Albie Sachs, a white South African anti-apartheid activist, lived in Maputo at the same time as Melissa. The two met and shared similar views. He considered her “a most unusual Ambassador who was a true friend to Africa, remarkable as much for what she wasn’t as for what she was. “
Shortly after their meeting, apartheid security agents placed a bomb in his car. It exploded, blowing off Sachs’ his right arm and blinding his left eye, in addition to killing a passerby.
In 2025, when Melissa passed away, he sent this tribute.
“In the late 1980’s civil war was raging in Mozambique. We couldn’t leave Maputo except by airplane. It was in this context that I made a point of keeping up active contact with the British and the American ambassadors to the country. My wish was partly to pass on my own knowledge and insights in a way that would help the FRELIMO government withstand the attacks by Pretoria-backed RENAMO. But I also had a purely personal motive. I thought that if I was publicly seen to be friendly with these ambassadors, I would be less likely to be taken out in the way Ruth First had been by a letter bomb in 1982.
The British Ambassador, James Allan, was thoughtful, sparky and fun to be with. He also couldn’t help chortling at times. When telling me how he had encouraged Frelimo to receive military training from the British, he couldn’t hold back his chortles as he told me how he had encouraged Samora Machel to be measured for a military uniform made by the best British tailor.
Melissa Wells never chortled. Her relationship with Africa was totally different. She refused to see the continent purely in Cold War terms. Rather, it was a continent seeking to come into its own in the context of the Cold War. She had an affinity for African strivings that was almost unique in diplomatic circles. Together with this, though always self-assured, she was never self-important. I never felt that in my own dealings with her I should rely on diplomatic finesse. I could speak openly from my heart about how I saw situations. I noticed, too, that she seemed to surround herself in the Embassy with spirited and knowledgeable work colleagues. I think it was her openness of mind and practical empathy that made her particularly well-liked by large sections of the Mozambican community. She stood for values and a style of work not always found in her compatriots. You felt that speaking to her, you were engaging with someone whose organic connection with struggles by people in the US for their rights and dignity, enabled them to link organically with people in other parts of the world battling against injustice and oppression. As it turned out, my hope that being seen in the company of people like her would diminish the likelihood of an apartheid bomb coming my way, turned out to be illusory.
I learnt, however, that after Mozambican doctors had saved my life, the British Ambassador had assisted in my being flown out to a London hospital for my recovery. I never saw Melissa Wells again. But as I reflect on my interactions with her, I am reminded of the need to always be open to discovering warm-hearted, thoughtful, empathetic and forward-looking people in even the most unexpected places. In a world filled with greed, malice and ambition, she stood nobly and bravely for human virtue and dignity. I remember her as a good friend, a wise woman and a great American.
Albie Sachs
Former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa “