riddled with bullets. We shall pick it up to continue his struggle.”