MANU emerged from a cluster of Makonde self-help and cultural associations during the nationalist ferment that spread across Africa around 1960. Unlike a fully national organization, it initially possessed a narrow regional and ethnic base. Its early supporters included Makonde dock and plantation workers in Kenya and Tanzania, many of whom had lived outside Mozambique for more than a decade.

In 1959, activists organizing MANU sent Zacarias Vanomba into the Makonde highlands to mobilize peasant support and raise political consciousness. Working clandestinely through agricultural cooperatives, Vanomba built a substantial base of sympathy and support. This network enabled MANU supporters to hold evening meetings in the bush and later participate in a large demonstration at the Portuguese administrative center in Mueda.

The violent repression of the Mueda demonstration in June 1961 exposed the limits of MANU’s reliance on petitions, protest letters, and nonviolent action. MANU leaders nevertheless remained part of the process that brought the principal exile movements together. In 1962, MANU merged with UDENAMO and UNAMI to form FRELIMO under Eduardo Mondlane.