Weekly 14 - 21 October 2016.pdfTalks with Renamo resume with press blackout. Meeting between Nyusi and Dhlakama “further away than ever”. Page 45-46. “There will be no peace

Attempted kidnap near US Embassy. Police pledge to make every effort to find Omar Faruk Ayoob’s attackers (Pages 65-66)

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POINTERS:

Macro-economy:

Moody’s maintains that a credible independent international audit of public accounts could pave the way for resumption of international aid. IMF says that it is “an essential prerequisite to the continuation of financial aid”, which amounted to approximately 10% of GDP in 2015. Moody’s predicts budget deficit will reach 6.4% of GDP this year. Metical has lost 42% of its value against the dollar since January. Page 13.

“Mozambique will have to accept a bailout to manage its debt, because there is no capacity”. But for there to be a bailout, “there must be a perception that the political, economic and situation is stable”. Government needs to respond more positively. Pages 13-14.

Government denies existence of new hidden debt. Acknowledged public debt, linked to the “cancer of corruption”, stands at US$11.66-billion, of which US$9.89-billion is external. This represents 86% of GDP, up from the 2012 figure of 42%. IMF predicts growth forecast of 3.7% for this year (against 6.6% last year). Moody’s calculates the cut in aid represents a fall in funding of 2-3% of GDP. Inflation reaches 25% “looking to rise sharply”. Government’s draft budget predicts 5.5% growth, inflation slowdown and rise in FDI. This is regarded as “extraordinarily optimistic” as it assumes that relations with the donor community will be patched up and the assumption that the politico-military tension will be resolved before year end. Food deficit is not going to end. No explanation given for increase in military spending. Government “hoping for numerous miracles”. Pages 14-15 & 50-51.

Central bank raised its key rate by 600 basis points to 23.25%, the fifth increase this year. Page 16.

Minister of Finance urges Tax Authority (AT) to be more proactive in collecting revenue. Page 17.

CTA urges common sense to overcome problems in payment of VAT through electronic forms of tax payment. Pages 17-18.

Thousands lose jobs in Manica Province due to politico-military tension. Page 18.

Aim to attract Chinese companies to industrialise the country. Pages 18-20.

African banks “drowning in bad debt and swamped by slowing economies”. Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa may decelerate to 1.4% this year from 3.4% in 2015, already the slowest pace in 15 years. Outlook clouded by slowdown in China, Africa’s largest trading partner. Pages 20-22.

Oil & Gas:

Dismissal of Couto linked to talks between Nyusi and exasperated US investors. Pages 22-24.

Leticia da Silva Klemens appointed as new Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. Page 24.

Good gas and bad governance – Africa Confidential. Pages 24-27.

Government extends deadline for proposals on domestic use of LNG. Pages 27-28.

ENI confirms it in talks with a buyer for a stake in Rovuma Area-4 (ExxonMobil). Pages 28.

Consortium including Delonex Energy and the Indian Oil Corporation to explore

the potential of Maputo Province. Pages 29-30.

Mining:

German companies are hesitant and averse to the risk of investing in

Mozambique. Pages 32-33.

Coking coal price rises to US$245/ ton (against lows of US$72/ ton last year) -

240% price surge in less than 12 months. Pages 33-34.

Energy:

Zimbabwe given two months’ notice to clear Cahora Bassa arrears. Pages 35.

Transport:

Economic crisis affects works along the EN4. Pages 37.

Politics & Security:

Killing overshadows talks – Africa Confidential. Pages 45.

Talks with Renamo resume with press blackout. Meeting between Nyusi and Dhlakama “further away than ever”. Page 45-46.

“There will be no peace agreement until 2019…. conditions for greater democracy

have not been met”. Frelimo “completely rotted, with links to drug trafficking and

extensive corruption”. Michel Cahen. Pages 46-47.

“Crises due to lack of robust and credible institutions” - IESE. Pages 47.

“Frelimo has no fear of decentralisation as long as the decentralisation measures

respect the Constitution and the law” – Talapa. MDM sees amended Constitution

as “a national imperative”. Pages 47-49.

Óscar Monteiro attacks incompetence and corruption. Pages 55-56.

Usual litany of attacks and counter-attacks between government forces and

Renamo in central provinces. Pages 60-63.

Political and security incident charts. Pages 64.

Attempted kidnap near US Embassy. Pages 66-67.

END

4

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5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BUSINESS INDEX .......................................................................................................... 9

ECONOMY & BUSINESS ............................................................................................. 12

GRAPH 1: MOZAMBIQUE CURRENCY EVALUATION ......................................... 12

Macro-Economy: ...................................................................................................... 13

Mozambique agreement with IMF on independent audit is positive for sovereign debt

................................................................................................................................... 13

Economists differ on IMF bailout for Mozambique ..................................................... 13

Government denies existence of new hidden debt .................................................... 14

Government predicts 5.5% growth, inflation slowdown and rise in FDI ...................... 14

Central bank governor announces monetary policy measures .................................. 16

Average commodity prices: 12 to 19 October ............................................................ 16

“Tax Authority must be more proactive in revenue collection” – Minister Maleiane .... 17

Tax Authority runs out of tax forms ............................................................................ 17

Government guarantees wages for civil service until December ................................ 18

Politico-military situation causes mass unemployment in Manica Province ............... 18

Mozambique wants to attract Chinese companies to industrialise the country .......... 18

Ministry of Industry and Trade hosts Chinese delegation visiting Maputo Province ... 19

President Paul Kagame to visit Mozambique, give a lecture on private sector

contribution ................................................................................................................ 20

Banks failing coast to coast show spreading Africa distress ...................................... 20

Oil and Gas: .............................................................................................................. 22

Anadarko, ExxonMobil and Delonex get Couto’s head on a platter ........................... 22

President Nyusi appoints Leticia da Silva Klemens Minister of Mineral Resources and

Energy ........................................................................................................................ 24

Click on a title to follow the link to the related article. To return to the Contents Page, click on the link

at the top-right hand corner of the page.

6

Good gas and bad governance .................................................................................. 24

Government extends deadline for proposals on domestic use of liquefied gas .......... 27

ENI talking to Mozambique gas field buyer but no deal yet ........................................ 28

Mozambique oil and gas search reaches Marracuene and Manhiça ......................... 29

Tariff shock looms for South Africa’s gas users ......................................................... 30

Mozambican Governemt and Anadarko Claim Advances .......................................... 31

Mining: ...................................................................................................................... 32

“Mozambique’s resources must be explored rationally” – President Nyusi ................ 32

German-owned graphite mine in Mozambique to employ approximately 70 people .. 32

Coking coal price rises to US$245 a ton .................................................................... 33

Energy: ...................................................................................................................... 34

Minister da Silva Klemens expressed her intention to expand power grid throughout

the country ................................................................................................................. 34

Power Expansion Project covers eight districts in Cabo Delgado Province ............... 35

Zimbabwe given two months’ notice to clear Cahora Bassa and Eskom arrears ....... 35

Transport & Construction: ...................................................................................... 35

Better air connections will help African business ....................................................... 35

Emirates may quit African cities over dollar debts from low oil ................................... 36

Economic crisis affects works along the EN4 ............................................................. 37

Five municipal districts in Maputo to undergo road maintenance ............................... 37

Macanneta bridge to be tolled from Monday .............................................................. 37

Striking carriers block EN10 and prevent entry into Quelimane ................................. 38

Maputo-Catembe crossing: Bagamoyo back in service, but with conditions .............. 38

500 homes on the cards for young people in Nampula Province ............................... 39

Agriculture & Fishing: ............................................................................................. 39

Production could reach five-million tons during 2016/17 agricultural season ............. 39

Mozambique exports 4,000-tons of livestock feed to southern Africa per month ....... 40

Extensionists trained in fruit production and management ......................................... 40

Small-scale food fortification under the microscope in Maputo seminar .................... 41

Mozambique buys cattle from Brazil .......................................................................... 41

7

Foot and mouth disease outbreak embargoes cattle movement in Maputo and Gaza

province ..................................................................................................................... 41

Tourism: .................................................................................................................... 42

President Nyusi opens Maputo International Tourism Fair, calls for diversification of

economy .................................................................................................................... 42

Telecommunications: ................................................................................................. 42

Viettel makes US$33-million in first half ..................................................................... 42

Other: ........................................................................................................................ 44

Uncollected title deeds holding up state property sale process by Mozambique’s APIE

................................................................................................................................... 44

POLITICS ...................................................................................................................... 45

Killing overshadows talks ........................................................................................... 45

Talks between government and Renamo resume on Tuesday with press blackout ... 45

“There will be no peace agreement until 2019” – Michel Cahen ................................ 46

Crises in Mozambique due to the lack of robust and credible institutions .................. 47

“Enough blood! Enough looting!” –Frelimo ................................................................. 47

Peace in Mozambique is an obligation to Machel memory ........................................ 49

State Budget for 2017 compiled under the assumption that the politico-military tension

will be resolved before year end ................................................................................ 50

Parliament meets in ordinary session ........................................................................ 51

Opposition deputies reject Ombudsman’s report ....................................................... 52

Dispute over Beira rubbish collection fee rumbles on ................................................ 52

EdM admits negligence over Beira rubbish fee .......................................................... 54

“Some leaders appoint less capable people” – Óscar Monteiro ................................. 55

Example of Samora keeps hope of a better future alive ............................................ 56

Prime Minister Rosário is certain that Samora Machel was killed .............................. 57

New directors inducted in Sofala ................................................................................ 59

Luanda and Maputo reinforce co-operation ............................................................... 59

President Nyusi works in Metuge and Pemba, Cabo Delgado ................................... 59

8

President Jacob Zuma to travel to Mozambique ........................................................ 60

SECURITY .................................................................................................................... 60

Renamo murders child in Muxungué raid, father seriously injured ............................. 60

FADM deactivate and occupy Renamo base in Nampula Province ........................... 60

PRM says it will continue to dismantle Renamo bases .............................................. 61

Renamo delegate assassinated in Nampula Province ............................................... 62

Attacks on trains in northern Mozambique increase .................................................. 62

Politico-military situation improves in Tete Province .................................................. 63

Renamo is a security threat to Zimbabwe .................................................................. 63

CRIME ........................................................................................................................... 64

GRAPH 2: Incident Type per Province ................................................................... 64

GRAPH 3: Property Types Targetted ..................................................................... 64

PRM issue official statement on Maputo shooting incident ........................................ 65

Police foil kidnap attempt in Maputo .......................................................................... 66

Traditional healer arrested for holding 22 patients hostage ....................................... 67

Man arrested for holding his employer hostage ......................................................... 67

Man arrested for raping a minor in Gaza Province ..................................................... 68

Citizen lynched to death in Beira ................................................................................ 68

Unidentified man murdered in Marracuene ................................................................ 68

Twenty-nine traffic officers dismissed for extortion .................................................... 69

Ombudsman paints grim picture of Mozambican prisons, police cells ....................... 69

HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND NGO’S ......................................... 71

Disaster risk reduction project launched in Mozambique ........................................... 71

More than 10-million Mozambicans living with chronic malnutrition since 2008 ......... 71

Migration from countryside hinders urban management ............................................ 73

Human Rights League accuses companies of trampling basic rights in Mozambique 74

Maputo students miss classes as police clamp down on school transport ................. 75

9

“Overcome obstacles, put women in their due position” – Isaura Nyusi ..................... 75

Office of the First Lady: new director to set priorities, identify partnerships for social

projects ...................................................................................................................... 76

Will growing female political muscle drive change in African nations? ....................... 77

WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION .................................................... 79

Magistrates receive training on biodiversity protection ............................................... 79

Eleven containers of logs seized in Nacala ................................................................ 80

Anti-poaching rangers attacked in Mozambique ........................................................ 81

Justice for rhinos – when will it come? ....................................................................... 82

Illegal wildlife trade used to fund terror groups ........................................................... 84

What do Chinese in South Africa think of the ivory trade? ......................................... 86

World body that could protect elephants – decides not to .......................................... 89

...................................................................................................................................... 91

HEALTH ........................................................................................................................ 92

Mozambique and Angola among top 20 tuberculosis countries ................................. 92

Cases of diarrhoea on the rise in Vilankulo ................................................................ 93

Significant improvements noted in National Health Service ....................................... 93

BUSINESS INDEX

AMG Graphit Kropfmuhl ............................................................................................................32

Anadarko .......................................................................................................... 23, 25, 26, 27, 28

Atlas Mara Ltd. ..........................................................................................................................20

Banco de Moçambique ..................................................................................... 13, 16, 53, 54, 55

Bank of Uganda ........................................................................................................................21

Barclays ....................................................................................................................................21

BCI ............................................................................................................................................53

Bitel ...........................................................................................................................................43

BP ................................................................................................................................. 23, 24, 25

Brand Finance..................................................................................................................... 42, 43

10

China National Petroleum Corporation ......................................................................................27

CIM ..................................................................................................................................... 39, 40

CMG .........................................................................................................................................30

Commonwealth Bank ................................................................................................................33

Consol Glass ............................................................................................................................30

Construções HSHJ ...................................................................................................................37

Construções Murromone ...........................................................................................................37

Crane Bank Ltd. ........................................................................................................................20

Delonex......................................................................................................................... 23, 29, 30

Distribution & Warehousing Network .........................................................................................30

Duet Asset Management ...........................................................................................................22

EdM ........................................................................................................................ 52, 53, 54, 55

Ematum ........................................................................................................................ 13, 14, 15

Emirates....................................................................................................................................36

ENH .............................................................................................................................. 26, 28, 29

ENI ........................................................................................................ 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30

Equita .......................................................................................................................................28

Eskom ................................................................................................................................. 34, 35

Exotix Partners LLP ..................................................................................................................21

Exx Africa ............................................................................................................................ 20, 22

ExxonMobil ................................................................................................. 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

Galp ..........................................................................................................................................29

Glencore ...................................................................................................................................33

Halotel ......................................................................................................................................43

HCB .............................................................................................................................. 23, 34, 35

HSBC ........................................................................................................................................33

Iberia .........................................................................................................................................36

iGas ..........................................................................................................................................30

Illovo Sugar……………………………………………………………………………………..30

IMF ...................................................................................... 12, 13, 14, 15, 22, 23, 24, 27, 32, 46

Indian Oil Corporation ......................................................................................................... 29, 30

KOGAS .....................................................................................................................................29

KPMG .......................................................................................................................................18

M&T Empreendimentos ............................................................................................................37

11

Maguta Construções .................................................................................................................37

MAM ....................................................................................................................... 13, 14, 15, 50

Maputo Sul ................................................................................................................................37

m-Cel ........................................................................................................................................67

Metfone .....................................................................................................................................43

Millennium BIM .........................................................................................................................24

Mondi ........................................................................................................................................30

Moody’s .............................................................................................................................. 12, 13

Nampak ....................................................................................................................................30

Nexttel ......................................................................................................................................43

Niza Lda. ...................................................................................................................................67

Peabody....................................................................................................................................33

Petromoc ..................................................................................................................................28

PG Group ..................................................................................................................................30

Proindicus ......................................................................................................... 13, 14, 15, 45, 50

Rompco .............................................................................................................................. 30, 31

Rosneft .....................................................................................................................................23

Sasol ................................................................................................................................... 30, 31

South32 ....................................................................................................................................33

S-SEMM - Obras de Engenharia Civil .......................................................................................37

TAAG ........................................................................................................................................59

Transmarítima ...........................................................................................................................38

Transnet....................................................................................................................................30

United Airlines ...........................................................................................................................36

Unitel ........................................................................................................................................42

Viettel .................................................................................................................................. 42, 43

Warburg Pincus ........................................................................................................................23

WBHO ......................................................................................................................................36

Westpac ....................................................................................................................................33

World Bank ............................................................................................................. 13, 15, 71, 72

ZESA Holdings..........................................................................................................................35

12

Return to Contents Page

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Mozambique Exchange Rate and Fuel Prices: 21 October 2016

GRAPH 1: MOZAMBIQUE CURRENCY EVALUATION

Mozambique Fuel Prices

Fuel Type Price Per Litre

Petrol 50.02MT

Diesel 45.83MT

Mozambique Metical (MZN) Exchange Rate

Currency Buy Sell

Euro (EUR) 82,08 83,74

U.S. Dollar (USD) 75,30 76,82

S.A. Rand (ZAR) 5,41 5,51

13


Macro-Economy:

Mozambique agreement with IMF on independent audit is positive for sovereign debt

On Monday 17 October, Moody’s rating agency said that the holding of an international audit of public accounts could pave the way for the country to start receiving international aid again.

“The transparency of an independent and credible auditing of public companies Empresa Mocambicana de Atum (Ematum), Mozambique Asset Management (MAM) and Proindicus using the parameters that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Mozambique agreed on, even if it were to present negative findings, it would begin to restore the country’s position among International donors”, Moody’s writes.

Moody’s analysts say the statements of IMF African Department Director Abebe Selassie underline that carrying out an external audit is “an essential prerequisite to the continuation of financial aid” to the country. Experts from the rating agency, which classifies Mozambique sovereign debt as ‘Caa3 with negative evolution’ or ‘junk’ status, say: “The resumption of financial aid flows would be positive from a credit assessment point of view and necessary given the substantial fiscal pressures that the government faces”.

The research note, which does not constitute a rating action, says that external funds “could increase the budget of Mozambique and the foreign exchange reserves of the Banco de Moçambique, and the audit could itself increase the transparency of the [budget] dangers that the government faces”.

The IMF, the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development suspended aid to Mozambique in April this year, following the disclosure of hidden debts worth over US$1.4-billion. According to Moody’s calculations, the cut in aid represents a fall in funding of 2-3% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Mozambique’s total international financial aid in 2015 was approximately 10% of GDP. Moody’s says that the budget deficit will reach 6.4% of GDP this year. External currency reserves had fallen by 18% in May over the same period and the metical was one of the steepest-falling currencies of the year, losing 42% of its value against the dollar.

Source: Lusa

Economists differ on IMF bailout for Mozambique

In Mozambique, opinions differ on the need for a possible bailout as a result of high indebtedness and the worsening of the economic and financial situation. Some economists interviewed by VOA said that Mozambique is currently facing a situation similar to that experienced in Portugal, which led to a bailout.

António Francisco says that Mozambique does not, at this time, have the ability to pay its debts and needs to renegotiate them, but it is unclear how the government will do so in a situation where domestic savings are very limited. One economist pointed out that: “most probably, Mozambique will have to accept a bailout to manage this debt, because there is no capacity”.

Economist João Mosca thinks the opposite. “For there to be a bailout, there must be a perception that the political,

14


economic and situation is stable, because without that, there can hardly be a bailout”, Mosca argues. In his opinion, the international partners are demanding a set of conditions for the resumption of co-operation with Mozambique to which “the government has not yet responded positively”.

Source: VOA Português

Government denies existence of new hidden debt

On Friday 14 October, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, denied the existence of further alleged hidden debt worth US$900-million reported in the international and Mozambican press on 7 October. “There is no record of any such debt”, Minister Maleiane is quoted by public broadcaster Rádio Moçambique as saying. He invited the authors of the information to submit any evidence they had for public scrutiny.

In its 7 October issue, the London-based Africa Confidential publication ran a report asserting the existence of a further US$900-million in “undisclosed debt” in the Mozambique accounts, joining the US$1.4-billion already admitted to. According to the article, the money was used by Frelimo intermediaries to purchase weapons and armoured vehicles. “Someone must have some basis for [the report]”, Minister Maleiane said, “so all we can do is ask that person to guide us”.

The minister pointed out that the government has been co-operating with the IMF to satisfy the institution’s requirements for the resumption of the financial support suspended due to the so-called hidden debts. Including loans taken on by the government,

Mozambique’s public debt stands at US$11.66-billion, of which US$9.89-billion is external. This represents 86% of GDP, up from the 2012 figure of 42%.

The IMF is demanding an independent, international audit of Ematum, Proindicus and MAM companies that took on government-guaranteed loans between 2013 and 2014. At the beginning of the month the Fund team said that the Attorney-General’s Office “has made considerable progress” in drafting a document enabling the audit.

At the conclusion of the visit, the institution said that: “Mozambique is facing a difficult economic environment”, with a growth forecast of 3.7% for this year (against 6.6% last year) and inflation, which reached 21% year-on-year in August, fuelled by a depreciation of the metical by about 40% since the beginning of the year, “looking to rise sharply”.

Source: Lusa

Government predicts 5.5% growth, inflation slowdown and rise in FDI

The government’s draft budget for 2017 envisages expenditure of around MT272.3-billion (approximately US$3.53-billion, at current exchange rates). The government’s budget document, presented on Friday 14 October at a meeting in Maputo with civil society organisations, is divided into state running costs of MT156.4-billion, and a capital budget of MT80.4-billion, while state financial operations account for MT35.5-billion.

This is to be covered by domestic resources (essentially tax revenue) of around MT207-billion, and external resources of MT65-billion.

15


The latter figure seems extraordinarily optimistic, and the document does not explain where these external resources will come from. Following the discovery in April of well over a US$2-billion worth of undisclosed government-guaranteed loans, the IMF suspended its programme with Mozambique.

Other multilateral organisations, such as the World Bank, and bilateral donors followed suit. All 14 donors and financial institutions that used to provide direct support to the State Budget suspended further disbursements. Therefore, all programme aid is currently at a standstill, although the country’s partners are still putting money into a large number of scattered projects.

The IMF and the western donors have repeatedly made it clear that any resumption of normal relations depends on an international, independent audit of the controversial loans to the three quasi-public companies involved – Ematum and the security-linked companies Proindicus and MAM. Thus, the figure of MT65-billion in external resources appears to assume that the relations with the donor community will be patched up, and hence that the audit will be held successfully.

The figure of MT65-billion is also mathematically necessary. As the document puts it “total expenditure is equal to the total volume of resources, and, therefore, the principle of budgetary equilibrium is safeguarded”. If those external resources do not materialise, there will be a deficit of MT65-billion.

Presenting the document, the head of the planning and budgetary policy department in the Finance Ministry, Alfredo Mutombene, said that the forecast for 2017 is for a recovery in Mozambican

economic growth, a slowdown in the rate of inflation (currently running at almost 25% a year), and a rise in the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

The projection for the nominal GDP in 2017 is MT802.9-billion, which compares with the 2016 estimate of MT694.5-billion. The estimates for economic growth in 2016 have been repeatedly cut, and now stand at 3.9%. But Mutombene said that growth should rise to 5.5% in 2017.

In terms of sectors, agricultural production is expected to rise by 5.9%, the extractive industry by 24%, electricity and gas by 8.9%, fisheries by 4.4%, transport by 4.3%, and trade by 4.4%. The country’s exports are expected to rise to US$3.46-billion, an increase of 7.7% on the 2016 estimate of US$3.21-billion.

The government clearly hopes that the slump in international commodity prices is over and that the current recovery in the prices of coal and natural gas, both key Mozambican exports, is more than a blip. “The trend to an increase in gas and coal prices, although slight, is encouraging for our country and for the extractive industry, which has been suffering from falling world prices over the last two years”, said the Finance Ministry document.

The forecast for a 2017 recovery in the national economy is based on factors which are far from certain – notably the recovery of confidence by Mozambique’s international partners, leading to increased flows of foreign investment, and the consolidation of peace.

(Click here to follow link to related article).

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

16


Central bank governor announces monetary policy measures

On the afternoon of Friday 21 October, the governor of the Banco de Moçambique, Rogério Zandamela, held a press conference in Maputo to announce the decisions of the Monetary Policy Committee.

“The Monetary Policy Committee of the Banco de Moçambique meets once a month to analyse the development of the economic and international and regional financial environment, the evolution of Mozambique’s main macro-indicators especially inflation, monetary and credit aggregates, the short- and medium-term projections for inflation and the monetary policy measures to ensure the implementation of the economic programme underway”, a statement on the Banco de Moçambique’s website reads.

During the press conference it was revealed that the central bank raised its key rate by 600 basis points to 23.25%, the fifth increase this year, as the cost of living rose at the fastest pace in five months and the currency sank to a record low.

Increases totalling 7.5 percentage points this year have failed to tame inflation, which has been driven by the metical’s depreciation against the dollar. Consumer prices increased 2.71% in September, the highest monthly reading since April. The year-on-year rise was 24.9%.

The metical has weakened 39% against the US dollar this year, making it the worst-performing currency on the continent. It lost 32% in 2015.

Policy makers also increased the interest rate on the standing deposit facility to 16.25% from 10.25%.

It’s Zandamela’s first rate decision since the former IMF employee was appointed at the end of August to replace Ernesto Gove, whose term ended after 10 years.

Mozambique’s economy struggling under mounting debt after the global commodity slump, coupled with a freeze on aid, put its finances under pressure.

Source: Banco de Moçambique/Bloomberg

Average commodity prices: 12 to 19 October

During the period 12 to 19 October, the average prices for basic food products shifted somewhat in shops and markets in the cities of Maputo, Beira and Nampula.

In Maputo City, the price of locally produced dried fish increased in the order of 24%. The price of imported mackerel (25-centimetres) increased by 18%, while the price of domestically produced white sugar and maize meal increased by 3% each. During the period under review, the price of imported onions decreased by 2%.

In Beira, the price of locally produced butter beans decreased in the order of 14%, while the prices for other products remained relatively stable.

In Nampula City, the price of imported onions registered a decreased in the order of 34%, locally produced eggs decreased in price by 24%, locally produced potatoes by 18% and imported tomatoes by 5%.

Source: Jornal Notícias

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“Tax Authority must be more proactive in revenue collection” – Minister Maleiane

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, has challenged the Mozambique Tax Authority (AT) to be more proactive in collecting revenue.

Speaking in Maputo Province on Wednesday 12 October at a Tax Authority induction ceremony, Minister Maleiane said that effort should be made in monetary and fiscal areas to boost the agricultural sector.

“It is this appeal that I make, which, in fact, the whole of society knows to be the case. But today, on this occasion, it is important to focus on the agricultural sector. Just recently, we had a meeting in Manica with the productive sector, and now a meeting at the central level, to get those people who are able to set about producing that which is creating the most problems: vegetables and rice, for example. Even things that normally have nothing to do with the dollar are rising in price, because supply is limited. Boosting the agriculture sector is, therefore, the primary effort being made in the monetary and fiscal areas”, Minister Maleiane said.

Source: Rádio Moçambique

Tax Authority runs out of tax forms

Some Mozambican companies are finding it difficult to pay Value Added Tax (VAT), because tax offices across the country have run out of VAT forms.

The shortage of forms dates from September. Both the Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (Confederação das Associações Económicas de Moçambique, CTA), and

the Mozambique Tax Authority confirmed to the independent television station STV, that the forms were running out.

The CTA pointed out that this situation makes it difficult to pay taxes on time, and when taxes are paid late the companies concerned can be fined.

CTA Deputy Chairperson Prakash Prahlad urged the AT to show some good sense, since the lack of forms is not the fault of the companies, who were taken by surprise and are now worried that they might face heavy fines.

He added that the problem could be overcome through electronic forms of tax payment, a reform long considered by never implemented.

AT spokesperson Haydn David told STV that the company which produces the forms has cut off supplies because the AT has not paid its recent invoices.

He therefore admitted that the institution, which collects the country’s taxes, has not paid for an essential service – and as a result that service has been cut off.

David blamed the non-payment on “internal red tape”. But instead of promptly paying its debt to the supplier, the AT has entered into “negotiations” with the company in question over payment and the resumption of the supply of forms.

“There really is a shortage of some tax payment forms”, admitted David. “The AT delayed paying the company that prints the forms, and so it [the company] decided to cut off the service. But we are working to regularise the situation within a few days”.

He added that, while the situation is being “regularised”, taxpayers are authorised to

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use photocopies of the forms (this is a significant shift in attitude, since state institutions normally do not allow the use of photocopies). David also insisted that the shortage of forms will not compromise the AT’s tax collection targets.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique/STV

Government guarantees wages for civil service until December

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, has announced that the payment of salaries to state employees is guaranteed until December. Minister Maleiane gave his assurance on Friday 14 October at the presentation of a survey on the banking sector conducted by consulting firm KPMG in partnership with the Mozambican Association of Banks (AMB).

Minister Maleiane explained that, although the country’s economy is going through “less than good time”s as a result of the suspension of financial assistance by international partners, the Mozambican State has provided sufficient liquidity for the payment of wages. As a result, all civil servants will have their salaries paid by the last day of December. Minister Maleiane explained that any delays registered, in whatever institution, had nothing to do with budgetary problems, and related only to matters of management by those leading these entities.

Source: Folha de Maputo

Politico-military situation causes mass unemployment in Manica Province

Approximately 2,000 workers in Manica Province have lost their jobs due to the politico-military tension that exists in the

central region of the country. Due to armed clashes, many companies run the risk of closing their doors, while others have had to reduce their staff.

This figure was revealed by the Secretary-General of the Union of Agro-Livestock and Forestry Workers (Sindicato dos Trabalhadores Agro-pecuários e Florestais, SINTAF), André Mandlate.

According to Mandlate, a further 7,000 workers are currently at risk of losing their jobs in areas where military hostilities are more frequent.

Source: Jornal Notícias/Rádio Moçambique

Mozambique wants to attract Chinese companies to industrialise the country

The Mozambican Institute for Export Promotion (Instituto de Promoção de Exportação, IPEX) aims to attract Chinese enterprises to process and produce goods in the quantity and quality required by the markets.

The President of IPEX, João Macaringue, who was in Macau to take part in the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau), which took place on 11 and 12 October, noted that the trade balance between Mozambique and China is very uneven, and China is “one of the main countries where most of the products we consume come from”.

“Our ability to penetrate the Chinese market remains very low, so we intend to invest in attracting the knowledge they have in manufacturing, processing and export”, said the president of IPEX.

The delegation of Mozambique to Forum Macau, headed by Prime Minister Carlos

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Agostinho do Rosário, included 14 entrepreneurs from sectors such as agro-processing, tourism, consulting and services.

“All these entrepreneurs each held over three meetings and all reached agreements in principle that at a later stage can give good results”, Macaringue said, adding that: “there are clear intentions of doing business with Chinese companies”.

Macaringue was also quoted by Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique as saying that the Chinese entrepreneurs concerned are expected to visit Mozambique in order to confirm the business potential promoted by their Mozambican counterparts.

“We have to monitor national entrepreneurs in their interaction with Chinese entrepreneurs to enable them to move ahead with their intentions, especially since the government of Mozambique is calling for industrialisation to add value to raw materials and create more jobs”, Macaringue concluded.

Source: MacauHub/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Ministry of Industry and Trade hosts Chinese delegation visiting Maputo Province

In the context of co-operation between Mozambique and China, on Wednesday 12 October the Ministry of Industry and Trade hosted a meeting between the Multi-Sectoral Committee and a Chinese delegation.

The meeting was headed by Ministry of Industry and Trade Permanent Secretary, Carla Souto, who said that: “in the context of the establishment of the External Zone

of Economic Co-operation envisaged in the Mozambique-China memorandum, the Ministry of Industry and Trade held meetings with the districts of Moamba, Manhiça, Marracuene and Matutuíne, in the light of the fact that the Chinese government has indicated the province of Maputo for the development of the first national External Zone and Economic Co-operation Park”.

Souto said that the arrival of Chinese experts in Mozambique would allow for the clarification of the existing technical conditions of the respective sites and the preparation of a master plan to serve as guidance for the selection of sites which will then be promoted by China’s Ministry of Trade to potential investors for the development of industrial parks financed by the Chinese government.

In turn, the representative of the Chinese delegation said that the visit had as its main objective the implementation of the consensus reached at the China-Africa Cooperation Forum (FOCAC) held in South Africa in December 2015.

According to the delegation head, the project focuses on investment and financing in the areas of infrastructure, the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and industrial parks, building and establishing logistics and financial service centres, among others.

The visit therefore included exchanges between the group and the Mozambican government, visits to sites to assess their feasibility and the implementation of the projects, which is expected to take place soon.

It should be noted that the multi-sector committee involves, in addition to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the

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Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation and other institutions such as the Office for Accelerated Development Economic Areas, the Investment Promotion Centre [CPI] and the Agriculture Promotion Centre [CEPAGRI].

Source: Centro de Informação e Negócios/Flash Magazine

President Paul Kagame to visit Mozambique, give a lecture on private sector contribution

The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, will visit Mozambique in the coming days where he is expected to deliver a lecture on the contribution of the Rwandan private sector to national development at the Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre on Tuesday 25 October, at 11:00hrs.

Rwanda is a member of the Community of East Africa (EAC) and has a strong economy based on agriculture, industry and services. The growth of its economy has been signalled as one of the world’s best by The Economist magazine.

Rwanda has been one of the best countries in Africa and the world for business environment, coming 62nd out 189 economies in the latest Doing Business Ranking.

The lecture will be open to all interested parties including entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and students.

Source: Centro de Informação e Negócios

Banks failing coast to coast show spreading Africa distress

African banks are sinking deeper into trouble. Drowning in bad debt and swamped by slowing economies, more and more of the continent’s lenders are starting to fail.

The collapse of a Ugandan bank, said to be an acquisition target of Bob Diamond’s Atlas Mara Ltd., is adding to woes stalking the industry from Mozambique to Nigeria. High interest rates, soaring levels of unpaid loans and low commodity prices are just some of the factors felling banks as growth across the world’s poorest continent stutters.

On Thursday 20 October, Ugandan regulators suspended the board of Crane Bank Ltd. and took over operations because the lender was under-capitalised, days after trying to ward off a run on deposits. Nigerian regulators in July replaced the management of the country’s eighth-largest bank. Kenya and Zambia both seized some of their smaller banks.

This month Mozambique had to stabilise one of its lenders, while Democratic Republic of Congo had to step in for one of its biggest banks.

“We’ve been forecasting an African banking crisis since the beginning of this year”, said Robert Besseling, a Johannesburg-based executive director at business-risk consultancy Exx Africa. “We’re likely to see more banks fail in Nigeria. The Kenyan banking sector will have to consolidate and Ethiopia’s will have to liberalise. Angola is also struggling. Some Ghanaian banks have reported heavy losses. The other one to watch is the DRC, which has also seen some turbulence”.

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The mounting issues faced by lenders in sub-Saharan Africa marks a turning point for the continent once lauded as the next big investment destination. That lured the likes of ex-Barclays Plc chief executive officer Diamond to start London-based Atlas Mara, a business focused on buying African financial-services companies. He was following other lenders tapping into the region’s young population, rising wealth and two decades of record growth.

Bad asset:

Crane, which has 46 branches, was taken over by the Bank of Uganda because it posed a risk to the country’s financial system and threatened deposits, the central bank said. It comes at a time when growth is slowing, with Uganda expanding at 3.9% in the second quarter from 5.4% a year earlier.

“These banks were in a pretty high growth phase for about 10 years, so like any banking system in the world, you go through that credit cycle”, said Ronak

Gadhia, a research analyst at London-based Exotix Partners LLP. “When you see a slowdown in payments from government ministries and institutions, that has a pretty big knock-on in private sector. In Uganda, they were massively plugged into South Sudan. That might be an element as well”.

The closely held lender Crane, controlled by one of Uganda’s richest men, said in September it was looking for a strategic equity investor with a regional network after making losses in 2015. Atlas Mara valued the bank at US$250-million, while Crane Bank said it’s worth US$300-million, the Nairobi-based East African newspaper reported on 11 October, without saying where it got the information. Talks are at an early stage, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on 18 October, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

“It’s still entirely possible for them to buy it”, said Ayodele Salami, who holds Atlas

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Mara among the US$450-million of African equities he oversees as chief investment officer at Duet Asset Management in London. “There’s nothing wrong with buying a bank that has failed. It’s what price did you pay for it and how much money you need to bring it back. Buying a failed bank isn’t the problem. That could actually be a value-accretive deal”.

Atlas Mara’s share price has tumbled more than 72% since it’s initial public offering in December 2013, falling to a record intraday low of US$2.95 on Wednesday. The company is just getting started and needs time to build its African business, already spanning seven countries from Rwanda to Zimbabwe, Diamond, said in an interview last month. A spokesman for Atlas Mara declined to comment on Thursday.

Dangerous cocktail:

Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa may decelerate to 1.4% this year from 3.4% in 2015, which was already the slowest pace in 15 years, according to IMF data. The economy’s outlook is being clouded by a slowdown in China, Africa’s largest trading partner; a commodity rout; depreciating currencies; widening government budget deficits and an energy shortfall.

“In Kenya and Nigeria, you potentially have the dangerous cocktail of increasing non-performing loans and reducing liquidity”, Gadhia said. “You’re going to see migration from smaller banks to bigger banks. That could present challenges”.

There are still opportunities, especially in Kenya, where regulators and the finance ministry are bolstering regulations and

encouraging lenders to combine, Exx Africa’s Besseling said. What happened in the country, where regulators seized three banks over an eight-month period, was an anomaly because those failures were caused mostly by mismanagement, and the economy isn’t as dependent on commodity prices, he said.

The biggest risk may lie in Nigeria, where non-performing loans have surged to their highest levels in six years and the economy is forecast to contract in 2016 for the first time in more than two decades. At the same time, interest rates are at their highest level in five years and inflation is accelerating at the fastest pace on record.

“What we’re seeing in Nigeria is far more serious”, Besseling said, adding that it could spill over into Ghana and other surrounding countries. “The Western region really is highly exposed”.

Source: Bloomberg

Oil and Gas:

Anadarko, ExxonMobil and Delonex get Couto’s head on a platter

The surprise dismissal of Mozambique’s Mineral Resources and Energy minister Pedro Couto on 29 September stemmed from direct talks between President Filipe Nyusi with exasperated foreign investors in the United States.

President Nyusi repentant in Houston: The President was alone when he met on 15 September in Houston with the bosses of ExxonMobil and Anadarko, respectively Rex Tillerson and R.A. Walker. The talks were by no means kindly when it came to Couto. Anadarko complained about the slow pace of talks with the government

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and the Mineral Resources Ministry in making headway on LNG projects on Block-1, which Anadarko operates.

As for ExxonMobil, which is in talks to buy into that concession as well as into Block-4 operated by ENI, Tillerson stressed that his company still hadn’t signed a production sharing contract on the block it acquired nearly a year ago alongside Rosneft during a fifth licensing round.

Before flying to Houston, President Nyusi made a stopover in New York where, according to our sources, he met with officials from the American equity fund Warburg Pincus, leading stakeholder in Delonex. That company also landed a block in 2015 and hasn’t yet signed an agreement to start exploration. Faced with the impatience of investors, the Mozambique President decided to strip Couto of his post.

The latter, a former deputy finance minister under Armando Guebuza (2005-15), had always stood out in Mozambique’s government and in the ruling Frelimo Party. Very cautious and reputedly incorruptible, he was the first minister in charge of natural resources since ENI and Anadarko made their giant gas discoveries to also find himself in charge of the power sector.

Greatly overworked – the mining sector and its coal are highly important in Mozambique – the now former minister fell victim to political isolation and that also deprived him of backing from Frelimo, which is indispensable when decisions are put to Mozambique’s parliament.

Couto’s dismissal appears to have been decided all of a sudden. Immediately handed the post of Chairman of state-run

Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) which operates the dam of the same name, Couto still hadn’t been replaced as of last week. However, the vacancy at the top hadn’t cause further delays in government operations because the big choices are always made by Frelimo’s political commission, the supreme decision-making panel that’s chaired by the President.

However, President Nyusi must now be sure the next minister enjoys the backing of Frelimo and thus has the capacity to get bills passed and to take the measures needed to keep the ball rolling. It’s also necessary that the future holder of the strategic portfolio enjoys the confidence of the oil companies.

That condition is especially important because Mozambique is currently in talks with the IMF on organising emergency assistance. An accumulation of hidden loans that piled up during Guebuza’s presidency has considerably undermined the current president who is struggling with debt equivalent to 80% of Mozambique’s GDP.

BP moves ahead quietly:

The political crisis triggered by Couto’s dismissal completely overshadowed news of a final accord between the major BP and ENI concerning the acquisition of all cargoes produced by the future FLNG supplied by gas from the Coral field on Block-4 operated by the Italian group.

That was a rare bit of good news for the beleaguered government because it opens the way for a final investment decision (FID) by ENI before the end of the year.

Source: Africa Intelligence

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President Nyusi appoints Leticia da Silva Klemens Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy

On the evening of Monday 17 October, the President of the Republic, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, appointed by presidential order, Leticia Deusina da Silva Klemens for the position of Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Until her appointment, Minister da Silva Klemens served as Chairperson of the Millennium BIM General Assembly and President of the Association of Business Women and Entrepreneurs (FEMME) in Mozambique.

Minister da Silva Klemens was sworn in by President Nyusi on Tuesday morning. The President urged the new minister to drive the exploitation of natural resources without harming the environment, and to consolidate the delivery of energy to the whole population.

President Nyusi recognised Minister da Silva Klemens’ inexperience, arguing that “Due to the complexity of the industry, no one is competent enough to satisfy everyone”.

The President said that the new minister faces a “very depressed sector, you cannot please everyone, but look again and again to satisfy the interests of the people, this is the main objective…”

However, it has still been argued that Minister da Silva Klemens has no relevant academic qualifications to hold office (besides her degree in Legal Sciences). In fact, she never headed any governmental office before now. According to Zitamar News, the new minister has business links to the family of former president Armando Guebuza.

No official reason has been given for the dismissal of Minister da Silva Klemens’ predecessor, Pedro Couto – who was noted for his integrity. While @Verdade has further argued that no plausible reason has been given for the appointment of Minister da Silva Klemens. The publication also muses as to whether Minister da Silva Klemens has the ability to fill Couto’s shoes, especially given his reputation for being “incorruptible”.

In turn, Savana argued that the gas companies pushed the dismissal because Couto was driving too hard a bargain.

Source: Gabinete de Imprensa da Presidência da Republica / Mozambique News Reports & Clippings / Savana / Notícias / @Verdade / Zitamar News

Good gas and bad governance

Progress is being made towards the much-hyped gas production but it’s a long and twisting road towards tangible benefits.

The massive economic growth rate of 24% which the IMF predicted is no more. That was the Fund’s figure for 2021, when gas production had been expected to begin. However, on 4 October, after its recent mission to Maputo, it revised that figure down to just 6.8%.

Amid an unfavourable global environment and a severe economic crisis at home, Mozambique faces delays, disheartened foreign investors and a weakened bargaining position vis-à-vis the oil companies. Compounding these problems, the extraordinarily wasteful management of state finances by Frelimo leaves many observers sceptical that the government will really ensure that the gas benefits are shared out among the population. Almost 55% of people live

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below the poverty line, a figure that has not changed for over 10 years despite impressive economic growth.

The overall picture darkened further at the beginning of this month when the well regarded Mineral Resources and Energy minister, Pedro Couto, was removed under the influence, we hear, of the Frelimo old guard.

Delays to major gas projects in the Rovuma Basin mean that gas production is now expected to start in 2023 at the earliest. Final investment decisions are overdue and projects have been losing momentum, with the US company Anadarko, which controls the Area-1 block, having largely decamped as it waits out the tough times. Yet while Anadarko is still to finalise its agreements with off-takers, Italy’s ENI, which controls the Area-4 block, took an important step towards production on 4 October when it signed a 20-year sale-and-purchase deal with BP. It means ENI has secured customers for the gas produced by its Coral South Floating Liquefied Natural

Gas (FLNG) facility – predicted to produce over 3.3-million tons of LNG a year – and can then make its FID later this year.

With oil and gas prices currently low, BP has also got a good deal but it could mean lower revenue for the government during the period of the agreement. Taking into account the costs which the companies are entitled to recover and the project-related debt repayments to be made by the cash-strapped state petroleum company, ENH, profits for the state will be negligible.

Revenue questions:

Furthermore, ENI’s FLNG project will inject little fresh investment overall into the heavily indebted country. The FLNG is to be constructed abroad and the offshore facility, once operational, will have little impact on the local economy. Where government will see revenue is from profits and tax, which can be ploughed back into investment in development. These benefits will not be immediate, though.

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The biggest hope of making money from gas comes from the onshore LNG project managed by Anadarko. However, the company’s activity has slowed considerably. After its country head, John Peffer, was relieved of his nine-year position in June, the company hired a new team to finalise sales of the gas, for which it has so far secured only non-binding agreements. John Bretz is now in charge.

During his visit to the United States of America from 14 to 17 September, President Filipe Nyusi tried to pressure Anadarko to start preliminary work on the onshore project, namely relocating the population of the Afungi Peninsula where the project is sited. This early work had been expected to bring in up to US$400-million, helping to relieve the severe shortage of foreign currency. Anadarko has, we hear, promised to begin the process but observers say it will start in the first quarter of 2017 at the earliest.

The delay is due to disagreements, among other factors, between the government and the company over the LNG terminal, say sources close to the talks. The government wants to place a commercial port close to Anadarko’s dockside facility in order to benefit from any ancillary spending by the oil company. The company objects because the presence of commercial vessels in the narrow channel that leads to the open sea would hinder the LNG operations.

Couto was not part of President Nyusi’s US delegation and was relieved of his post shortly after the visit. Some say he was “too honest”, for which he has a track record. His replacement, Minister Leticia da Silva Klemens, has been greeted with disappointment. She is widely seen as lacking relevant experience and beholden to the interests around General Alberto

Chipande and ex-president Armando Guebuza. The development is regarded as a victory for those in government who see themselves as entitled to personal benefits from the gas.

New players:

Oil giant ExxonMobil’s purchase of a stake in ENI’s Area-4 licence is an important development. Despite reaching a framework agreement this summer, there are still some points to be agreed, we hear from ministry sources. Much uncertainty remains over this long-rumoured acquisition, with both ExxonMobil and ENI remaining characteristically tight-lipped, but we understand the deal is effectively done.

Rumours are rife about whether ExxonMobil will also buy into Anadarko's Area-1 asset. Talks have taken place in Houston (Texas), site of Anadarko's headquarters, industry sources told Africa Confidential.

Anadarko told the government during President Nyusi's US visit that it was committed to staying but many are sceptical over whether it will be able to finance the project, especially with lenders wavering in the wake of the government's hidden debt scandal and the consequent economic damage.

If ExxonMobil takes a significant stake in ENI’s Mozambique assets, that could have an impact on Anadarko’s LNG project as ENI and Anadarko have been planning to work in partnership. A new partner may want to review the planning, resulting in further delays.

The government gave its preliminary blessing to the sale of a stake in Area-4 to ExxonMobil following the July visit by the

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company’s Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson, when he met President Nyusi in Maputo. There is much talk that ExxonMobil will focus on ENI’s onshore assets rather than the FLNG. To be able to split the block in this way, there would need to be a specific legal arrangement. Sources close to ExxonMobil say that it wants to buy a stake in ENI East Africa, rather than the block the company leases, giving it greater flexibility.

The capital gains tax that should arise from the ExxonMobil-ENI deal is much anticipated, with figures as high as US$1.3-billion circulating. The high figure presumes ExxonMobil will buy both ENI and Anadarko’s assets; US$400-million looks more realistic. In 2013, when ENI sold a 20% stake in ENI East Africa to the China National Petroleum Corporation for US$4.2-billion, the country received US$400-million in taxes. Since then, the world price of gas has halved.

Ironically, it was the promise of vast and easily obtainable riches from these large gas deposits that encouraged Guebuza’s government to sanction the secret borrowing of US$2-billion for ill-planned, unrealistic projects. They have left the country saddled with additional debt equivalent to over 11% of GDP.

The conventional wisdom, which the IMF supports, has been that a country such as Mozambique should invest its gas revenue in projects that would help its economic development and provide immediate benefits to the population, rather than following the Norwegian model and saving up the profits.

However, in a state so lacking in accountability and transparency, being told that billions of dollars will pour in and being given a green light to spend them

has been a recipe for disaster. Political influence is key to commercial success in Mozambique and the government wanted to make sure it took its cut while it could. In doing so, it mortgaged the country at too high a price. Now it is realising that the gas will not be the golden ticket that it once imagined and its actions have set back the sector’s development.

Source: Africa Confidential

Government extends deadline for proposals on domestic use of liquefied gas

The government announced a one-month extension of the deadline for the tender to select companies interested in the design, investment and development projects to use liquefied gas in initiatives such as the production of electricity and production of fertiliser or liquid fuels for local consumption.

The deadline for the tender launched in August had been extended until 17 November.

According to Notícias the deadline extension comes in response to a request from several companies interested in taking part.

Petromoc, one of the companies interested in the project for transforming natural gas into diesel, revealed that the investment may exceed US$5-billion and create 15,000 jobs.

The Rovuma sedimentary basin in northern Mozambique, so far has the country’s most important natural gas reserves and is estimated to contain over 180-trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas.

US multinational Anadarko and Italy’s ENI are the main operators in the area but in

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the coming years the area may see the involvement of another US oil giant, ExxonMobil, which was approved in the last tender for oil and gas research launched in Mozambique. The tender aims to promote local natural resources and contribute to meeting the needs of the domestic market for services and consumer goods currently imported.

Source: Notícias/MacauHub

ENI talking to Mozambique gas field buyer but no deal yet

On Thursday 20 October, Italian oil and gas group ENI confirmed that it was in talks with a buyer for a stake in its Area-4 gas field in Mozambique but said a deal had not yet been reached.

Italian broker Equita said in a note to clients earlier on Thursday that according to the chairman of Mozambique energy company ENH, ENI had sold a majority stake and the operatorship in Area-4 to ExxonMobil.

“Talks with a potential buyer are ongoing. However, a deal has not yet been finalised”, an ENI spokesperson said.

State-controlled ENI, which owns 50% of Area-4, had previously said it was ready to sell up to 25% as part of a disposal programme to help fund growth.

On Thursday ENH Chairman, Omar Mithá, said that he considered ExxonMobil’s entry a big plus, mainly on account of the company’s global experience in the production and distribution of natural gas.

“We are talking about a major player in the global gas market, so this entry is a clear sign that our country is attractive. It is also expected that the context will

change. At the moment, it is not favourable as there is an excess of supply and because, from a technological point of view, shale gas has been acquiring a certain dominance in the market”, Mithá said.

Mithá denied that ExxonMobil may want to manage its business portfolio, for example delaying projects in Mozambique and moving forward other projects elsewhere in the world.

“These are just rumours. As you know, the development of the areas is guided by a development plan that is bound by decisions taken at the highest level – in this case, the Council of Ministers”, Mithá explained.

He also said that the ExxonMobil acquisition would not delay or complicate the final investment decision, because one of the conditions for approval of the deal by the Mozambican government is meeting deadlines.

“ExxonMobil is already working in Mozambique and we have had regular meetings as partners, first in the fifth tender, which involves fields in Angoche and blocks in Sofala and Zambezi and, second, concerning its entry into Area-4”, Mithá explained, adding that , in the case of Area-4, the US company will anyway have a minority stake. Other stakeholders of Area-4 include Mozambique’s ENH, South Korean KOGAS and Portuguese Galp.

In August sources said it had wrapped up talks to sell a multi-billion-dollar stake in the field to ExxonMobil, adding the deal would not be announced for several months at ExxonMobil’s request.

Source: Reuters/Notícias

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Mozambique oil and gas search reaches Marracuene and Manhiça

From next year, Marracuene and Manhiça districts in Maputo Province will be the scene of seismic and geophysical surveying aimed at identifying oil and gas reserves. A consortium including UK firm Delonex Energy and the Indian Oil Corporation will explore the 9,000 square kilometre region.

National Petroleum Institute (Instituto Nacional de Petróleo, INP) research administrator Augusto Mucavele indicates that the INP, Delonex Energy and Indian Oil Corporation are expecting to sign a contract whose terms are currently being finalised for submission to the Council of Ministers (Cabinet).

The area, which was analysed superficially some years ago, is being called the ‘Palmeiras Area’, and Delonex Energy and the Indian Oil Corporation are expected to spend a minimum of US$70-million drilling at least two exploration holes.

These will be used to determine the presence or absence of hydrocarbons in the southern area of the country, and, if they render positive results, further research will be undertaken to determine the size of the reserves.

“The first investigation we made was not sufficient to furnish detailed, conclusive results, but the geological evolution of the area shows that there is potential that must be examined in depth”, he said.

The award procedure started about a year ago with the announcement of the results of the international tender. Discussions started this month and it is expected that

a contract will be sent to the Council of Ministers “as soon as possible”.

Mucavele said that, if there were no surprises, the contract could be signed this year. “Then companies must comply with a set of requirements enshrined in law, with emphasis on the environmental and social component. They must secure an environmental license and, if deemed necessary, carry out public consultations”.

Mucavele explained that the area in this case was large because the degree of geological knowledge of it is limited, requiring studies that could be considered ‘from scratch’.

“On the other hand, it is not easy to delineate the area under investigation without a research prospectus. We are facing a “green field”, meaning, an area where we have a limited knowledge. But this does not mean that companies will take these areas permanently. There is an abandonment clause that will certainly be followed”, he stresses.

The abandonment clause provides that, if the area is analysed and the results are negative, it is ‘abandoned’. The INP belief is that, out of the 9,000 square kilometres, Delonex Energy and the Indian Oil Corporation will abandon 4,500 square kilometres (half) in order to focus on the area where there are the most positive signs.

The Palmeiras Area is one of six blocks recently awarded under the fifth international tender for research and hydrocarbons in the national territory, along with two blocks in Angoche, two in the Zambezi Delta and one in Pande and Temane.

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Several well-known companies have participated in the race to secure the 11 blocks made available, with ENI the ExxonMobil pre-selected for two areas located off the Angoche district of Nampula Province.

ExxonMobil also secured the two areas in the Zambezi Delta, with Sasol winning the Pande and Temane area in Inhambane Province.

“All these areas are currently in the interaction phase, with the final contracts subject to Council of Ministers approval”, Mucavele said.

Source: Domingo

Tariff shock looms for South Africa’s gas users

Manufacturers such as Consol Glass, Nampak, Mondi, Distribution & Warehousing Network (DAWN), Illovo Sugar and the PG Group might be subjected to a shock increase in the total price they pay for gas, if the energy regulator Nersa approves a tariff proposal for a new loopline in Mozambique.

At its piped-gas committee meeting on Wednesday 19 October, Nersa discussed an application by the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Investment Company (Rompco), to approve a tariff of ZAR49.87/gigajoule (GJ) for the transmission of gas from Mozambique’s Temane gas field in a new 127-kilometre-loop pipeline, due for commissioning in December 2016.

Rompco is a joint venture between Sasol Gas (50%); iGas (25%) – a subsidiary of the Central Energy Fund (CEF) and representative of the South African government; and Companhia Limitada de

Gasoduto (CMG) – the Mozambican gas utility (25%).

This tariff will be one of the building blocks of the total maximum gas price upon which prices paid by all piped gas users in South Africa is based. Rompco transmits the piped gas sold by Sasol Gas to all piped gas users in South Africa, except those in KwaZulu-Natal supplied through the Transnet ‘Lilly’ pipeline.

This is the first time Nersa’s been asked to approve a tariff for the gas infrastructure that is wholly located in Mozambique. The tariff for the existing cross-border gas pipeline (Mozambique-Secunda Pipeline/MSP) was agreed upon at an inter-governmental level through a prescribed formula.

The new Loopline-2 is connected and tied into this existing gas pipeline, increasing the capacity of the MSP for the benefit of all users. The location of the pipeline in Mozambique, however, raises questions about Nersa’s jurisdiction. Loopline-2 was licensed by Nersa’s counterpart in Mozambique, INP.

It is the second loopline to be constructed parallel to the existing gas pipeline, stretching from Mozambique to Secunda, popularly known as MSP.

The Rompco proposal does not provide for a fair cost allocation between South African customers and Mozambican customers who will also benefit from the additional capacity.

The proposed tariff is more than three times the current tariff of ZAR13.34/GJ for the existing cross-border pipeline (GTA1) that is much longer, stretching 865-kilometres with a much bigger capacity of 126-million GJ per year. It also compares

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unfavourably with the current tariff of ZAR12.87/GJ for the compressor station at Komatipoort (GTA2), with an annual capacity of 27-million GJ.

According to Nomfundo Maseti, Nersa regulator member for piped-gas, Rompco argues that the capacity expansion is meant to facilitate the immediate demand of 7.8-million GJ volumes of gas that is required by the South African market.

Moneyweb’s efforts to speak to the Gas Users Group were unsuccessful. The question is, however, why South African users are allocated only a small portion of the capacity, yet expected to carry the total capital costs of the entire capacity (24-million GJ per annum) of Loopline-2.

Nersa will in the next few days publish the Rompco tariff application as well as a discussion document asking for comments from stakeholders and will hold a public hearing before taking a final decision.

A sharp increase in the gas tariff, which might result in higher total charges for natural gas, will be a further shock for intensive gas users who earlier this month lost a court battle to have Nersa’s decisions for the transmission tariffs for 2014/15, and the maximum gas price for March 2014 – June 2017, reviewed and set aside.

Several large gas users, all members of the Gas Users Group, approached the High Court in October 2013 for relief after a change in the methodology used to determine gas prices from market value pricing (MVP) to maximum price methodology. They argued that this resulted in an irrational and perverse outcome that enabled Sasol, the gas supplier, to charge double what it used to.

The court rejected the application on technical grounds, finding that the applicants should have challenged the methodology after it was approved in October 2011. The delay in bringing the applications was unreasonable, the court found.

Maseti welcomed the court’s decision and said it brings certainty about gas pricing, which together with the Department of Energy’s gas-to-power programme, paves the way for the development of the local gas market.

Source: Moneyweb

Mozambican Governemt and Anadarko Claim Advances

The Mozambican government and the American company Anadarko said on Friday that advances have been made in implementing Anadarko's plans to set up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Their optimism was expressed after a meeting in Maputo between Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario and Anadarko representatives. This was a follow-up to President Filipe Nyusi's visit in September to the Anadarko headquarters in the US city of Houston.

“We have held this sort of meeting regularly”, the Chairperson of Mozambique's National Petroleum Institute (INP), Carlos Zacarias, told reporters. “It was a good meeting, and we could see that there are palpable and positive results. Naturally they need to be gone into in greater depth to implement the project in the Rovuma Basin”.

“We are approaching our final goal, which is to begin the activities, and we are also

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removing possible obstacles which could throw implementation of the project out of joint”, Zacarias added.

Anadarko Vice-President John Grant said that great progress has been made with the legal aspects of project implementation. “Also discussed were technical aspects concerning construction of the port, of the maritime terminal, and of the LNG factories”, he said. The meeting with the Prime Minister also covered the resettlement of people living in the Afungi Peninsula, in Palma district, where the factories will be built.

Anadarko is the operator of Rovuma Basin Offshore Area One, with a holding of 26.5 per cent. The other members of the consortium are Mitsui of Japan (20 per cent), the Indian companies ONGC Videsh (16 per cent), Oil India (four per cent) and BRPL Ventures (10 per cent), PTT of Thailand (8.5 per cent), and Mozambique's own National Hydrocarbon Company, ENH (15 per cent).

So far, the exploration of Area One indicates that it contains more than 75 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas reserves. The consortium hopes to begin LNG production in the first quarter of 2020. However, Anadarko has not yet announced its final investment decision, and, speaking to reporters earlier in the week, ENH chairperson Oscar Mitha said he was not expecting the decision until the third quarter of 2017.

Initially, Anadarko plans to produce 12 million tonnes of LNG a year, using two factories (known as “trains”). Later it hopes to raise production to 20 million tonnes a year.

Source: All Africa

Mining:

“Mozambique’s resources must be explored rationally” – President Nyusi

On Tuesday 18 October, President Filipe Nyusi said that it is imperative to explore the existing mineral resources in the country in a rational way and to provide positive returns both for present and future generations.

President Nyusi, who was speaking at the investiture of Leticia Deusina da Silva Klemens as Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, said that the exploration of these resources must occur with strict compliance with environmental regulations and ensuring their sustainability.

“We hope to ensure the implementation of government policy in geological research and exploration of mineral and energy resources, and the development and expansion of infrastructure to supply electricity, natural gas and petroleum products”, the head of state said addressing the new minister.

Source: MacauHub

German-owned graphite mine in Mozambique to employ approximately 70 people

A graphite mine operated by a German company in northern Mozambique expects to employ between 60 and 70 people, should the mine become operational by the end of the year.

“I spoke to the manager who told me that he would have 60 to 70 people working there initially. He expects the mine to start exporting graphite via the port of Nacala in northern Mozambique by next year”, explained Friedrich Kaufmann,

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representative in Maputo of the Chamber of Commerce and the German Industry for South Africa. The mine is located in Acuabe (Cabo Delgado Province), and will be operated by the company AMG Graphit Kropfmuhl, a German multinational company that acquired the right to mineral extraction in the area through an international tender in 2012.

At about €40-million, the Ancuabe mine is “probably the biggest German investment” in Mozambique to date, Kaufmann said. Kaufmann regrets that the German investment is not well developed in the country, explaining that “German companies are hesitant and averse to the risk of investing in Mozambique”.

“German companies, for cultural reasons, are not very familiar with Africa in general and Mozambique in particular. It is what economists call a cultural distance from the market”, Kaufmann said.

Germany has around 40 companies in Mozambique, working in logistics, services, engineering, project implementation, trade and imports – companies “without application of capital”, he explained. Kaufmann said that countries such as South Africa attract more German investment because of the English language and the fact that German multinationals are already established in the country, and familiar with the market.

The proximity between Maputo and Johannesburg (South Africa) also holds back investment in Mozambique, Kaufmannm said, as does the economic crisis being experienced in the country.

“The current situation is not very inviting. If we speak of available foreign exchange, interest rates, inflation, the arrival of the

IMF, it is clear that people will wait to invest, rather than taking a more active stance”, he said.

Kaufmann highlighted bilateral co-operation between Germany and Mozambique, considering it “very, very active”, with investments in education, training, government decentralisation and economic and sustainable development, with a budget of around €50-million per year.

In 2015, Mozambique exported to Germany aluminium and agricultural products such as sugar, cotton and cashew nuts. For its part, Germany provided machinery, automobiles, electrical equipment and wheat, generating a turnover of €270-million between the two countries.

Source: RTP News/Lusa

Coking coal price rises to US$245 a ton

However you describe it – whether “exciting” as HSBC did or “amazing” according to Westpac – the rally in coking coal prices this year has been nothing short of extraordinary. It’s the rally that keeps on keeping on, seemingly overcoming anything in its path.

The spot price for premium hard coking coal has rallied by a further 15% in the past two weeks, driven higher by unexpected operational issues at Anglo American’s German Creek coking coal mine in Queensland. As a result, it now stands at a giddy US$245 a ton.

The lows of US$72 a ton seen late last year now appear to be all but a distant memory. A 240% price surge in less than 12 months. It’s been an amazing ride, and one that Vivek Dhar, a mining and energy

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commodities analyst at the Commonwealth Bank, believes has been as a result of “a series of unfortunate events”.

“The first trigger was flooding in China in late July, which blocked key coal transport routes and forced a coking coal shortage to develop”, he wrote in a research note released on Friday 21 October. “The next major trigger was South32’s force majeure on coking coal shipments from its Appin coal mine.

“Rail outages in Mozambique and Australia have also tightened seaborne coking coal markets in the last few months”, he adds. Dhar also points to resurgence in China’s manufacturing and property construction sectors, driven by a lift in fiscal stimulus from the Chinese government, along with a near 10% fall in Chinese coal output in the first three quarters of the year, as factors that have also supported prices.

While many believe that after such a breakneck rally the next stage in the price cycle will be an equally large and dramatic drop, Dhar believes that it’s too early to write off the price strength just yet, noting that while recent supply disruptions are temporary, “the cumulative impact has been significant and could cause shortage concerns to persist for another three to six months”.

This, he says, could prove to be a boon to coal producers in the period ahead. “With Glencore and Peabody settling their fourth quarter premium coking coal contract price at US$200 a ton, the cash windfall for coking coal miners over the next six months will be significant”, he says.

“The new price is more than double the contract price of US$92.50 a ton settled

last quarter”. Not only a significant windfall for the miners, but also cash-strapped government coffers as well.

Source: Business Insider Australia

Energy:

Minister da Silva Klemens expressed her intention to expand power grid throughout the country

The day after taking office, the new Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Leticia Deusina da Silva Klemens, shared her initial plan of activities with the press, saying that first among her priorities as head of Mineral Resources and Energy Ministry was focusing on an analysis of the sector’s main documents, then making decisions.

“Today I received the folders and I will probably start work tomorrow. I have to review the files and all of the projects already developed by my predecessor”, said Minister da Silva Klemens. The new minister said that she took the challenges presented by the President at her swearing-in ceremony seriously and promised to make it possible for the entire population to have access to energy.

“The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy is very important for the development of our country, both socially and economically. Therefore, I aim to expand the power grid nationwide, and make sure that the exploitation of our minerals is sustainable. It is important that all Mozambicans gain advantage from it”, she said. The President also called on the new minister to listen to the opinions of the public and see them as opportunities to improve services.

Source: O País

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Power Expansion Project covers eight districts in Cabo Delgado Province

Approximately 9,000 new electricity connections will be implemented by 2017 as per the rural electrification project, which is running in eight districts in Cabo Delgado Province.

The project will oversee the expansion of the electricity network to 28 towns. The implementation of the project includes the construction of 134-kilometres of power transmission lines, 73-kilometres of low voltage lines and 61-kilometres of medium voltage lines, in addition to erecting 48 processing posts.

According to the Provincial Director of Mineral Resources and Energy of Cabo Delgado Province, Ramiro Nguiraze, the government will invest close to US$9-million for the implementation of the project.

Source: Jornal Notícias/Rádio Moçambique

Zimbabwe given two months’ notice to clear Cahora Bassa and Eskom arrears

South Africa’s Eskom and Mozambique’s HCB have given Zimbabwe up to December to clear its arrears.

Zimbabwe imports almost 30% of its national power requirements from the Southern African Power Pool members that include HCB and Eskom.

ZESA Holdings, the country’s power utility, owes two of these regional outfits a combined US$27-million. Eskom is owed US$18-million, while the US$9-million balance is owed to HCB.

Having struggled to clear the arrears over the years, patience among the regional power utilities is wearing thin.

If South Africa and Mozambique decide to unplug Zimbabwe, the country would be gripped by a power crisis that could further dampen prospects for early economic recovery.

Following negotiations, HCB now wants the arrears to be cleared by the end of next month, while Eskom would want to go into the New Year without being bothered by the debt.

Source: Bulawayo24

Transport & Construction:

Better air connections will help African business

On Thursday 20 October, Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário argued that better air connections between African countries will help improve the business environment on the continent.

He was speaking at the opening of the 25th General Assembly of the Airports Council International (ACI). Approximately 300 delegates from across the globe participated in the three-day meeting in Maputo.

“Improving air connections is an imperative”, said Prime Minister Rosário, “since once those connections are guaranteed, they will contribute to improving the business environment, encouraging investment, stimulating innovation and raising the efficiency of business management”.

Air transport, he continued, is taking on growing importance in the world economy. “It facilitates the export of goods, particularly agricultural goods, ensuring that fresh products reach distant markets with the required quality”, he said. “It allows the rapid movement and

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reasonable prices of specialist components in the chains of production”.

One of the main challenges faced by African countries, the Prime Minister said, concerns investment in airport facilities, which is extremely expensive.

Airports should bank on modernisation, he added, to improve the quality of the services they provide, and should work to establish public-private partnerships.

But he stressed that the financial sustainability of airport companies should be one of the top priorities. That involved “investing continually in human resources, adopting innovative models of management and creating opportunities for greater participation by the private sector”.

“Air connectivity, measured by the frequency of flights, reliability, and the diversity of destinations, is strongly associated with important economic variables, such as labour productivity and the competitiveness of the tourism sector”, he said.

A chronic problem in Africa is the lack of routes between African countries. Frequently, the quickest way of flying from one African country to another is via Europe.


Emirates may quit African cities over dollar debts from low oil

Persian Gulf airline Emirates said it could scrap flights to African locations as economies there falter following the oil-price collapse and governments withhold ticket revenues to shore up foreign currency reserves.

The biggest carrier on international routes may “cut frequencies and possibly even cities” amid the currency crunch and commercial difficulties in some markets, President Tim Clark said on Tuesday 18 October in Dubai.

“Certain African countries have seen their currency really go down, it’s not a very good idea to continue there”, Clark said in a briefing at an International Air Transport Association event. “We are reflecting on a number of those”.

Nigeria alone owed Emirates US$680-million as of early September, Clark has said previously, with carriers including United Airlines and Spain’s Iberia having already halted flights.

The repatriation of dollars from Africa’s most populous nation has been limited since the drop in crude prices eroded the value of oil exports and reduced foreign-currency reserves to the lowest in more than a decade. The devaluation of the naira in June has yet to ease the situation.

IATA has said that the dollar reserves of Sudan, Egypt and Angola are also of concern to its members. Emirates serves all three countries, as well as Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria, though Clark didn’t specify which markets were most at risk of having flights pulled.

US carriers have separately asked that the federal government grant them permission to collectively discuss ways of retrieving US$3.8-billion held back in Venezuela, which has virtually halted the repatriation of past ticket sales in response to the oil-price pinch.

Source: Bloomberg

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Economic crisis affects works along the EN4

The firm WBHO recently submitted a request to review its contract for the rehabilitation of section 16AB along the EN4 between Ressano Garcia and Moamba (Maputo Province), evoking the need to cushion the impact of the current economic crises which has resulted in the further depreciation of the metical, thus making cost of materials more expensive. The request in question was submitted to TRAC.

Under the contract, the rehabilitation works should have commenced earlier this month.

According to Fenias Mazive, the director of the TRAC Maintenance Centre in Maputo, WBHO’s request is being examined by the company's shareholders. A position on the matter is expected later this month.

“The contractor submitted his proposal before the economic crisis set in and devaluation of the metical took effect. There was an increase in material costs, especially bitumen … But also cement and fuel have risen in price. This has all changed the initial cost structure, and, on that basis, the contractor requested a 10% addendum to the contract that is currently being examined by the company's shareholders”, said Mazive.


Five municipal districts in Maputo to undergo road maintenance

Road networks within five of the seven municipal districts of Maputo are scheduled to undergo maintenance within

the next four to six months ahead of this year’s rainy season.

As such, the municipality will invest just over MT36-million for the works.

The districts covered are Ka Maxakeni, Ka Mubukwane, Ka Hlamankulu, Ka Mavota and Ka Tembe, with each area having been allocated a specific contractor. For example, the maintenance of roads in Ka Maxakeni was entrusted to S-SEMM - Obras de Engenharia Civil, while Ka Mubukwane routes were entrusted to Construções Murromone. The Ka Hlamankulu roads will be maintained by Maguta Construções, Ka Mavota routes were entrusted to to M&T Empreendimentos and Ka Tembe will be overseen by Construções HSHJ.

Vidigal Rodrigues, municipal director of infrastructure, said periodic maintenance contracts are short, ranging from four to six months and are mainly aimed at maintaining the dirt roads so that they remain passable.

The values of these contracts range from between MT5-million and MT8-million.


Macanneta bridge to be tolled from Monday

Development company Maputo Sul, which owns the Macanneta Bridge and Maputo Ring Road, has commenced charging a toll to use the bridge from Monday 17 October.

The 300-metre-long and 11-metre-wide bridge across the Incomáti River has replaced the ferry service which was slower, more expensive and unreliable.

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The fee for the crossing the bridge is set at between MT50 and MT900 with vehicles split into four classes.

Category I covers motorcycles and cars and minivans. These vehicles will be charged MT50 each way.

Category II covers tractors, caravans, small busses, and lorries with two axles. These will be charged MT80.

Category III covers heavier vehicles with three or four axles, which will be charged MT350.

Lastly, Category IV covers vehicles with five or more axles, which will be required to pay MT900.

These charges are much lower than the cost of using the ferry. For example, cars used to pay MT180 for the ferry service.

Apart from the costs, the new bridge offers the advantage of flexibility, with people and goods able to cross the Incomáti at any time regardless of weather conditions and navigation constraints.

Previously, drivers and other travellers were liable to spend hours or even days waiting to cross due to the irregularity of the ferry service, often aggravated by breakdowns.


Striking carriers block EN10 and prevent entry into Quelimane

On the morning of Monday 17 October, a group of mini-bus drivers blocked EN10 into Quelimane (Zambézia Province) in protest against the rising cost of living, particularly the price of fuel.

In Zambézia, a litre of diesel has gone up from MT40.24 to MT49.26, and gasoline from MT50.95 to MT53.45. Carriers say the price is emptying their pockets and that they cannot maintain their vehicles.

The EN10 was blocked to traffic for over two hours, causing significant delays and congestion.

“The cost of living increased, the fuel price as well, and we are not able to withstand this, so we’re here to protest the high prices”, said Timóteo Carlos, one of the protesters.

To address the problem, the Zambézia carriers are proposing fare increases from MT5 to MT30 – depending on the distance – with the exception of districts such as Milange, Molumbo, Mocubela and Gurúè, where prices range from MT450 to MT500.

Source: O País

Maputo-Catembe crossing: Bagamoyo back in service, but with conditions

The Bagamoyo ferry, which services the Maputo-Catembe crossing, has returned to work after approximately two months of downtime. The boat’s return on Thursday 13 October is expected to cut the frequent delays of passengers who were dependent of a single ferry.

“We suffered a lot of pressure, with passengers and vehicles needing to cross. Without the Bagamoyo, we had backlogs. After consultation with the Maritime Administration, we were allowed to resume operations”, Transmarítima’s Jafar Ruby said.

However, the Bagamoyo is back at sea on special conditions, as one of its two engines is still out of order. Its repair is a

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complex matter because the engine is no longer made and parts are unavailable. In addition, the institution has no money to buy new engines.

Despite this, Ruby says the Bagamoyo can make the trip, but with certain limitations.

“The Bagamoyo cannot be loaded to capacity, and must not put out in bad weather. Finally, it will only be in service during peak hours, as a rule”, he said.

Disembarking from the Bagamoyo, passenger Maria Matusse noted that: “On weekends, when some boats do not operate, it was a problem to cross because the existing maritime transport could not cope with the traffic alone”.

The Bagamoyo has been in service since 1972. It can carry up to 208 passengers and up to eight light vehicles. Under normal conditions, it sailed from 5:00hrs until 22:30hrs, making up to 10 trips a day.

Source: Notícias

500 homes on the cards for young people in Nampula Province

The government of Nampula Province plan to build 500 homes for young people in the near future.

According to the president of the Provincial Youth Council in Nampula, Paulo Francisco, the houses will be built in the cities of Nampula, Angoche, Nacala-Porto and Ilha de Moçambique.

To qualify for a house, candidates must be between 18 and 35 years of age, and be a member of a Youth Provincial or District Council.

Francisco says the project would greatly reduce the housing shortage facing young people in Nampula Province.

The speaker congratulated the government on the initiative and asked for the implementation to be prioritised. “We hope that the government brings this project to fruition”, he said.

Source: Notícias

Agriculture & Fishing:

Production could reach five-million tons during 2016/17 agricultural season

Approximately five-million tons of various food crops can be produced during the 2016/17 agricultural season, which represents an increase of 11% when compared to the previous season.

This data was provided by the National Director of Agriculture and Forestry, Mohomed Valá, who was speaking during the festivities of World Food Day.

According to Valá, of the possible target, 2.41-million tons could come from cereals (especially rice and corn), while 738,000 tons could come from pulses and a further 50,000 tons from oilseeds. He added that special attention will be given to tubers, vegetables and fruit because of their importance in combating chronic malnutrition.

Currently about 1.5-million people in seven southern and central provinces are facing food insecurity due to the lack of rains brought about by the El Niño phenomenon.


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Mozambique exports 4,000-tons of livestock feed to southern Africa per month

Mozambique Companhia Industrial da Matola (CIM) exports about 4,000-tons of livestock feed per month to southern African countries.

With production capacity of 10,000 tons, CIM is committed to ensuring continuous supply to livestock producers, especially poultry farmers in the domestic and South African markets. “Our intention is to offer superior products and services of all types for all stages of animal growth”, CIM Director General Alfredo Lopes says.

Speaking recently in Maputo at the launch of a new brand of feed, Lopes said that the company was going to establish a strategic partnership with an international firm involved in the production of medicines and products for veterinary use.

According to Notícias, the Mozambican market is characterised by high demand for feed for poultry, rabbits, ducks and pigs, and especially for broilers and laying hens in the well-established poultry industry.

Also speaking at the launch, head of the Maputo Provincial Livestock Services Danilo Latif said that production of animal feed would galvanise the development of the sector.

He added there is high demand for poultry inputs, with feed one of the constraints in the sector. Most of the raw materials used in its production have to be imported, but CIM was producing feed for the national and South African markets.


Extensionists trained in fruit production and management

The government’s Agricultural Development Fund (FDA) has begun training fifty extensionists from the southern provinces of Maputo, Gaza, and Inhambane in techniques for the production and management of fruit such as orange and lychee.

The training is being carried out in partnership with the government’s Agricultural Research Institute (IIAM).

It will give the extensionists knowledge of improved practices and innovations for the establishment of orchards, management of irrigation, and the identification of pests and diseases and their respective methods of control and prevention.

During the two-week training course, the extensionists will also learn more about the production, processing, and storage of fruit, to facilitate access to the national and international market.

The initiative is part of the national programme launched in 2011 to encourage small and medium-sized farmers to increase fruit production.

Between 2011 and 2015, the Agricultural Development Fund distributed 204,582 seedlings of mango, orange, pineapple, lychee to fruit producers in the provinces of Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane, Sofala, Zambézia, Tete, Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa.


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Small-scale food fortification under the microscope in Maputo seminar

The World Food Programme (WFP) in Mozambique has organised a seminar to discuss the feasibility of maize fortification on a small scale in partnership with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Sanku Fortification.

In line with the first Millennium Development Goal – eradicating extreme poverty and hunger – the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and WFP are partners in the implementation of the national programme of food fortification to improve the nutrition of vulnerable populations by increasing consumption of fortified foods.

The seminar covered the following topics:

Nutritional situation in Mozambique and interventions taken to reduce chronic malnutrition levels;

Current status of the national programme for food fortification and its contribution in the fight against chronic malnutrition in Mozambique;

How to plan a fortification programme on a small scale; and

Sanku: a new and innovative technology to meet the challenges of small-scale fortification.

Source: Centro de Informação e Negócios

Mozambique buys cattle from Brazil

On Monday 17 October, the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply announced that Brazil has established an agreement with Mozambique to export cattle intended for breeding.

The Ministry also said that Mozambique should start buying the first batch of Brazilian cattle before the end of 2016. It is generally believed that Mozambique has the potential to import up to 50,000 animals per year.

According to the statement, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of Mozambique had informed its Brazilian counterpart that it had accepted the health certificate proposed by Brazil.

According to the Department of Animal Health, Mozambique plans to acquire animals with good performance both for beef and for milk production, in order to improve the herds it already has.

The Brazilian Department of Animal Health has established 26 agreements with as many countries for sale of live cattle.

Source: MacauHub

Foot and mouth disease outbreak embargoes cattle movement in Maputo and Gaza province

Livestock authorities in Mozambique have banned the movement of cattle in the provinces of Maputo and Gaza because of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.

After an outbreak in Mungazine, Matutuíne district, 500 infected cattle were detected in the village of Muchocolote.

The measure is aimed at preventing the disease from spreading, and more than 12,000 head of cattle are at risk in the town.

The head of the Provincial Livestock Services in Maputo said drought was probably a factor contributing to the outbreak.

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The affected districts are: Moamba, Magude, Matutuíne, Boane, Namaacha and Manhiça, in Maputo province, and Bilene, Chokwe and Masingir, in Gaza Province. The ban covers all movements in and out of these areas of livestock, beef and manure of cattle, goats, sheep and pigs.

Source: Rádio Moçambique/National Veterinary Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture

Tourism:

President Nyusi opens Maputo International Tourism Fair, calls for diversification of economy

On Friday 14 October, President Filipe Nyusi stressed the determination of his government to build a more diversified and robust economy which, even in the face of external shocks, can stand firm on the path of structural transformation.

He was speaking in Maputo at the opening of the Fourth Edition of the International Tourism Fair titled ‘Discover Mozambique’, which he described as “an essential display of the tourist potential the country offers and the blossoming of new opportunities”. The indicators currently available on the number of tourists visiting the country, President Nyusi said, are far from corresponding to Mozambique’s potential.

He believed that tourism is “a strategic economic activity which makes it possible to create jobs, generate revenue, and raise taxes through ensuring the rational use of limited natural resources”. He pointed to the Strategic Plan for the Development of Tourism over the 2016-25 period, recently approved by the government, which envisages making

Mozambique the most dynamic tourism destination in Africa. That vision seeks to improve the competitiveness of Mozambique and develop the accessibility of tourist infrastructures.

President Nyusi stressed the need to bank on quality as the differentiating characteristic of Mozambican tourism, if it is to have a future. That quality should be experienced in public services, in tourist facilities, and in the personal attendance to tourists. The President called on tourism companies to develop cultural tourism, which would promote the country’s artistic and historical heritage.

He also insisted on sustainability and conservation. Tourism, President Nyusi said, must take into consideration environmental aspects, including the conservation of biodiversity and of the variety of landscapes that Mozambique offers. The President believes that all these were factors which, taken together with improvements in institutional performance, would lead to millions of tourists visiting the country.


Telecommunications:

Viettel makes US$33-million in first half

Viettel aims to earn US$1.5-billion in revenue in its nine international markets this year. Laos and Cambodia are the biggest of its markets, which also include Timor-Leste, Cameroon, Haiti, Mozambique, Burundi, Peru and Tanzania.

Unitel, Viettel’s brand in Laos, has recorded US$1-billion in revenue in its seven years of operations and profit of US$300-million. It has 2.5-million

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subscribers, or a 47% market share, and 35% of the broadband market share.

Unitel covers all districts in the country and 95% of its population, with 4,000 base transceiver stations and 23,000-kilometres of fiber-optic cable.

The company has been providing 4G services since June last year.

It is the most effective telecommunications brand name in ASEAN, according to a report released in April by Brand Finance, an independent intangible asset valuation consultancy based in the UK.

Its brand value increased 106% compared to 2015, reaching US$132-million, and is the number one in the telecom industry in Laos.

In Cambodia, Metfone’s brand value has increased from US$85-million in 2015 to US$94-million in 2016, according to Brand Finance. It is currently the largest supplier of telecommunications services in the country.

Officially launched in 2009, Metfone is the leading operator in Cambodia with infrastructure including 7,000 stations and 20,000-kilometres of fiber optic cable, reaching 97% coverage with 5.5-million subscribers, representing a 37% market share. In 2015 turnover was US$256-million.

In Peru, Bitel has made breakthroughs in its business activities. Turnover was US$60-million in the first six months of this year, an increase of 105% year-on-year.

Growth in subscriber numbers was five-fold the growth of the total for the

country’s entire telecommunications industry.

Its turnover from 3G services in the first six months was 4.5 times the figure in the same period of 2015. Bitel plans to provide 4G services by the end of this year and will have three-million subscribers.

The military-run Viettel staked out a presence in three big markets in Africa – Cameron, Burundi and Tanzania – in 2015 and expected a three-year wait before earning profits.

However, since early this year the markets have been positive. Turnover in Burundi and Tanzania was US$16.75-million and US$18.26-million in the second quarter.

With a population of 50-million, Tanzania, the most populous overseas market Viettel has invested in, has seen strong growth in terms of mobile subscriber numbers. Halotel, Viettel’s local brand name, covers 95% of the country.

Subscriber numbers reached one-million within three months of launch and two-million within nine months.

Nexttel, Viettel’s brand in Cameroon, had 2.5-million subscribers in the first six months of this year and revenue reached US$35.24-million, up 54% year-on-year. It received the Best Internet Service Provider award in the country.

Viettel’s business in Mozambique was stable, with revenue of US$33-million in the first half representing an 8% increase from 5.6-million subscribers.

Viettel Global’s turnover was US$1.4-billion and its pre-tax profit US$58-million in 2015, with 16.5-million subscribers.

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This year Viettel plans to develop infrastructure in Myanmar, the most populous overseas market Viettel has invested in. Market growth is high and demand for using data is increasing, with 60% of people owning a smartphone.

Source: Vietnam Economic Times

Other:

Uncollected title deeds holding up state property sale process by Mozambique’s APIE

The Central Commission for the Assessment and Sale of State Property is faced with a large number of incomplete cases where title deeds have not been collected, compromising the rapid completion of its work.

When the state property privatisation process began in 1992, the Administration of State Property (APIE) oversaw approximately 70,000 households, of which 68,000 have entered the transfer process and 63,000 been authorised.

According to Marcelino Salimo, the head of the Commission, about 44,000 titles have been issued to date, with the remainder in progress. Nearly 5,000 homes have not yet been acquired by their tenants.

In Maputo, which has the highest housing stock, 32,000 titles with about 36,000 properties have been issued. A further 2,087 tenants in the capital have not proceeded to purchase.

Although conclusive data is not yet available, an evaluation of the process 25 years after its initiation shows that a considerable portion of the 30,000 tenants who have purchased their properties have

not, for reasons unknown, completed the final steps.

“We gave these tenants a statement of the method of payment, but they did not initiate the process. And out of the 32,000 titles issued, we have 2,300 waiting to be collected”, Salimo said.

Another complication concerns owners who now hold title but have not registered with the Land Registry, meaning that these properties are still registered as State property.

The Commission says it is willing to assist families who still have cases pending or even those who have not yet begun the process so that they can buy the homes they live in, with the advantages that accrue.

The government has set a price of MT200 per square meter, meaning final costs are less than MT20,000 on average, far below the market prices. In Maputo’s Bairro Central neighbourhood, for example, a two-bedroom house costs between MT10,000 and MT15,000.

“The State should have completed this process by now. We do not understand why the remaining people are not finishing the purchases. This is a common situation, especially in Maputo, Beira and Nampula”, Salimo reports.

Once purchased and registered in the land registry, the property owner can sell it, mortgage it or include it among his real estate assets.

Salimo made it clear that collecting the title is free and that property registration at the Land Registry is done by the tenant, without paid intermediaries.

Source: Notícias

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POLITICS

Killing overshadows talks

The murder of Jeremias Pondeca on 8 October is widely seen as an act of desperation by recalcitrant, old-guard members of the governing Frelimo. Pondeca was a senior member of Renamo and involved in the peace talks with Frelimo.

The latest in a series of death-squad-style assassinations –which practically all of Maputo attributes to members of the secret services – it is also being interpreted as an effort to distract the population from the country’s dire economic condition.

The killing came two days after the news that hundreds of millions of dollars may have been spent on another secret military package in deals brokered by private, Frelimo-owned companies linked to Proindicus, one of the companies that received hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal, secret loans.

The metical continues its plunge in value and interest rates have surged to over 22%. The violence was also meant to intimidate Frelimo’s progressive reformers, party sources said.

The killing did not affect the talks, however, which resumed on 18 October after a period of mourning. Human Rights Watch has documented nine other politically motivated killings since March 2015 which it says “the authorities have failed to properly investigate or prosecute”.

Source: Africa Confidential

Talks between government and Renamo resume on Tuesday with press blackout

The negotiations between the government and Renamo resumed in Maputo on Tuesday 18 October, with a minute of silence in honour of Jeremias Pondeca, a Renamo elected member of the Joint Commission who was assassinated on 8 October.

The international mediating team first met with the Renamo delegation behind closed doors, and then separately with the government delegation on Wednesday 19 October.

Nothing of substance was said to the media. The co-ordinator of the mediators, the Italian Mario Raffaelli, told reporters that the best homage that could be paid to Pondeca “will be through a joint effort to achieve a cessation of hostilities, as both sides have already said”.

As for the content of the discussions, Raffaelli said he could only reveal this after the mediators had met with both delegations.

Apparently the mediators’ strategy is to firm up commitments from the two sides separately before bringing them both round the table in a full meeting of the government/Renamo Joint Commission.

The Joint Commission was originally established to pave the way for a face-to-face meeting between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama. But such a meeting now seems further away than ever, since Dhlakama, in an interview given a

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fortnight ago, refused point blank to meet with President Nyusi before signing a final agreement on all the matters in dispute.

The mediating team was strengthened on Tuesday by the arrival of former Tanzanian president, Jakaya Kikwete. He is one of the mediators chosen by the government side, but he was unable to attend previous rounds of talks because of prior engagements.


“There will be no peace agreement until 2019” – Michel Cahen

Michel Cahen, one of the leading historians and political scientists on Mozambique, believes that no solutions will be found to the political crisis in Mozambique until the next legislative elections, scheduled for 2019.

In an interview with Africa Monitor in Lisbon (Portugal), he said that: “giving more money to regimes that are not democratic will encourage these regimes to become hegemonic”.

According to Cahen, the international community generally prefers that Frelimo maintain power, ignoring signs of degradation within the party. This is allegedly because Frelimo manages relations with large multinationals, which is good for international capitalism. In addition, he argues that, despite efforts for the democratisation of Mozambique, today – in terms of international power sharing – the conditions for greater democracy have not been met. Cahen maintains that this was the case even before Frelimo “completely rotted, with

links to drug trafficking and extensive corruption”.

“I am not very optimistic for the next generation in Africa. The discoveries of oil and precious metals in Mozambique and many other countries only brought about more corruption, enriching the elite, more civil war … this is not good for democracy”, he lamented.

The case of previously undisclosed debt amounting to over US$2-billion highlights political intentions, said Cahen. It means that, as far back as 2012, before tensions between Frelimo and Renamo reached their peak, the government had already chosen a “military way”. The acquisition of arms began back then and it is not a new or sudden reaction to the current situation.

For Cahen, it is obvious that President Filipe Nyusi (who was defence minister under Armando Guebuza at the time that the loans were constructed) knew about these deals.

With regard to the economic crisis in the country, Cahen has no doubt that the situation was fomented by the centralisation of power that occurred during Guebuza’s second term in office, when the then president and his ministers exceed the limits of their powers.

“They believed that the price of raw materials would remain high and thus made loans to security companies without the knowledge of the National Assembly. As the price of raw materials fell, they were completely drowning in debt, resulting in the suspension of aid from the IMF”.

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In terms of the political situation, Cahen believes that: “in the long-term, the MDM [Mozambican Democratic Movement] could become a very strong threat to Frelimo … Being a peaceful party, they have the potential to take root in the city’s neighbourhoods, particularly in the districts of the middle class and the elite, where Renamo struggles to win votes”.

Source: Africa Monitor

Crises in Mozambique due to the lack of robust and credible institutions

On Thursday 20 October, the Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Studies of Mozambique (Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Económicos de Moçambique, IESE) said that the economic, political and military crises facing Mozambique are due to the lack of robust and credible institutions, which may reflect the heterogeneity of the country.

Speaking during the presentation of the book Challenges to Mozambique in 2016 (Desafios para Moçambique 2016), Salvador Forquilha noted that the country has failed to build institutions that reflect the social, economic and political diversity of Mozambican society.

"As long as our institutions do not take into account our rich differences in thinking, the way of looking at the country, we will not have lasting solutions to our cyclical crises”, noted Forquilha.

Noting that the official discourse of defence of national unity is in danger of becoming a mere rhetoric, the director of the IESE stressed that it is important

for Mozambique overcome the crises in order to bring back hope to the millions of Mozambicans.

“Even more important is knowing how to diagnose and openly understand the causes of our crises – which tend to be cyclical – so that we do not detriment the democratic and inclusive Mozambique, this is probably the biggest challenge facing Mozambique nowadays”, said Forquilha.

Source: Lusa/SAPO24

“Enough blood! Enough looting!” –Frelimo

On Wednesday 19 October, the leader of the Frelimo parliamentary group, Margarida Talapa, accused Renamo of responsibility for the instability experienced in some parts of the country.

Addressing the formal opening session of the final sitting in 2016 of the National Assembly, Talapa said Renamo “refuses to listen to the voice of the people clamouring for peace, and continues to kill, to loot and to destroy public and private infrastructures, while at the same time it is negotiating with the government”.

The fact that Renamo gunmen had chosen health units and police stations as its preferred targets “deprives the public of their right to health and to protection. When this is added to the murders and mutilation of defenceless civilians, it constitutes flagrant violation of the human rights of our fellow citizens”.

“Enough blood! Enough looting!”, Talapa urged repeatedly, as she called on

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Renamo to take its dialogue with the government seriously.

Renamo parliamentary deputies, she said, should actively seek paths “to an effective and lasting peace, by refraining from the violent declarations encouraging disobedience to the law and which we have become sadly used to”.

The Renamo deputies, Talapa added, should also persuade their party’s leader, Afonso Dhlakama, to accept the repeated invitation by President Filipe Nyusi for a face-to-face meeting.

Talapa said that Frelimo has no fear of decentralisation (one of the main issues raised by Renamo) as long as the decentralisation measures respect the Constitution and the law. But she insisted that: “all of us must fight against any attempt to divide the Mozambican family and distance ourselves from those who are seeking to divide our country by force of arms, or other forms of subversion”.

Such appeals made no impact on the head of the Renamo parliamentary group, Ivone Soares, who insisted on Renamo’s right to govern the six central and northern provinces (Sofala, Manica, Tete, Zambézia, Nampula and Niassa) where it claims to have won the October 2014 elections.

In fact, a glance at the election results shows that, while Dhlakama topped the presidential poll in five provinces, Renamo won the parliamentary election in only two (Sofala and Zambézia) and secured a majority in three provincial assemblies (Sofala, Zambézia and Tete), In one of the provinces claimed by Renamo, Niassa, victory in the

presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections went to Frelimo.

Soares also insisted that the State and the armed forces “do not belong to any political party”, and that “the confusion of party and state destroys the principle of democracy”. Yet at the same time she insisted on appointments to senior military and police positions on a political party basis.

She said that Renamo “commandos” (a reference to Renamo's illicit militia) must be appointed to commanding positions in the armed forces, and that Renamo appointees must also be accepted into the police and into the security service, SISE.

Lutero Simango, head of the parliamentary bench for the MDM, called for an expansion of the current dialogue beyond the ranks of the government and Renamo. He demanded “an inclusive national dialogue”, through which “the entire nation would be mobilised to bury the hatchet of war”.

The MDM, he said, regarded amending the Constitution as “a national imperative”. The amendments the MDM wanted would ensure the election, rather than the appointment, of provincial governors, reducing the powers of the President of the Republic and “freeing the judicial system from political control”.

He wanted a parliamentary debate on these issues, and insisted that the Assembly “should not be an echo chamber for private appetites and agendas”.

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Simango warned that: “violence against political parties remains a serious threat to political freedoms”. The MDM had suffered from such violence and from the “complicit silence of the administrative, judicial and police authorities” who had taken no action against the perpetrators.

He listed some of the recent acts of violence against the MDM. Thus, on 14 September, MDM members in Mabalane district (Gaza Province) were “kidnapped, tortured and threatened with death”.

On 8 October, Simango continued, five houses belonging to MDM members were burnt down in Mossurize district (Manica Province) and on 4 October, MDM members were arrested in the northern city of Nampula for simply displaying their party’s flag.

These arrests, said Simango, were “unjust and illegal, since there is no law or constitutional command forbidding the display of party flags”.

He pledged that the MDM “will transform this arrogance and harassment into a source of energy” to mobilise more Mozambican behind the MDM’s slogan of “Mozambique for All”.


Peace in Mozambique is an obligation to Machel memory

Peace in Mozambique is an obligation to the memory of Samora Machel and a historic responsibility, his son, Samora Machel Junior, said on Monday 17 October in a family statement released on the 30th anniversary of the death of the first Mozambican president.

“We talk a lot about respecting the life and work of Samora Machel, paying tributes, raising statues, disseminating and discussing his thinking, remembering his works and deeds, but I think there is no better way to respect and pay tribute to him and to all who perished here than to do everything possible to achieve peace in Mozambique”, Machel Junior said at a ceremony on the site of the plane crash in Mbuzini (South Africa) where the statesman died.

For South African Deputy-President, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Mozambique’s Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, the family statement recalls the man as “a visionary” with a global perspective on Mozambique’s problems, and someone for whom “peace is not reached with by simply silencing the weapons”.

“He did not believe that, and the decades after his death have proved him right”, Machel Junior said, alluding to the successive crises between the government and Renamo, which have peaked in recent months.

The son of former Mozambican president by his first marriage to Josina Machel, said that the peace his father sought was not limited to Mozambique, citing as examples the “heinous apartheid regime”, “foreign aggression” in Angola, internal crises in the DRC and the independence of Zimbabwe.

“It was in the service of his dream that he died”, Machel Junior said, referring to his father’s efforts towards achieving “access to education, health, decent housing, decent and fairly paid work, the means of production to generate wealth,

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freedom of expression and respect for the security and rights of citizens”.

The ceremony in Mbuzini brought members of the South African and Mozambican governments, local, religious and traditional leaders, family relatives, and the relatives of the other 34 victims of the air disaster, at the memorial bearing his name, which is now a South African national heritage site.

“It happened 30 years ago but it looks like it was just yesterday. To my memory, my brothers and sisters and our mother to the memory of the widows and orphans of those who fell here for millions of different provinces, races and religious beliefs, 19 October 1986 continues to be as immediate as if it had just happened”, Machel Junior said.

Source: Lusa

State Budget for 2017 compiled under the assumption that the politico-military tension will be resolved before year end

According to a scathing article written by @Verdade, the government has already prepared their third State Budget (OE). The State Budget for 2017, which will be submitted to the next parliamentary session so that members of Frelimo can approve it without hesitation, was once again prepared without consulting the citizens.

In addition, the State Budget proposal assumes that the politico-military tensions currently plaguing the country will be resolved before year end 2016. As such, the proposal supposedly assumes that trust between the country and its international aid partners will be

restored, thus resulting in the recovery of foreign direct investment flows.

@Verdade alleges that the proposal makes provisions for the increased expenditure on personnel of the armed forces, as well as the increased expenditure on of employees in the country's capital – all at the expense of the country’s 11 provinces. In terms of revenue, tax incentives for large companies that exploit Mozambique’s natural resources are to remain in place.

It is alleged that during the preparation of the State Budget the government, through the Ministry of Finance, consulted with the people about which areas should be a priority. It is unrealistic to think that all Mozambicans can be surveyed, but at the very least the civil society organisations should be heard.

In the budget proposal and proposed Economic and Social Plan (PES) for 2017, the priority returns to the increase of food production and the sustainability of public spending so as to proceed with reforms for increased revenue.

However, looking at the figures allocated to the various sectors, it becomes apparent that the food deficit is not going to end, at least not next year, especially since the agriculture and livestock needs have not yet been met.

Amidst the public spending concerns and various cuts in investments and personnel, there is no explanation for the increase of MT200-million for expenditure on personnel of the armed forces of Mozambique. There is also no justification for the 50% increase in the

51


expenditure on officials within the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

In fact, although there have been personnel cutbacks in various public institutions, expenditure on state officials is expected to rise to more than MT7-billion, furthermore the proportion of operating costs, which should also grow, is currently 48.9%, however, it will be reviewed to 49.4% in 2017. Ironically, during the course of 2017, the government allegedly intends to hire 1,000 employees less than in 2016.

Mozambique’s crippling public debt along with what @Verdade terms the “cancer of corruption”, was only mentioned in a single paragraph of the OE 2017 proposal. It should also be noted that in the list of public debts, the previously undisclosed loans to Proindicus, MAM and Aeroportos de Moçambique (all of which were given a sovereign guarantee) were not mentioned in the State Accounts.

Looking at the proposal of the PES to 2017 it is noted that, despite the fact that the state-owned company is bankrupt (according to its annual report of 2015), the government – not satisfied with the unprofitable airport of Nacala – will go ahead with the construction of an airport in the city of Xai-Xai.

There is no justification for the need to increase the possibility of more public debt contracted by the government, as foreseen under guarantees of the State Budget proposal for 2017.

According to @Verdade, it is obvious that the government is hoping for numerous miracles. The first being the satisfactory conclusion of the international audit before the end of

2016, thus resulting in the resumption of foreign aid, which would balance out the Net International Reserves and control the devaluation of the metical, as well as inflation.

Another miracle that the government is hoping for is the end of politico-military tensions. However, it is unclear if this end will be brought about through military actions (given the increased budget of the armed forces) or through negotiations.

In the absence of external revenue, the Tax Authority is behind on its tax revenue collection. Suggestions for revising the tax incentives granted to large foreign companies exploiting gas, coal, heavy sand and other natural resources in Mozambique, to generate more revenue for the Treasury, does not appear to deserve any attention from President Nyusi’s government.

Source: @Verdade

Parliament meets in ordinary session

On the afternoon of Wednesday 19 October, parliament met in its fourth ordinary session, which will last until 20 December. Wednesday’s agenda included opening speeches by the Speaker of House, Verónica Macamo, and the heads of the parliamentary groups of Frelimo, Renamo and the MDM.

The legislature will examine matters such as questions to the government, executive information, the Ombudsman’s annual report, the Sate of the Nation Address, and the parliamentary committee of inquiry on public debt (among others).


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Opposition deputies reject Ombudsman’s report

On Thursday 20 October, Mozambique’s Ombudsman, José Abudo, came under fire from opposition deputies who regarded the report he gave to the National Assembly as incomplete and superficial.

Members of Renamo complained that he had not investigated the “death squads” which are allegedly assassinating Renamo members, while Armando Artur, of the MDM, noted that Abudo’s report said nothing about “the violation of political freedoms”.

Deputies of the ruling Frelimo Party, while welcoming the report in general, were not pleased that it took no stand towards the insurrection currently being waged by Renamo gunmen. Calling the Renamo militia “enemies of peace”, Frelimo deputy Alice Caetano said that “by attacking health units, they are violating human rights”.

Renamo deputy Francisco Campira claimed that Abudo was “not independent and impartial”, and complained that he had not asked the Constitutional Council to declare as unconstitutional the hidden loans guaranteed by the previous government, headed by president Armando Guebuza. (Campira did not consider the fact that Abudo’s report covered the period from April 2015 to March 2016, and the concealed loans only became public knowledge in April 2016).

Ana Paula Cordeiro of Frelimo noted the poor attendance at meetings held by the Ombudsman and the small number of complaints Abudo’s office had received. “Citizens don’t know about the

Ombudsman”, she said, and suggested that his office needs representation at provincial and district level (currently Abudo’s staff are all concentrated in Maputo).

Abudo rejected suggestions that he was following government orders. “The Ombudsman’s office is independent”, he declared. “No holder of any state office has imposed decisions on me”.

As for “death squads”, he rejected the term, and preferred to speak of “organised crime”. What he knew was that “organised crime includes murders, kidnapping and other crimes, and the relevant bodies are working to solve these crimes” (he did not name these bodies, but presumably he was referring to the police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office).

Renamo deputies had asked whether the Renamo members killed “do not have the right to life”. Abudo replied that “all citizens have the right to life, regardless of their political party affiliation”.

He claimed he did not previously know about the “violations of political freedoms” mentioned by the MDM – which is strange, given that the MDM has vociferously and repeatedly denounced attacks against its members and offices.


Dispute over Beira rubbish collection fee rumbles on

On Thursday 13 October, both the ruling Frelimo Party and the MDM held press conferences in the central city of Beira (Sofala Province), claiming that their

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version of the payment, or non-payment, of money owed to Beira Municipal Council by the publicly-owned electricity company, Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM), was correct.

The two parties had almost come to blows over this issue at an extraordinary meeting of the Beira Municipal Assembly on Monday 10 October, held to approve an amended budget for 2016 submitted by the Beira Municipal Council.

The Council argued that expenditure had to be cut because Beira had not received money from the central government’s Municipal Compensation Fund, and because the publicly owned electricity company, EdM, had also not transferred the money it owes the municipality.

EdM collects the garbage removal fee, which is added to the monthly electricity bill of each household. But, according to the Council, since December 2015 this money has not been deposited in the municipal coffers.

However, the Frelimo group in the Assembly claimed that it had evidence that EdM had paid the money owing – but failed to distribute this supposed proof to other Assembly members. After a rowdy debate, the MDM majority in the Assembly passed the amended budget.

On Thursday, Council spokesperson Francisco Majoi showed reporters correspondence between the Council and EdM. On 14 September, the Council had written to EdM asking that it transfer urgently the money from the rubbish collection fee for the months of January to September.

Six days later, EdM replied and apologised for not sending the money. It claimed there had been an error in indicating the bank account for the transfers, and promised to regularise the matter soon.

As far as the Council was concerned, EdM’s apology was clear evidence that it had received no money from the company.

But at the Frelimo press conference, the party’s first secretary in Beira, Lino Massinguine, claimed Frelimo had EdM documents proving that the money had been sent regularly to an account in the country’s second largest commercial bank, the BCI, in the name of “Beira Municipal Council, Department of Finance”.

The documents list a series of municipalities, including Beira, to which EdM has made payments, month by month, reaching a total for Beira of around MT13-million (approximately US$169,000, at current exchange rates).

“Here’s the documentary evidence”, declared Massinguine. “When we understood that the main question at the extraordinary session was amending the budget, and that this was based on EdM’s supposed failure to channel the money from the garbage fee to the Council since January, we went to the company and obtained data proving that the money had been sent, including the amount for September, which was transferred on 7 October”.

Massinguine said that during the Assembly session “we tried unsuccessfully to prove our version, but we were verbally and physically

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assaulted by the MDM group. They’re trying to hide something. The money was transferred”.

The Council, however, said the account mentioned in the documents shown by Frelimo does not exist. Not only did the Council have no knowledge of any account in the name of “Beira Municipal Council: Finance Department”, but neither did the BCI. The correct Council account is held in the Banco de Moçambique (the central bank does not normally have commercial bank functions, but it does hold accounts of state and municipal bodies).

“We think that the attitude of EdM is very strange”, said Majoi. “Since we signed the contract about the rubbish collection fee with EdM about 10 years ago, it has been depositing the money in a Banco de Moçambique account. We don’t know why it changed this procedure in January without informing us”.

But the money has now been deposited in the correct account. Majoi said that, at about 15:00hrs on Wednesday, EdM notified the Council that, on 7 October, it had deposited rather more than MT15-million in the Council’s Banco de Moçambique account.

In that case, reporters asked, why had the Council insisted on amending the budget? The Assembly session was on Monday, 10 October, by which time the money had been sitting in the correct account for three days.

Majoi’s excuse was that, by the time of the Assembly meeting, “The Municipal Assembly had not been notified of this transfer. We only had the letter of apology sent to the Council by EdM”.

This is an admission that, before asking the Assembly to amend the budget, the Council did not bother to check how much money was in its bank account.

The sequence of events can now be pieced together, without resort to any conspiracy theory or accusations of forgery. From the documents shown at the two press conferences, it seems that EdM transferred the rubbish collection fee to the wrong account number over a period of nine months. When the Council finally protested, in mid-September, that it had not received the money, EdM realised that it had made a mistake and sent the funds, in one lump sum, to the correct account.

Nobody comes out of this saga looking good. For nine months, EdM sent the money to the wrong account, with no explanation. The Council allowed EdM to persist in its error, and did not protest until September. Both Frelimo and the MDM then tried to make political capital out of the blunder.

The EdM Beira office has now said that it will give its own version of events sometime in the next few days.


EdM admits negligence over Beira rubbish fee

EdM has admitted to negligence in its failure to transfer money owed to Beira Municipal Council.

The matter became highly polemical last week, when, at the urging of the Council, the elected Municipal Assembly passed an amended budget for Beira, reducing expenditure, in part because the money from the rubbish collection

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fee had not reached the municipal coffers.

But since December 2015, EdM had not passed the money on to the Council. This problem generated rowdy scenes in the Assembly, when members of the ruling Frelimo Party claimed they had proof that EdM had been paying the Council regularly. The opposition MDM, which has a majority in the Assembly, demanded that Frelimo make copies of this “proof” available, which it only did at a press conference three days later.

At a press conference in Beira on Monday 17 October, EdM spokesperson Luis Amado admitted that the council was right, and that the money had been sent to an incorrect account. It was only after complaints from the Council, he said, that EdM realised “this was not the account where we normally deposited money for the municipality”.

What happened, Amado explained, was that at the end of 2015 EdM decided that all transfers to municipalities would be handled centrally, and so the EdM headquarters in Maputo had to receive from the EdM local delegations the account numbers where the money from the rubbish collection fee from various municipalities should be deposited.

During this operation, a mistake was made. “When we were typing out the numbers of these accounts, we erroneously gave Beira municipality an account that does not belong to it”, said Amado. There had been “some negligence in our financial directorate”, he admitted.

Amado also denied that EdM had provided Frelimo with the documents it had shown at last week’s press

conference. “We didn’t supply any documentary evidence to Frelimo”, he said. “What we are saying is that the complaints by Beira Council make sense because, for eight months, we were transferring the money to an account which does not belong to the municipality”.

On 7 October, EdM paid all the missing money into the Council’s Banco de Moçambique account, in a lump sum of over MT15-million. Amado said EdM is now trying to recover the money that was deposited in the wrong account, and those responsible for this blunder will be held responsible. The Council will now be able to spend more, and as such it is presenting yet another amended budget for this year to the Municipal Assembly for its approval.


“Some leaders appoint less capable people” – Óscar Monteiro

On Wednesday 19 October, the former minister of State Administration, Óscar Monteiro, warned that some leaders in today’s Mozambique choose to appoint less skilled people who will not outshine them.

Monteiro, who was giving a lecture in Maputo on the life and work of the country’s first president, Samora Machel, recalled that Machel deliberately surrounded himself with the best people available – but some of today’s leaders prefer to choose cadres who are weak.

Monteiro, who was a member of the Frelimo Political Bureau under Machel, said that: “Samora knew how to gather

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the best around him. I ask you: do we let ourselves be surrounded by the best, or do we call on those who will not put us in the shade?”

“There are people who think they should not surround themselves with people who are more skilled than they are, because this will expose their weaknesses”, he added. Monteiro attacked those who use their positions inside the state to feed their private business interests.

“The assets of the state must be defended because they belong to all of us”, he said. “There are people who have the knack of being rich. Fine – but let them do their business outside. Using their position in the state for business to their own benefit is to be condemned”. “This is becoming a disease which does not allow the state to stand up straight, and it’s no longer a hidden disease. It’s in the faces of all of us, because the people who do this sort of thing need to show it off”, he accused.

Monteiro said that Samora Machel kept a distance between himself and the state’s money. State property was sacrosanct “and once, when somebody, on changing his residence, took some state goods with him, Samora called a meeting, and said the goods belonging to the state must not be privatised”.

Machel was never involved in questions of money, Monteiro recalled, “and in his speeches, he used to say ‘if you see me become rich, ask me where the money comes from’”. “And nowadays what happens?” Monteiro asked his audience.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique/O País

Example of Samora keeps hope of a better future alive

On Wednesday 19 October, President Filipe Nyusi declared that commemorating the country’s first leader, Samora Machel, is not just the formal marking of a date, but a means of keeping alive the hope of a better world for all Mozambicans.

For President Nyusi, to celebrate the life of Samora Machel is to have the certainty that a better future is possible.

He was speaking in Maputo at the Monument to the Mozambican Heroes (Praça dos Heróis Moçambicanos), where Machel is buried.

“The life of Samora Machel is a school, a human and patriotic inspiration”, said President Nyusi. “With him, we learn the spirit of dedication to a cause which serves in the first place the interests of the majority, and that Mozambican action must always be above individual or group ambition. He taught us the value of truth and of openness. He fought constantly against what might divide us: tribalism, racism and religious extremism”.

Machel “was a man of the people and always defended the interests of the people”, President Nyusi added. Machel’s governance was marked by “inclusion, the sharing of opportunities and the distribution of wealth”.

President Nyusi regarded Machel as a hero, not only because of the courage with which he led the Mozambican struggle for national liberation from Portuguese colonial rule, but also “because his life and work enshrine the

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ethical and moral values and the sense of citizenship of each Mozambican”.

The significance of Machel’s life, he continued, extended beyond Mozambique’s borders. “Samora knew very well the meaning of international solidarity”, said President Nyusi. “It was he who encouraged us to make our own the cause of the freedom of other people who were living under foreign rule or dictatorial regimes”.

He urged all Mozambicans to follow the example of Machel, because “a people without heroes is a people without reference points, without a direction, without a destination and without a history”.

President Nyusi attacked the rebel movement Renamo for its bellicose attitude that undermined the climate of peace that Machel had fought for.

He urged Renamo “to show that there are no impassable barriers when we put the interests of the people and of the Mozambican nation above all else. That was the lesson of Samora”.


Prime Minister Rosário is certain that Samora Machel was killed

On Monday 17 October, Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário declared that the government remains convinced that the country’s first president, Samora Machel, was “murdered by the enemy of self-determination” – a clear reference to the now defunct apartheid regime.

Prime Minister Rosário, representing President Filipe Nyusi, was speaking at a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary

of Machel’s death, held at Mbuzini, in the South African province of Mpumalanga, where the plane carrying Machel back from a summit in the Zambian town of Mbala crashed on 19 October 1986.

Accompanied by South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, by Machel’s widow Graça and her children, by some of the nine survivors of the crash, and by relatives of the 34 others who died, Prime Minister Rosário laid a wreath at the monument built on the crash site.

The monument consists of 35 steel tubes, one for each of the victims of the crash. They are reddish, symbolising the blood shed at Mbuzini, and the wind blowing through the tubes creates a mournful sound. Parts of the wreckage of the plane, a Soviet manufactured Tupolev 134, have been incorporated into the monument.

The plane was off course when it crashed, and it is widely believed that the apartheid military used a decoy navigational beacon, broadcasting on the same frequency as the Maputo airport beacon, to lure the plane away from its correct flight path.

The evidence is not conclusive, because the apartheid regime shut down the inquiry into the cause of the disaster, rather than investigate the source of the beacon followed by the plane.

At the time, tensions in the region were high, and the apartheid defence minister, Magnus Malan, had personally threatened Machel in the days leading up to the crash. The apartheid government set up its own inquiry, headed by judge Cecil Margo. That

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inquiry predictably blamed the aircraft’s Soviet crew, but its conclusions lack all credibility.

“It is our conviction that Samora Machel was murdered by the enemy of self-determination, of peace, of equality between men, of concord and of peaceful coexistence in Mozambique and in the southern African region”, declared Prime Minister Rosário.

“We Mozambicans express our belief that the truth about the barbaric assassination of Samora Machel will one day be known”, he added.

“For Mozambique the outcome of the dossier on the death of Samora Machel remains a national priority and a patriotic imperative”.

Shortly after the disaster the Mozambican government established its own Commission of Inquiry, chaired by the then transport minister, Armando Guebuza, who was later to become president of Mozambique.

The work of that commission is unfinished, and it has never been wound up.

Prime Minister Rosário thanked the South African government for its efforts to discover the causes of the crash, and reiterated that Mozambique will continue to work “so that the circumstances of the disaster which claimed the lives of our president and of his delegation may be explained”.

He also thanked his South African hosts for the construction of the Mbuzini monument and for declaring it part of South Africa’s national heritage, as a reminder “of the sacrifice and of the

blood spilled by Mozambican and South African nationalists for independence, peace and equality”.

Prime Minister Rosário stressed “the spirit of solidarity and internationalism” enshrined by Machel, who believed that Mozambican independence “would only be complete, if other peoples in the region and the world were also free and independent”.

Hence his support, not only for the ANC in South Africa, or ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe, but also for FRETILIN in Timor-Leste, then under Indonesian occupation.

“Liberation from colonial domination and from apartheid, peace and the progress of our countries are the ideals for which Samora Machel fought, and for which he lost his life”, Prime Minister Rosário continued.

The pain of losing him remained fresh, but it was encouraging “to know that the life and work of Samora lives in each of us and in every citizen who loves peace, harmony, prosperity and development. It is up to each of us to keep the flame of this great leader alive”.

Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Graça Machel recalled that successive South African and Mozambican governments had promised to bring the investigations into the Mbuzini crash to a successful conclusion, but so far these promises had not been kept.

“I will only believe it, when there is a result”, she said.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique/Paul Fauvet

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New directors inducted in Sofala

On Tuesday 18 October, three new provincial directors were inducted into office. These include: Tereza Minyengu, who assumes the post of provincial director of Combatants; Fernando Razão, who was appointed Provincial Deputy Director of Education and Human Development; and Zaia Miquitaio, appointed Provincial Deputy Director of Culture and Tourism.

During the swearing in ceremony, Sofala governor Helena Taipo expressed her desire to see the three new provincial directors take the path of leadership and intelligent management, while being open, creative and professional in line with the major observances of the Public Administration.

Governor Taipo also called on the three new members to commit themselves to good governance by promoting the culture of accountability and combating corruption.

Speaking to the media, Minyengu said that one of the main challenges that the department faces is compliance with the PES-2016, correcting issues relating to pensions, preserving historical sites and reintegrating combatants into society.

For his part, Razão highlighted the need to improve the quality of education, interactions with teachers and the involvement of parents in their child’s education.

In turn, Miquitaio pledged to encourage cultural activities and give priority to the promotion of local artists.


Luanda and Maputo reinforce co-operation

Mozambique wishes to strengthen relations and exchange experiences with Angola. This desire was expressed on Friday 14 October in Luanda by the Mozambican ambassador to Angola, Santos Álvaro, at the end of a meeting with the deputy governor of finance of Luanda, José Cerqueira.

The meeting discussed the possibility of signing a partnership agreement between the two capital cities (Maputo and Luanda). According to the Mozambican diplomat, the greatest challenge in this regard is to create the ideal conditions and provide quality of life for its inhabitants.

Ambassador Álvaro also stressed the importance of opening a new route for the Angolan national carrier, TAAG, between Luanda and Maputo, from 2 November, which will allow Angolans to visit the Mozambican capital and vice versa.

Source: Jornal de Angola Online

President Nyusi works in Metuge and Pemba, Cabo Delgado

On Friday 21 October, President Filipe Nyusi departed for a working visit to the province of Cabo Delgado to open a cement plant in Metuge district, and several public infrastructure projects in the provincial capital, Pemba. These include the new Attorney-General’s Office building, the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism and a newly built Employment and Vocational Training Institute (IEFP) workshop.

Source: Notícias

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President Jacob Zuma to travel to Mozambique

South African President Jacob Zuma will travel to Maputo for a consultative meeting with his counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi.

“The two will use this opportunity to discuss issues of bilateral and regional importance to further strengthen relations between the two countries”, the South African Presidency said on Thursday 20 October.

South Africa and Mozambique enjoy strong historical ties based on geographical proximity and the role played by Mozambique in providing solidarity during the struggle against apartheid.

The two countries, historically, also have strong economic ties, as evidenced not only in the presence of over 300 companies in Mozambique, but also in high trade volumes.

On the trade front, South Africa is currently Mozambique’s largest trading partner and accounts for about 32% of the country's imports and 22.4% of its exports in 2013.

In 2014, South African exports to Mozambique amounted to ZAR32.6-billion, while imports from Mozambique to South Africa totalled ZAR11.3-billion.

Source: SANews.gov.za

SECURITY

Renamo murders child in Muxungué raid, father seriously injured

A ten-year-old child died on the night of Friday 14 October, during an attack carried out by suspected Renamo gunmen against the Muxungué administrative post (Sofala Province).

The child was burnt alive inside his parents’ house, set ablaze by the Renamo raiders. His father was a local state official, the secretary of the Muxungué Fourth Neighbourhood. The father also sustained serious injuries – the gunmen shot him as he was trying to escape.

The spokesperson for the Sofala Provincial Police Command, Daniel Macuácua, said the attack took place at

approximately 23:00hrs. The armed group, wearing Renamo uniform, headed straight for the house of the neighbourhood secretary. They set it on fire, and then shot at anyone trying to flee.

The Defence and Security Forces were mobilised to the area in order to locate the murderers, said Macuácua.


FADM deactivate and occupy Renamo base in Nampula Province

On the morning of Friday 14 October, the Defence and Security Forces in Nampula Province deactivated and occupied a Renamo base in the village of Napuco, Murrupula district, where

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they recovered hospital supplies thought to have been stolen from various health units in Nampula.

“During the morning of the 14th October, a Defence and Security Forces brigade moved to Murrupula district, specifically Napuco, where it carried out an operation that led to the dismantling of a Renamo base. From the site we retrieved various goods which were stolen from healthcare units”, the spokesperson of the Nampula PRM provincial command, Zacarias Nacute told reporters.

In addition to the medical supplies, the FADM seized 17 rounds ammunition for an of AK 47-type weapon.

The FADM said that the operation was intended to restore order in the region, which has recently seen sporadic, localised attacks by gunmen.

Nacute said that the base was overrun only after a confrontation between the FADM and Renamo militia in which no-one was either hurt or detained.

Source: Folha de Maputo/TVM

PRM says it will continue to dismantle Renamo bases

The Mozambique police have announced that the Defence and Security Forces will continue to neutralise Renamo bases and positions, eliminating groupings of the main opposition party’s armed men.

Speaking at the weekly press conference, police spokesperson Inácio Dina said that the overrunning of Renamo bases in Zambézia and Nampula in the last 15 days was aimed

at wiping out the armed wing of the main opposition party.

“This is a process that will continue”, he said. “Our desire is that no hideout, no base, no camp should exist and no point where Renamo armed bandits, or bandits of any other kind, have guns in their hands, and are occupying space from which they create situations of public disorder”.

To achieve this goal, Dina added, the Defence and Security Forces remain stationed at what are regarded as “points of risk” in regard to the movements of the Renamo gunmen.

Dina also confirmed the death of a child and the injury of a district secretary in Muxungué, Chibabava district (Sofala Province), during an attack on the official’s residence that the government attributes to Renamo.

In the last two weeks, Defence and Security Forces overran a base in Murrupula district (Nampula Province), and one in Mocuba district (Zambézia Province), seizing weapons, ammunition and medicine.

In both provinces, health centres have been targeted in attacks that the Mozambican authorities attribute to Renamo.

The current wave of military engagements in Mozambique follows the refusal of Renamo to concede defeat in the general elections in 2014, accusing the ruling party of fraud. Renamo demands governance of the six provinces in the centre and north of the country where it claims electoral victory.

Source: Lusa/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

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Renamo delegate assassinated in Nampula Province

Renamo district political delegate for Ribáuè and member of the Provincial Assembly in Nampula, Floris Victor Armando, was shot dead by unknown individuals on Tuesday 18 October, along with another party member.

Reports regarding possible motives for the deadly shooting are conflicting, with some sources alleging that Armando was involved in illegal mining operations in the Cuirine zone, administrative post of Iapala, in Ribáuè.

Reporters found that skirmishes in this region are frequent between miners and individuals involved in the sale of minerals (particularly tourmalines), with attacks centred on the control of purchasing and marketing the products of illegal mining to foreign nationals.

Armando’s cousin Salimo Antonio does not deny the Renamo delegate’s involvement in the illegal mining business, but said that he was shot while returning from Lupi, where the opposition party commemorated the death of André Matchangaiza.

Eyewitnesses say that two individuals in a Toyota Hilux vehicle attacked Armando and his companion, identified as Zeca, who were riding a motorbike on the Cuirine-Ribáuè road near the Matharia Rver.

Witnesses reported hearing a burst of automatic fire followed by the departure of the vehicle, leaving the Renamo delegate and his companion lying on the ground. Their bodies were later taken to the Ribaué Rural Hospital morgue.

Ribáuè district chief physician, Clever Tachiua, confirmed the deaths and told reporters that the two men sustained serious injuries to different parts of their bodies caused by projectiles fired by a firearm. Police in Ribáuè immediately set out in pursuit of the perpetrators as soon as the incident was reported.

Source: Jornal Notícias/@Verdade

Attacks on trains in northern Mozambique increase

Attacks on trains in the Nacala corridor in northern Mozambique are multiplying, with authorities claiming that Renamo is responsible for the assaults undermining the flow of people and goods.

Two attacks on trains have been reported in less than two weeks, resulting in material damage and slight injuries. The first occurred on 3 October in Cuamba district, and the second five days later in the northern province of Nampula.

Many passengers are afraid of taking the train because of the attacks. One such is Salvador Manuel, who lives in Lichinga and doesn’t feel that it is safe for him to visit his relatives in the north, “I cannot go visit my family in Nampula because of these train attacks, and I have no other way of getting there”.

The flag’s hammer to silence the guns:

Celeste Simão, executive secretary of the Mozambique Workers’ Organization (OTM) in Niassa Province, says that the attacks on the northern development corridor are worrying, and that it is the population of the province and the region who are paying the price.

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Like others, she wants an end to the war. “Niassa is far away from the other provinces. We have no industries, and our survival depends on Nacala, on Pemba. So we want the unconditional silencing of the guns. If the Mozambique flag has a hammer on it, we want that hammer beating the guns into silence”.

The Mozambican authorities accuse Renamo of being behind the ambushes and attacks in the centre and north of the country, including the assaults on the railways of the Nacala corridor.

However, police in Niassa say that the situation has returned to normal. According to spokesman Alves Mate, the security of locomotives has been upgraded. “At the moment, the public order and safety situation on site is stabilised, and the Defence and Security Forces are on the ground to apprehend the individuals responsible”.

Source: Deutsche Welle

Politico-military situation improves in Tete Province

The politico-military situation in Tete Province is considered stable following a brief period of unrest in the first quarter of this year. The unrest in question was attributed to armed Renamo men. In addition to burning people’s houses, armed Renamo men attacked and looted shops and healthcare facilities, resulting in deaths and the subsequent movement of people to safe areas in Malawi.

The first secretary of Frelimo in Tete, Bemane de Sousa, recently said that residents have begun returning to their homes in the regions of Monjo and Ncondedzi in Moatize district, as well as

Chibaene and Chiandame in Tsengo district.

"Midway into the first half of the year the population of Ncondedzi and Chibaene began to return to their homes and they are now engaged in agricultural and livestock production activities”, said de Sousa.


Renamo is a security threat to Zimbabwe

Recently Zimbabweans were alarmed by claims that Renamo is training some misguided Zimbabweans to embark on acts of banditry in their peaceful country. One such individual, identified as Jeff Judahosana, posted video clips on line claiming that he is the commander of a shadowy terrorist group, Smoke That Thunder, which is recruiting Zimbabwean males aged between 20 and 45 years to undergo training by Renamo in Cerra de Gorongosa (Mozambique), with the intention of carrying out acts of banditry against the ZANU-PF government before Christmas.

Judahosana further claimed that his group was offered a military training base in Gorongosa by Renamo. Some Zimbabweans have dismissed the man as a mere hoodlum who is politically posturing and possibly insane, but such dangerous utterances cannot be just dismissed or taken lightly.

In March 2016, Nyanga North MP, Hubert Nyanhongo, told the House of Assembly that Renamo was recruiting Zimbabwean youths for military training. Political tension in Mozambique has resulted in the displacement of many

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Mozambican nationals who are now refugees in neighbouring countries including Zimbabwe. By July 2016 hundreds of refugees were accommodated in Mabuye Village, Chipinge in makeshift tents made from mosquito nets.

The situation at the camp was described as being “pathetic” as there was no clean water and ablution facilities. Children of these refugees are not going to school.

Source: Bulawayo24

CRIME

GRAPH 2: Incident Type per Province

GRAPH 3: Property Types Targetted

The following graphs and map relate to the political and security incidents in Mozambique

from 01/01/2016 to 22/09/2016.

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PRM issue official statement on Maputo shooting incident

Earlier this week, the PRM assured the media that they are working to identify the perpetrators of last Friday’s shooting near the US Embassy, located along Avenida Kenneth Kaunda, which targeted 52-year-old Omar Faruk Ayoob. At the time of the shooting, the victim was travelling with his grandchild, who was not hurt in the ordeal.

Omar Ayoob was rush to hospital on 14 October after being shot in the leg and abdomen in an apparent kidnapping attempt at approximately 10:00hrs. The perpetrators were driving a red Toyota Conquest, a small hatchback model, with South African number plates. Unconfirmed information cited on a local blog suggests that four men carried out the attack on Omar Ayoob.

The blog also draws on similarities between this shooting incident and the one that occurred a few days earlier, killing Jeremias Pondeca (per the blog, both men were allegedly shot with AK-47 type weapons, four perpetrators were involved and a light vehicle was reported as the getaway car in both cases).

According to the PRM, only three bullet casings were found at the scene outside the US Embassy and not seven as originally reported by eyewitnesses, while other witnesses say they heard five gunshots. A stray bullet also hit an embassy vehicle that was parked in the US Embassy premises.

Speaking at his weekly press briefing, the spokesperson for the Maputo PRM, Orlando Mudumane, said that this crime (the shooting of Omar Ayoob) has

created a feeling of insecurity amongst the residents of Maputo. On Friday evening rumours began circulating in the capital that Omar Ayoob had subsequently died as a result of his injuries. These rumours were later found to be untrue. Omar Ayoob is the son of Ayoob Ibraimo Latifo, who was allegedly accused of appropriating goods in Nampula Province in the 80s and later expelled from Mozambique. Ayoob Ibraimo Latifo eventually settled in Portugal, returning to Mozambique following the introduction of multiparty democracy.

Omar Ayoob is the eldest of Ayoob Ibraimo Latifo’s six children. One of Omar Ayoob’s brothers, Momad Khalib Ayoob, was murdered in April 2012 outside a Maputo mosque. The killer, apparently also of Asian origin, drew up to Momad Khalib Ayoob on a motor-bike, and fired three shots, two of which hit his victim.

Momad Ayoob fell victim to the organised crime in which he was deeply involved. Momad Ayoob and his brothers owned the Ayoob Commercial group and several other companies, some of which were said to be “extremely shady”.

Both Momed Ayoob and his brother Macsud have been accused of drug trafficking. A lengthy 2008 report in the weekly paper Zambeze alleged that Momad Ayoob was arrested in Portugal in 1987 for possession of heroin, but managed to escape two years later.

In December 2010 Momad Ayoob was arrested at Matsapha airport (Swaziland) with US$2.7-million in banknotes; he exported the money illegally from Mozambique and said that

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he was taking it to Dubai. The money was confiscated by the Swazi authorities. It has been suggested that the intended recipients of the US$2.7-million were enraged by Momad Ayoob’s blunder, resulting in the subsequent and seemingly ongoing assault on the Ayoob clan.

In August 2012, Momad Ayoob’s 17-year-old niece, Hina Farouk Ayoob, was abducted and subsequently released following the payment of an undisclosed ransom. Momad Ayoob’s widow, Reyma Ayoob, was kidnapped in October 2014, and spent 22 days in captivity before she was released on payment of a ransom.

In April 2014, one of Momad Ayoob’s sons, Bilal Ayoob, was kidnapped, held captive for 10 days, and released when the family paid an unspecified ransom into a bank account in an Asian country.

The Ayoob family owns several companies, one of which, Niza Lda., achieved notoriety in 2010 when the Mozambican Tax Authority ordered the public sale of its goods to pay off a debt of MT27- million (US$8-million at the exchange rate of the time) to the mobile phone company m-Cel. Niza had been selling m-Cel pre-paid phone cards but failed to pay m-Cel.

In the meantime, on Tuesday 18 October, the PRM admitted that there has been no progress in the investigations into the murder of Pondeca, or in the shooting of Omar Ayoob.

Source: Folha de Maputo/O País/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique/Mozambique News Reports & Clippings/Zambeze/Moçambique Para Todos Blog

Police foil kidnap attempt in Maputo

At approximately 21:00hrs on Wednesday 19 October, the Maputo police foiled the attempted abduction of an as-yet undisclosed member of the public.

According to reports, the kidnap attempt was carried out by a gang of four would-be abductors in two vehicles. Reports suggest that the kidnappers used the two vehicles to block the path of the intended victim, at which point they allegedly attempted to remove him/her from the car.

Noticing the presence of a police vehicle patrolling the area along Avenida Hamed Sekou Toure, the kidnappers abandoned their plan and fled, driving erratically. The police attempted to bring one of the two vehicles (a Toyota) to a stop along Avenida 24 de Julho and a car chase ensued.

The occupants of the Toyota began shooting at the police, who returned fire. The driver of the Toyota was shot and subsequently lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a wall on Avenida Agostinho Neto. After hitting the wall, the car burst into flames. The driver died on scene.

Two individuals carrying AKM-type weapons were seriously injured in the exchange of fire, with two more escaping in the second vehicle.

One of the criminals shot and arrested is thought to be a Zimbabwean citizen wanted by the police for his involvement in other kidnappings in Maputo.

The police are continuing their hunt for the remaining members of the gang.

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According to eyewitnesses, the police discovered an unspecified number of bags in the vehicle, however, the contents of the bags were not disclosed to the media.

The Commander of the PRM in Maputo City, Bernardino Rafael, told the press that although investigations are still underway, police are certain that the intended kidnap victim wasn’t an ordinary citizen. “This [the would-be victim] is not just any driver, but at this time we are working to clarify this case and to find the two criminals who ran away to hold them accountable”, he said.

Source: Folha de Maputo/Jornal Notícias

Traditional healer arrested for holding 22 patients hostage

A traditional healer was recently arrested by the PRM in Mulevala district (Zambézia Province) after he was accused of holding his 22 patients hostage on his property. According to reports, the 22 patients went to the healer’s house in search of treatment for various ailments, but instead of helping his patients, the man kept them hostage in his home.

The healer is also accused of attempting to marry one of the hostages who is said to be just 16 years old. The victims were made to sleep in two separate cabins on the perpetrator’s property. Some of the victims had been held for over a month before the police arrested their captor.

According to the victims, the healer had told them that they could not return home until they were healed.

Source: @Verdade

Man arrested for holding his employer hostage

Twenty-year-old Zacarias Luciano was recently arrested for holding his 43-year-old employer hostage for four hours. The incident took place in his employer home, located in the Rua Capitão Montanha, Maquinino neighbourhood, Beira (Sofala Province).

Taking advantage of his position as a domestic worker, Luciano allegedly gagged his employer (identified as a female of Indian origin) with his handkerchief and demanded an unspecified sum of money in exchange for her freedom. Luciano confessed to the crime and said he had intended to steal some money and five mobile phones.

“I was thinking of how to steal money. Once the boss sent me to sweep the room and I saw a wad of notes, but I left it. In conversations with friends, I expressed concern that my bosses did not pay me enough. They told me I should steal so as to be able to travel back to my homeland (Maganja da Costa, in Zambézia Province), so I did. Unfortunately, the plan did not go well”, he said. The victim said that, after being tied up, she managed to escape to the bathroom with a cell phone, where she immediately contacted the police.

“I had all the keys and was hiding when I heard the firemen breaking down the door. I was arrested trying to escape through a window. I repent now, and now must face the authorities. But I swear that my intention was not to kill. I just wanted the money and mobile phones”, the detainee said.

Source: Diário de Moçambique

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Man arrested for raping a minor in Gaza Province

A 29-year-old man was recently arrested by the authorities of Bilene (Gaza Province) on charges of raping an eight-year-old child. According to reports, the man took advantage of the absence of the victim’s parents. The victim is receiving medical treatment at a local health facility in the district. According to the spokesperson for the Provincial Police Command, Jeremias Langa, the PRM is concerned with the number of recorded child rape cases in the province.


Citizen lynched to death in Beira

On Monday 17 October, the charred body of an unidentified male (approximately 25-years-old) was discovered near a dumpster in the 14th bairro, Nhaconjo Beira (Sofala Province). The deceased had been lynched to death by an angry mob for allegedly being part of a criminal gang.

The police told reporters that they had no clues as to who was directly involved in the lynch mob. The deceased was physically assaulted before being restrained and set on fire using car tires and dry grass.

According to @Verdade, this is the third victim of vigilante mob justice in the immediate area since the start of the year. Unconfirmed information suggests that lynching is particularly common in the provinces of Maputo, Sofala, Manica, Zambézia and Nampula, however, cases often go unreported.

Source: @Verdade/Folha de Maputo

Unidentified man murdered in Marracuene

The body of an unidentified individual thought to be over 30 years old was found on the morning of Thursday 20 October in Marracuene’s Agostinho Neto neighbourhood (Maputo Province). The body bore signs of torture and multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses who found the body near the Michafuntene Cemetery told @Verdade that they do not know the victim, but they believed that he had been murdered at approximately 23:00hrs on Wednesday 19 October. Several bullet casings were found at the scene.

Residents in the area said they heard more than 10 shots, and some claimed to have seen a car, but they could not identify its make or registration number.

“There is a lack of street lighting in this area which facilitates these frequent assaults”, one woman said.

Another witness told @Verdade that he was woken up by the shots. “I thought they were bandits storming a house and was afraid, because we get robbed all the time around here. But the shooting didn’t stop, so then I thought it was an exchange of fire between the police and the bandits”.

Another resident said he thought a vehicle leaving the scene at high speed and probably carrying the alleged assassins was blue in colour. “They turned the car lights on. I don’t know what was it that they wanted to see, but it meant I could see a little of what was going on, and the colour of the car”.

Source: @Verdade

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Twenty-nine traffic officers dismissed for extortion

Twenty-nine officers of the Traffic Police in the city of Maputo were recently dismissed from their posts due to deviant behaviour. The majority of those dismissed were linked to cases of extortion and bribery.

According to the Commander of the PRM in Maputo City, Bernardino Rafael, the 29 officers failed to carry out their duties on the capitals roads, opting instead for corrupt practices at the detriment of motorists while tarnishing the image of the police.

Disciplinary hearings will be conducted and the dismissed officers have already been replaced.


Ombudsman paints grim picture of Mozambican prisons, police cells

Mozambican jails and police cells are a threat to the lives and health of those held prisoner there – that is a clear warning from the annual report from the country’s Ombudsman, José Abudo, given on Thursday 20 October to the National Assembly.

In the most damning section of his report, Abudo says that all the prisons and police cells he visited in the period covered by the report (April 2015 to March 2016) had serious physical problems, including leaking roofs, lack of ventilation, and toilets where the flush does not work.

In the prison in the northern city of Lichinga, the prisoners are kept indoors 24 hours a day, because the prison wall is so low that escapes are feared. With

no exposure to sunlight, the prisoners are in danger of vitamin D deficiency which could weaken their bones and prevent blood from clotting, Abudo pointed out.

In several police cells visited in Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Tete provinces, the floors on which the prisoners are obliged to sleep become soaked on rainy days.

All the prisons Abudo visited were overcrowded. The Inhambane provincial prison, with the capacity to hold 80 inmates, contained 400 – this, Abudo said, “contributes greatly to the spread of infectious and contagious diseases, particularly where there is no separation between sick and healthy prisoners”.

Although the problem has been mentioned before, Abudo found several cases where mentally ill people had been thrown into jail, instead of being sent to institutions that could treat their health problems.

While prisoners held in jails run by the prison services (SERNAP), subordinate to the Justice Ministry, received meals regularly, in all the police cells he visited Abudo found that the police were not giving prisoners any food, on the grounds that this was not covered by the police budget. In some cases, individual policemen bought food from their own wages to prevent prisoners from starving to death.

Abudo pointed out that all prisoners, regardless of whether they were held by SERNAP or by the police, have the same rights, and he recommended that the budget for the police should include a line for prisoners’ food.

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In Tete provincial prison, Abudo found two prisoners who had been shot in the leg by policemen when they were already under arrest, controlled and handcuffed. This discovery led to criminal proceedings against the three policemen involved.

Among the worst abuses were cases where prisoners were still in jail after serving their sentences. Abudo found six prisoners in the Nampula Provincial Prison who had not been released merely because the City Court (within walking distance of the prison) had not issued release warrants.

There were similar situations in Memba district and Tete City. For Abudo, such cases were “extremely serious, since they call into question the fundamental rights of citizens”.

Abudo complained that his office still has no premises of its own, and is operating out of rented premises that are too cramped to allow him to recruit more staff. Plans to build new premises came to nothing when Maputo City Council did not make space available.

Some of the matters pursued by Abudo concerned the day to day operations of the public administration. He found that many public officials are still not wearing the supposedly obligatory name badges, and are not signing the attendance register. Their superiors do not mark them as absent, and thus they are presumably still drawing their wages.

“There is too much impunity for staff who violate their duties”, said Abudo.


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HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND NGO’S

Disaster risk reduction project launched in Mozambique

On Thursday 13 October, the NGO World Vision Mozambique and the World Bank launched a project for disaster risk reduction evaluated at more than US$580,000.

The project, launched in Gaza Province by the organisation’s National Director Graham Strong and the Gaza governor Stella Zeca, is aimed at strengthening local communities by teaching them various skills that will help them better cope with disasters.

“Mozambique is a country vulnerable to natural disasters, our province in particular is frequently hit by disasters every year. That’s the reason why this project is welcomed so much”, said Governor Zeca.

The governor appealed to all the participants – among which were technicians from different services including the Institute for Natural Disaster Management – to work with the community in making use of the traditional knowledge passed down by community leaders and combine this with scientific knowledge in order to achieve success in mitigating disasters.

The project, which includes teaching the community how to adapt to climate change, will be implemented for a period of two years.

“We want to thank the World Bank for allocating money to this project and we expect it will benefit everyone especially our children”, said Strong.

Three districts out of 15 that compose Gaza Province will benefit from the project.

Gaza Province is still struggling to cope with the effects of the droughts. World Vision has distributed seeds and food vouchers, and opened and rehabilitated boreholes to assist the 1.5-million people affected by food insecurity as a result of the drought.

Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh

More than 10-million Mozambicans living with chronic malnutrition since 2008

Sunday 16 October was World Food Day, a fitting time to remark that more than 10-million Mozambicans have been living with chronic malnutrition since 2008, mostly young women and children under five years of age living in rural areas.

Last week, President Filipe Nyusi, who has promised that adequate food would not be a privilege, posed the question: how could one speed up agricultural production? But academics and farmers know that there are no quick ways to produce food, especially with the challenges that Mozambique has not been able to overcome in its 41 years of independence, coupled with climate change.

‘The Climate is Changing, and Agriculture and Food is too’ was the theme chosen this year by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in order to “draw attention to the fact that we live in a period in which climate change is a

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reality and that agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries sectors are seriously affected”.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday 12 October, Castro Camarada, FAO representative in Mozambique, explained that “the impacts of climate change usually affect the poorest and most vulnerable”.

Of Mozambique’s 26.4-million inhabitants, the worst affected are 16.1-million farmers who practice subsistence and low profitability agriculture because of limited or zero access to agricultural extension services and improved inputs.

The latest agro-livestock census shows that food production is concentrated in northern Mozambique, although ironically, according to the Ministry of Health, “chronic malnutrition is more acute in the provinces of Cabo Delgado (54.54%), Nampula (50.1%) and Tete (50.7%), although all provinces have above acceptable levels (above 20%)”.

Zero hunger in Africa by 2025:

According to health authorities, of the more than 10-million undernourished Mozambicans, 4.7-million are young women of reproductive age and 3.8-million are children under six years old.

Due to the complexity of the public health problem, a multi-sectoral action plan was launched in 2011, although official statistics suggest that little progress has been achieved.

“The work to combat food insecurity and chronic malnutrition in Mozambique is ongoing and long-term. Chronic malnutrition affecting children from zero to five years of age is extremely

complex. We have very few examples where it was fought very quickly, for that implies several things, not only the nutritional component but also health, sanitation and water elements”, Camarada said.

According to Camarada, the FAO expects “to achieve zero hunger in Africa by 2025 and globally by 2030”.

Basic food basket recommended by the Ministry of Health to cost between MT10,000 and MT15,000:

Contrary to what was believed, chronic malnutrition is gaining ground in urban areas, particularly in Maputo and Matola, perhaps a combination of the higher cost of living and the lack of employment opportunities.

The Ministry of Health recommends that individuals consume three-kilograms of rice, 9.1-kilograms of maize flour, two-kilograms of dry beans, 0.5-kilograms of peanuts, 3.5-kilograms of dried fish, 0.5 litres oil, 1.2-kilograms of sugar, one-kilogram of salt, 3.4-kilograms of green leaves and 3.6-kilograms of seasonal fruits per month.

For a family of five this would cost between MT10,000 and MT15,000 per month, but the minimum wages this year were increased to just MT3,298 for workers in the agricultural sector, and MT8,750 for Mozambicans working in banks and insurance companies.

It is necessary to review the State’s role in rural development and agriculture:

“There are several government strategies related to food and nutrition security. However, there is no government integrated, coherent and

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effectively implemented strategy to address climate change”, a book by the Rural Observatory of Mozambique (OMR) entitled Challenges for Food Security and Nutrition in Mozambique claims.

The publication, by academics João Carrilho, Mariam Abbas, António Júnior, José Chidassicua and João Mosca, suggests that in the medium-term, “the government should redefine its role in rural and agricultural development, moving away from the paradigm of a “minimal state” in order to correct the distortions in production and markets that affect the economy as a whole, particularly the performance of small yielders.

“Macro-economic management, particularly of the instruments with the greatest impact on agriculture and the rural context (exchange rates, credit, currency supply, budgets and investment), should be co-ordinated amongst them to ensure that policies, strategies and goals of the agricultural sector are implemented and achieved.

“Adequate resources should be allocated for the review of the legal and institutional framework of the relevant institutions responsible for enforcing the standards and procedures that specifically target the food system.

“Public policies must be stable, requiring organic constancy of the institutions and mandates, their leaders and technical staff and, above all, requiring strategies to guide the implementation and also guarantees on allocation of resources.

“Existing agricultural development models (family sector, agri-business, subcontracting, ‘emerging farmers’,

etc.), must find functionalities among them to allow the involvement of all, as well as the sharing of benefits.”

The book further suggests that in the medium- and long-term, “it is necessary to review the State’s role in rural development and agriculture, as well as the public and agrarian policies so that they neither produce conflicting effects nor reverse policy decisions.

The economic model requires adjustment in order to create more endogenous processes, by exploiting natural resources and local knowledge for an inclusive processes and participatory democracy”.

Source: @Verdade

Migration from countryside hinders urban management

On Wednesday 12 October, the Minister of State Administration, Carmelita Namashulua, warned that the migratory flow of people from the countryside to the cities is hindering urban management in Mozambique.

Speaking at the opening in Maputo of the First National Urban Forum, attended by mayors of Mozambican municipalities, as well as representatives of private business and civil society, Minister Namashulua said that urbanisation had speeded up as a result of the war that raged in Mozambique throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

In a short space of time, the urban population grew by 26%, and the urban administration proved unable to cope with this challenge. “This situation caused a rapid increase in informal

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settlements, greater pressure on basic services, such as health, water and sanitation, and education; and phenomena such as unemployment and crime emerged”.

In addition, Mozambique is highly vulnerable to natural disasters, Minister Namashulua said. Disasters (such as floods and cyclones) are responsible for the loss of around 2% of gross national product per year. The minister stressed that municipalities need to improve their infrastructures in order to reduce the likely damage from disasters, particularly in the light of climate change, which will further increase the country’s vulnerability.

“Urban resilience must be seen as a question that goes beyond controlling the risk of natural disasters”, she said. “We need to think of it as a question of the sustainability of our cities and of all the social, economic and political systems that exist within them. We must promote urban growth that does not involve environmental damage”.

Minister Namashulua recognised that the municipalities are seriously short of money. Their weak capacity to raise their own taxes means that they depend overwhelmingly on funds from the central government. She said that 77% of the municipalities’ running costs depends on transfers from the government.

Tagir Carimo, the mayor of Pemba, and the chairperson of the Association of Municipalities, also pointed to the pressures caused by rapid urban population growth.

“About 32% of the Mozambican population lives in the urban areas, with

an annual growth rate of 3.3%”, he said. “This pressure on the cities dictates the need to rethink the organisation of urban spaces as a whole”.

The governor of Maputo City, Iolanda Cintura, struck an optimistic note, claiming that: “with the implementation of the municipalities we have managed to orient our institutions towards the active organisation of citizens in solving the typical problems of our cities, promoting local development and improving the provision of services in the framework of consolidating peace, national unity and the fight against urban poverty”.

She said that the National Urban Forum is a unique space for consultation and reflection about urbanisation in Mozambique, which should culminate in the effective implementation of municipal and urban development policies.


Human Rights League accuses companies of trampling basic rights in Mozambique

The president of the Mozambican Human Rights League (Liga Moçambicana dos Direitos Humanos, LDH), Alice Mabota, has said that large investments in the exploitation of natural resources in Mozambique have led to egregious abuses of the most basic human rights.

Speaking on Monday 17 October, at the Second National Conference on Business and Human Rights in Mozambique, Mabota denounced corporations’ violations of ethical

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principles in relation to communities. “The favourable tax regime for corporations and the incipient vision of the integration of human rights in corporate and business strategies and operations are two of the factors that have led to abuses of the most basic human rights, including those of communities, workers and consumers themselves”, said Mabota.

At the same meeting, the resident co-ordinator of the United Nations in Mozambique, Marcia de Castro, maintained out that business investment is reducing the risk to human rights and damage to the moral, health and environmental order, and is promoting sustainable development.

“The guiding principles on business and human rights consists of three pillars: the state’s duty to protect its citizens against violations of human rights; corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and access to effective remedy for victims of human rights abuses linked to companies”, de Castro said.

The Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, Isaac Chande, spoke about the importance of an environment of harmony and good will between business and investments and respect for human rights.

“Such an environment is essential to a healthy balance between economic growth and the welfare and happiness of the citizens, contributing to the development of the country”, Minster Chande said.

Source: Lusa

Maputo students miss classes as police clamp down on school transport

On Friday 14 October Maputo municipal police immobilised several school transport vehicles for various irregularities, including the number of passengers they were carrying. The result is that pupils of various schools in the capital missed classes without their school directors or parents knowing why.

Following on from Friday’s crackdown, which resulted in the seizure of 13 vehicles, the authorities have promised to intensify enforcement of school transport regulations and extend the radius to the entire metropolis.

The inspection aims to put an end the fashion for tinted windows and loud music which, the PRM say, endangers the physical safety of children transported in some of the mini-buses.

Police spokesperson Lazaro Valoi said that the intention was not to damage the service, which was useful and necessary, but to address deficiencies that could result in tragedies.

Source: TVM/Notícias

“Overcome obstacles, put women in their due position” – Isaura Nyusi

On Saturday 15 October, Mozambique’s First Lady, Isaura Nyusi, urged Mozambican women, particularly those living in the countryside, to devote themselves to selfless work in order to participate in the country’s development.

She was speaking in the district of Magude (Maputo Province) at a

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ceremony marking the International Day of Rural Women.

She recognised the difficulties rural women face in obtaining opportunities to contribute to the economy. These include illiteracy, limited access to financial knowledge, child marriages and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, all of which undermine women’s involvement in development related activities.

Other severe challenges facing women, she added, were the high rate of maternal mortality, domestic violence, and difficulties in obtaining treatment for such diseases as breast and cervical cancer.

But Isaura Nyusi was confident that all of these challenges can be met and overcome. “Can all of us together not overcome the obstacles, and put women in their due position?” she asked.

She noted that an estimated 87% of the country’s 13-million women are farmers. But their activities are mostly limited to small to medium sized plots of land. She added that only some 15% of the country’s arable land is currently under cultivation.

“There is still much potential to be exploited”, she said, “and so we’re asking for more involvement by women”.

A representative of the Mozambican branch of UN Women was optimistic that, with activities tending to strengthen the presence of women in key development sectors, the sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the 2015-30 period can be achieved. That, however, depended on enhancing the empowerment of women.

Maputo Provincial Governor Raimundo Diomba pledged that the government will do all in its power to grant land titles (DUATs) to rural women “so that they are able to produce more”.


Office of the First Lady: new director to set priorities, identify partnerships for social projects

Clearly defining priorities in order to improve the performance of the First Lady Isaura Nyusi’s Office is one of the challenges being taken up the new Executive Director, Anabela Pinho, who took office on Monday 17 October.

Speaking at the inauguration, President Filipe Nyusi said the outlining of priorities would bring more credibility to the Office and some of the projects already underway.

Among these were Adult Literacy projects and support programmes, the National Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and the First Ladies Health Initiative on Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer, among other actions whose impact in the lives of beneficiaries, their families and the community in general had been very positive.

“The viability of some of these projects requires human, material and financial resources. It is up to you, director, in co-ordination with your collaborators, to identify the partnerships necessary for the objectives that dictated their design and materialisation to be achieved”, President Nyusi said.

He added that it should also be Pinho’s mission to create opportunities for her

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skills and experience to be shared with openness and good sense, always keeping in mind the services provided to citizens to whom the Office’s activities are directed.

“Concentrating on the priorities listed here, with programming instruments as a guiding compass, and investing in the potential of your collective work, we are sure the desired results will be achieved and will contribute to improving the living conditions of our people”, the head of state said, reiterating his conviction that Pinho adequately met the requirements necessary to be successful in her new role.

Before being named director of the First Lady’s Office, Pinho served as president of the board of directors of the Mozambique Stock Exchange (BMVM).

Source: Notícias

Will growing female political muscle drive change in African nations?

If you could choose any country in the world to live in as a woman in the year 2016, Mozambique might not top your list. Nearly one in every two girls in the southern African country is married before the age of 18 and more women die in childbirth there than in almost any other country in the world.

Neither would you likely choose Rwanda, where only 41% of girls will finish secondary school, or Uganda, which has nearly 40 times the rate of teenage pregnancy as Switzerland or The Netherlands.

But by at least one measure of gender equality, these are the world’s undisputed leaders. Each has a national

legislature that is more than one-third female, outpacing the United States, Canada, most of Europe, and the vast majority of everyone else, too. Rwanda, indeed, has a greater percentage of women in its parliament – 64% – than any other country on earth, and globally, nine of the 25 countries with the most women in their parliaments are in sub-Saharan Africa.

“That’s important symbolically, but it’s also women politicians who put gender equality issues on the legislative agenda”, says Drude Dahlerup, a Danish-Swedish academic who founded The Quota Project, a database of parliamentary gender quotas around the world. “Over the past two decades, Africa has been a huge success story in this regard”.

But if growing gender parity in politics is helping African women put equality on the docket, it’s far from a social cure-all. In many countries, a yawning gap between women’s political representation and basic measures of their quality of life – how many girls finish school, how many mothers die in childbirth, the prevalence of child marriage – also raises important questions about the limits of female political muscle in transforming a society.

“The representation of women is one thing, having the policies to make change is another, and implementing those policies is something else still”, says Nahashon Aluoka, the east and southern Africa advocacy and campaigns director for the NGO Save The Children, which on 11 October released its ranking of the world’s best – and worst – places in the world to be a girl.

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The list takes into account five factors – early pregnancy and child marriage rates, girls’ secondary school completion rates, maternal death ratios, and the representation of women in government. Like nearly every global quality of life ranking, the top of the class is blonde and blue-eyed, the same cluster of overachieving Scandinavian states that consistently outpace the rest of the world in health, education, gender equality, and nearly every other measure of good societal health.

Sweden is ranked first, followed by Finland and Norway. On the other end, seemingly consigned by history and poverty to be the planet’s chronic underachievers, huddle an equally familiar group of African countries – Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Somalia.

But as Dahlerup notes, when looking for global models of societies attempting to rapidly transform their gender status quo, many of the world’s worst performers on the Save the Children ranking become its leaders. In particular, post-conflict societies – of which Africa has an abundance – are often eager to rebuild their countries on equal footing, and pass aggressive policies designed to accelerate that task.

When it comes to gender parity in legislatures, for instance, Africa as a region has more than doubled the percentage of women in its parliaments in the past 20 years, from about 10% in January 1997 to 23% in August of this year, according to data from the Inter Parliamentary Union.

“It took 100 years for Scandinavian countries” to get where they are now in

terms of political representation of women, Dahlerup says. In many African countries, on the other hand, the change has happened in two decades or less. Sometimes all it took was a single election. Senegal, for instance, jumped from a parliament that was 22.7% women to one that was 42.7% women in 2012, and Namibia’s legislature went from 25.6% women before the 2015 election to 41.3% afterward. “Scandinavia is certainly not the world’s only model anymore”, she says.

In Africa, as in much of the world, that progress has come on the back of an often-controversial strategy – quota systems, many of them implemented in the aftermath of wars or civil conflicts to fast-track gender equity. But even quotas come in a wide variety of forms, from designated seats for women –as Uganda and Tanzania have – to Namibia’s novel “zebra system”, in which the ruling party alternates between men and women on its party electoral lists and in the ruling of its ministries (meaning a female minister will always have a male deputy minister and vice versa).

But one crucial unknown with the new wave of quota systems in Africa is how well they will work in the long-term, both in terms of making legislatures more equitable and distributing gains to women in a society more widely.

For now, however, many believe the very presence of women at the top can shape the imagination of a country – and in particular of its girls.

“Patriarchal tendencies are still in existence”, says Jennifer van den Heever, a Namibian MP and the first female chairwoman of the opposition

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DTA party. But the proliferation of women in high places – deputy prime minister, deputy speaker of parliament, committee leaders – is starting to change the shape of the institution.

“It’s pulling the scales to balance”, she says.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor/Ryan Lenora Brown

WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Magistrates receive training on biodiversity protection

Approximately 30 magistrates are receiving training relating to the application of the law on conservation and the legal procedures to combat commercial poaching and the illegal trade in the country’s flora and fauna.

The two-week course, which is being held in Maputo, has been organised by the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF)

in partnership with the Attorney-General and aims to equip the magistrates with an understanding of the best way to implement the law.

Speaking at the opening of the course, Assistant Attorney-General Angelo Matusse called on those attending the event to take account of the seriousness of the issue given the importance of conserving national biodiversity.

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He stressed that: “this training is not a trivial exercise … and whose result will not end up as just a report. Our expectation is that this training will serve as a launchpad for a relentless offensive against these crimes”.

The Director of WWF Mozambique, Anabela Rodrigues, said that the organisers saw the need to train staff in the judiciary for a more effective and efficient implementation of the law on conservation.

She added, “a country that can take care of its fauna in an effective manner is a country that proves that it is organised, that proves that there is order in the country, because it is able to prevent its borders from being vulnerable to criminal gangs”.

Earlier this month, Vietnamese customs in the port of Ho Chi Minh City seized about two-tons of ivory hidden in a shipment of timber from Mozambique.

Despite the authorities seizing the ivory, the two countries have been threatened with trade sanctions if they do not take action against the illegal trade in endangered species (specifically rhino horn). The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Johannesburg (South Africa) agreed to send a mission to Mozambique and Vietnam to assess the situation on the ground as key countries implicated in rhino trafficking. Based on the results of those missions, there may be a recommendation for trade sanctions if significant progress is not made.

On Monday 17 October, the Attorney-General’s Office advocated greater co-

operation with Vietnam in the fight against poaching, noting that the two countries risk sanctions if they fail to combat crimes against fauna and flora.

Matusse said that Mozambique and Vietnam must do more in the fight against the smuggling of ivory and rhinoceros horns.

“One of the things we have to focus on is co-operation between Mozambique and Vietnam, one cannot continue to think that we can combat poaching by only focusing attention on a single country”, Matusse said.

Stressing that the fight against poaching involves closer international collaboration, Matusse pointed out that the Mozambican and Vietnamese authorities will ensure that the people behind the recent two-ton shipment of ivory are brought to justice.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique/Folha de Maputo

Eleven containers of logs seized in Nacala

The Mozambican customs authorities have seized 11 containers of logs that were about to be exported illegally to China from the northern port of Nacala.

The owners of the logs declared that the containers were full of raw cotton. Apparently, nobody at the port bothered to check, and the containers did not pass through the electronic scanners – for eight of the containers had been loaded before the fraudulent operation was discovered.

The logs are of red sandalwood, a protected species, and the containers, loaded with 480 cubic metres of logs,

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were transported to Nacala by rail. According to the customs service, the timber was being smuggled, not from Mozambique, but from Malawi.

The matter is now in the hands of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Customs Tribunal, which will decide the final destination of the logs.

This is the fifth seizure so far this year in Nacala of goods that were being smuggled out of the country under false pretences.

The first seizure was of Mozambican cashew nuts. To avoid the payment of the surtax charged on exported raw nuts, the owner had declared that the cargo consisted of beans.


Anti-poaching rangers attacked in Mozambique

Attacked with an axe, stabbed with a broken bottle: these are the horrific injuries inflicted on anti-poaching rangers in Mozambique.

An anti-poaching patrol was attacked, allegedly by 60 people as they tried to take two rhino poaching suspects to a police station near the Greater Lebombo Conservancy, the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF) said on Monday 17 October.

IAPF founder Damien Mander said a township in the area was “known for harbouring rhino poaching syndicates”.

Now out of intensive care, the rangers were lucky to escape with their lives. The attack happened earlier this month, although authorities had not publicly

confirmed it. This was the first time details had been made public.

Mander said the attack filled him with “deep anger”. The rangers had a police escort through the township. When they came under attack, the officers apparently fled.

One of the three rangers was knocked unconscious. Another was struck in the head with an axe and stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle.

An off-duty police officer protected the men and likely saved their lives. They were airlifted to safety. All three are out of danger, but would take some time to recover fully, Mander said.

Many syndicates looking to target rhinos in the Kruger National Park are known to operate from Mozambique. To get to the southern part of the park, poachers must cross the 220,000-hectare Greater Lebombo Conservancy. This put the conservancy on the front-line of the fight to save the world’s rhinos.

“We’re not just on the front-line of the rhino wars, we are behind enemy lines”, Mander told News24 in a telephonic interview.

In June, the foundation reported that a gang with suspected links to rhino poaching raided a village near the conservancy, targeting the homes of those working in a local anti-poaching team. A number of scouts were injured.

Mander said they had had significant impact in reducing the flow of poachers coming through the area to the Kruger National Park. “We’ve taken business away from organised crime”.

Source: News24

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Justice for rhinos – when will it come?

Nothing prepared me for the venom in his eyes. While not directed at me, nobody in the courtroom could escape the anger seeping from his pores.

Through a twist of fate, I was in KwaZulu-Natal, a province on the eastern coast of South Africa, on 19 September, the day the trial of a suspected leader of a rhino horn trafficking syndicate, Dumisani Gwala, and his two co-conspirators was scheduled to begin.

Arrested on 18 December 2014, after a weeks-long sting, he reportedly is “the leader of KZN’s biggest rhino-poaching syndicate”, with about 80% of illicit horns in the province passing through his hands.

“He is brutal and rules by the gun. He is often the middleman between the poachers and buyers, but he also organises poachers in Mozambique and locally and provides them with weapons”, Barend Lottering, head of the private, regional Nyathi Anti-Poaching Unit told South Africa’s Sunday Tribune at the time of the arrest.

Out on bail of reportedly ZAR10,000 (roughly US$865), Gwala’s trial had already been postponed several times. The most recent was a couple weeks earlier, when Gwala changed his defence counsel in what I learned is a common delaying tactic.

When I entered the courtroom at the Ngwelezane Magistrate’s Court near Empangeni, I didn’t know if, this time, the trial would proceed. It didn’t.

In a nutshell, here’s what happened. At the stated 9:00hrs start time, Gwala’s latest attorney was nowhere to be found. After 15 minutes of disarray, the hearing started with the defence attorney of the two co-defendants withdrawing and a request for another postponement because of this change in representation.

At around 9:30hrs, Gwala’s attorney showed up. She offered an apology but no explanation for her tardiness. Then she too asked for a postponement, saying she was unprepared and needed more time – a repeat of her request from two weeks earlier, when she also asked for more time.

Community seeks justice for rhinos:

As I followed the legal manoeuvrings, I looked around the simple courtroom. It was packed. About 40 members of the Zulu community, both men and women, filled the three rows of seats in the stuffy room. They wanted justice for their rhinos.

“The rhino, Ubhejane, is a respected animal in Zulu society”, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Inkosi (Chief) of the Buthelezi Clan and head of the Inkatha Freedom Party, later explained to me. “I cannot understand South Africans who poach rhino. Our own people, destroying our own heritage. It breaks my heart”.

Buthelezi has fought to protect South Africa’s rhino population since the 1970s. At that time fewer than 500 white rhinos remained, and he worked closely with conservationist Ian Player to grow their numbers. He also withstood pressure from the National Party

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government to turn Zululand’s game reserves into agricultural holdings.

“I said then, and I still maintain, that the game reserves of KwaZulu-Natal are our heritage, and as such are beyond price”.

Also in the courtroom was Jamie Joseph, activist and founder of Saving the Wild, who has been outspoken against Gwala and corruption in the justice system. “There have been several cases against Gwala before, but cases have either been withdrawn or the dockets have suspiciously gone missing”, she said on her Facebook page. “If Gwala is convicted this will be the first time that the South African government finally locks up an alleged syndicate boss”.

But this was not the day.

The prosecutor lamented the numerous postponements. “The delays caused by several changes of attorneys is not in the interest of justice”, he argued.

The magistrate agreed. “This cannot be allowed to go on and on”, he said. He reset the trial for 21 October.

Poaching rises in ‘soft’ targets:

Poaching in KwaZulu-Natal is on the rise. As anti-poaching efforts have had success in South Africa’s number one target – Kruger National Park – poachers move to softer ones such as KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

As of 17 October, 126 rhinos have been killed in the province, according to Musa Mntambo, communications services manager for the provincial government environment authority, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. That’s more than a 30%

increase over the same period last year, when the province lost 96 rhinos.

The vast majority (about 70%) of those come from the provincial Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park – which is where I headed after the trial.

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park has a long history. It was the royal hunting ground of Zulu King Shaka and other kings, and it has a high concentration of rhinos.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has put much effort into its anti-poaching initiatives – including drones, redeployment of additional field rangers from non-rhino reserves, and patrolling along the more than 11-mile corridor road. So far this year arrests have almost doubled, to 98, and 51 firearms have been confiscated, compared to 48 arrests and 25 firearms seized over the same period in 2015.

But security is challenging. The area is remote and covers some 370 square miles. Access is controlled at a manned entrance gate, where we filled out some paperwork. The forms would be crosschecked at our exit. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would it take to circumvent the procedures.

There have long been whispers of complicity of insiders throughout the chain – from safari guides and rangers to those in the legal system – and there have been some troubling examples. For instance, last July in Kruger National Park, a regional ranger was arrested for poaching by his own field rangers. Field guides and traffic officers in Kruger too, have been arrested. I thought back to Gwala’s non-trial. After the proceedings had adjourned, he and a policeman appeared to be laughing and chatting outside the courthouse.

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Gunfire:

I stayed in Hluhluwe Game Reserve for several days. On my last night there, 21 September, I heard two separate sets of gunshots. At 22:38hrs I heard about 12 rounds. The shots were sporadic. First three. Then two more. I tried calling reception to notify someone but nobody answered.

Five minutes later I heard three more shots, followed by a burst of four or five more. Then silence. Was one of the rhinos I’d watched grazing earlier that day now lying dead? How many died because of the postponement of Gwala’s trial?

I couldn’t sleep and at 2:35hrs heard two more pops. Happy World Rhino Day, I thought. In the morning I asked the staff at the lodge what had happened. They dismissed my concern – perhaps simply not wanting to alarm a tourist.

“We didn’t hear anything”. “It was probably nothing”. “Maybe some rangers fired a warning shot”.

But it wasn’t. I later learned that on 22 September at least six rhino carcasses were discovered in the reserve. According to Mntambo, two had been killed two to three days earlier. Were there others not yet found?

On Friday 21 October Gwala’s trial will resume. Again, members of the Zulu community intend to be at the courthouse – acting as “family” of the victims. They want justice for their rhinos. But what will happen is anyone’s guess.

Source: Laurel Neme/National Geographic

Illegal wildlife trade used to fund terror groups

The illegal wildlife trade is “big business”.

Thousands of protected animals have been slaughtered and their parts turned into rare ornaments, lucky charms, or even “miracle cures”.

The New Paper’s investigation into this lucrative trade shows that items made from wildlife parts are not only advertised for sale online, but they are also smuggled into Singapore by visiting Thai spiritual masters called ‘arjans’, who claim the amulets and charms possess “magical powers”.

Some experts have even linked the trade to terrorists and organised crime.

Fiachra Kearney, chief executive officer of Global Eye, a counter-trafficking organisation, told The New Paper that: “We live in a truly (global) world where international trade and travel is commonplace...

“The people we tackle are adept at circumventing multiple laws and often hide in the inefficiency of law enforcement in their home countries while conducting serious illegal activities in other nations”.

In an undercover operation in Singapore, agents from Global Eye exposed an arjan known on Facebook as Arjan Pheimrung Wanchanna, who boasted that he could smuggle dead tiger cubs, human foetuses, and skull fragments into the Republic.

It is claimed that these charms bring wealth and protection to their owners. Well-known publications such as Time

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magazine and The Guardian have reported on the links between animal poaching and terror groups, particularly in Africa.

In August 2015, The Guardian reported that National Geographic reporter Bryan Christy had given a fake elephant ivory with an embedded GPS tracking device to traffickers in the Central African Republic.

The fake ivory was tracked north to the headquarters of rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which is headed by Joseph Kony, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

It was later passed on to the Sudanese army in exchange for money or weapons, The Guardian reported.

Christy also interviewed an LRA deserter who said that an armed detachment of the LRA was tasked with killing people, and another with killing elephants.

Estimates vary on how much the illegal wildlife trade is worth every year.

The United Nations Environment Programme’s May 2016 Illegal Trade in Wildlife Fact Sheet puts the figure at about US$213-billion annually.

Despite some animals being hunted to near extinction, criminal networks still gravitate towards the trade because of the high profits.

Kearney said that the issue should not be viewed solely as a wildlife trafficking problem.

He said that: “There are breaches of quarantine, customs and organised

crime laws. They may include elements of serious financial crime and, in certain cases, directly compromise national security.

“So it is not enough to consider these actions only as wildlife and human trafficking, but rather as serious and multi-layered international crimes that must be treated as such”.

The Global Eye probe on Arjan Pheim revealed that he maintains a network across several south-east Asian countries including Singapore.

Arjan Pheim, who is one of many Thai arjans visiting Singapore every year, advertised his business openly on Facebook.

But he will sell highly illegal items such as tiger cubs, human foetuses and fingers only to trusted buyers who are in private chat groups on his WeChat account.

The availability of banned wildlife amulets in Singapore hint at the demand for them, said Kearney.

“The case of this arjan shows there are Singaporeans who buy parts of endangered species and dead human beings”, he said.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has employed a multi-pronged approach in tackling the illegal wildlife trade.

Some measures include working closely with administrators of online forums to post warnings about the possession and sale of illegal wildlife, sharing of information with partner enforcement agencies, investigating all feedback on the illegal wildlife trade, conducting

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regular unannounced checks on retail outlets, and inspecting shipments from high-risk countries.

An AVA spokesperson told The New Paper: “We have zero tolerance on the use of Singapore as a conduit to trade endangered species and their parts.

“Any illegally acquired or imported products that contain or purport to contain endangered species detected will be seized”.

The agency also said it had been collaborating with international and local agencies on border inspections and intelligence gathering.

What you should know about illegal wildlife trade:

The information below was taken from the United Nations Environment Programme’s Illegal Trade in Wildlife Fact Sheet, published in May this year.

Illegal trade in wildlife and natural resources is valued at around US$213-billion annually.

Chimpanzees are now extinct in Gambia, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo.

Poachers in Africa killed at least 1,338 rhinos in 2015.

Rhino poaching in South Africa increased by almost 9,000% between 2007 and 2015 from 13 rhinos killed in 2007 to 1,175 rhinos killed in 2015.

African savanna elephants have declined by 60 per cent in the United Republic of Tanzania and by

50 per cent in Mozambique since 2009.

Approximately two apes were reported seized each week between 2013 and 2015.

About 100,000 African elephants were killed from 2010 to 2012, out of a population estimated at less than 500,000.

According to non-profit foundation Thin Green Line, more than 1,000 park rangers were killed in the line of duty in the last decade.

In the last decade, one-million animals were trafficked, out of which pangolins made up the largest number.

An estimated 170-tons of ivory were illegally exported from Africa between 2009 and 2014.

Source: The New Paper/Asia One

What do Chinese in South Africa think of the ivory trade?

A survey of hundreds at the source shows attitudes shifting, but little sense of personal responsibility.

Ms. Zhu does not seem particularly villainous. In her breezy Johannesburg office, encircled by neat stacks of newspapers, the petite 30-year-old from the southern Chinese province of Fujian is warm, chatty, and disarmingly honest.

A long-time resident of South Africa, she is an active participant in overseas Chinese circles and runs a small Chinese-language daily paper. She’s even attended a conservation event on

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the plight of South Africa’s rhinos, which she described as “quite moving”.

So it came as a surprise when Ms. Zhu readily admitted that she would have no qualms about purchasing elephant tusk or rhinoceros horn – both largely illegal international trades that have devastated Africa’s elephant and rhino populations.

“If you were to offer me ivory or rhino horn at a reasonable price, I might buy it”, said Ms. Zhu, who, like the rest of the respondents, agreed to be interviewed on the condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the subject. “I wouldn’t think much of it. I would just think, ‘I am buying a thing’”. (Ms. Zhu is a pseudonym; she would not give her name due to the potential legal ramifications).

Ms. Zhu’s nonchalance is not unusual among overseas Chinese in South Africa. South Africa is home to the continent’s largest communities of overseas Chinese, and for decades has been a crucial hub in the formal and informal international exchange of both rhino horn and elephant ivory. The involvement of Chinese nationals in the international ivory and rhino horn trades, and by extension in Africa’s poaching crisis, is widely evoked – particularly in criticisms by Western media and NGOs – but little explored.

In early September 2016, with support from global animal welfare NGO Humane Society International, China House, a Chinese-led organisation based in Nairobi which focuses on China-Africa issues, conducted a survey of South Africa’s Chinese population to determine their attitudes towards the trade of ivory and rhino horn.

China House surveyed 428 Chinese residents of Johannesburg – 283 in person, and the rest over Chinese mobile app WeChat – and conducted 23 in-depth interviews. (The names of all survey respondents in this article are pseudonyms). The survey found that as individuals, Chinese are increasingly aware of the harsh realities underpinning the sale of ivory and rhino horn. But they feel removed from complicity, and not interested in taking a stand against it.

To be sure, CITES, an international treaty to protect wildlife signed by 183 countries including China and South Africa, banned international ivory trade in 1989; the international commercial trade in rhino horn was banned in 1977. But illegal trade of both products has continued. Worldwide, somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 elephants are poached each year, a rate that exceeds the elephant birth-rate.

As a result of complex, underground trade networks linking sub-Saharan African savannas with large East Asian markets, Central Africa’s elephant population has been devastated, and Africa’s black rhino population, the majority of which is in South Africa, are also critically endangered.

China plays a major role in this destruction. It’s the largest market for ivory in the world, with 70% or more of all illegal ivory ending up there. (The United States ranks second).

Investigations have identified Chinese intermediaries in sophisticated international trafficking networks and criminal syndicates behind the illegal ivory and rhino horn trades across eastern and southern Africa.

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Demand for elephant ivory has skyrocketed, driven by collectors, investors, and increasingly affluent Chinese consumers. China is also a primary market for rhino horn, which is widely and fallaciously believed to have curative properties for cancer, headaches, and other ailments.

Our survey shows that knowledge of, or personal experience with, the ivory and rhino horn trade remains common among Chinese in South Africa. Only 16% of those surveyed claim to have never witnessed the sale of ivory products in Africa.

“Buying ivory is pretty common, because ivory is loosely regulated”, Mr. Zhang explained. “Around 80% of the people on Tangren Street [a street in Johannesburg’s Chinatown] have all bought ivory products”.

Approximately 54% of respondents stated that “ivory is bought with the intention” of bringing “some, most, or all of it” back to China. (The survey did not ask who exactly did the buying, to avoid asking respondents if they had committed a crime).

While respondents reported comparatively less exposure to the rhino horn trade – 51% of respondents claimed never to have encountered it – in the course of our investigation, one young Chinese shop owner eagerly exhibited rhino horn that he had purchased.

Local sellers target this strong interest, learning a few Chinese words to help advertise their wares in a bustling flea market a few hundred meters from Derrick Avenue, the backbone of Johannesburg’s Chinatown. Traders

surround Chinese-looking people as they enter, shouting, “What do you want? We have xiangya [ivory] and xiniujiao [rhino horn]!”

But times are changing. Only 29% of respondents who have been in South Africa for less than two years reported in-person exposure to the buying or selling of ivory, compared to 51 among those who have resided longer.

A series of outreach campaigns targeting ivory and rhino horn consumers in China, involving figures like NBA star Yao Ming and movie star Jackie Chan, have contributed to a growing awareness within China of the consequences of both trades.

But less attention has been devoted to overseas Chinese in Africa, despite their close proximity to – and involvement in – the trades at their roots. As such, an information gap remains; for example, while 55% of respondents knew that ivory comes from animals that have been killed for that purpose, nearly a quarter of those surveyed in South Africa claimed to believe, erroneously, that ivory is removed without harm, or removed only from elephants that have died of natural causes.

Respondents weren’t naïve about the impact the trades have had on China’s image. In response to an open question about the impact of the ivory trade, nearly half of those who responded commented on how it’s shaped perceptions of China, both within Africa and on the world’s stage. One wrote that the ivory and rhino horn trades mean “others will think that Chinese people do not have any reverence for life”.

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Nevertheless, the large majority of respondents and interviewees made clear they didn’t see consuming ivory or rhino horn as immoral. Despite their relatively close physical proximity to wildlife, Chinese residents of South Africa feel far from it. “This thing, wildlife conservation, for us its still relatively remote, because we have not really had any contact with it”, suggested Mr. Qiao, another long-time South African resident.

Even Ms. Zhu, a Buddhist, said she goes hunting with friends, “on farms owned by white people”. Ms. Zhu insisted she will “just stand on the side and watch. I cannot bear pointing a gun at an animal. But give me a dead animal to do something with; I wouldn’t have any problem with it”.

Her response lays bare the current challenge facing the fight against the trade of ivory and rhino horn. Today, many Chinese in South Africa regularly encounter the forbidden trades, and are increasingly aware of their consequences. But conservation work still seem distant from their lives and culture. To close that gap, further engagement based on an understanding of their shifting worldviews is essential.

Source: Foreign Policy

World body that could protect elephants – decides not to

Earlier this month the nations of the world met to decide on how to deal with the sale of wild animals and their parts. Yes, that is still the relationship we have with them. Highest on many minds was the most acute driving force behind the most talked-about, most widely cared-about conservation issue on Earth at the

moment: how to save elephants. How to stop the bloodshed and precipitous decline of Africa’s elephants due to killing for their tusks.

The nations decided to do almost nothing.

Ivory is about elephants. Elephants that are intelligent and sensitive and social and live with their families and need their mothers. But for many people and many governments, ivory is about “trade”. Sales. Commerce. Enforcement. Money.

International trade in ivory and other “wildlife products” is regulated through a treaty called the CITES. The many nations that abide by this treaty meet every three years to consider new proposals and adjustments. They keep lists. If they put a species on the list called Appendix I, sale of that species across national borders is not allowed.

Twenty-nine African countries went into the recent meeting in Johannesburg (South Africa) wanting a total ban on ivory sales. But South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana – with the largest remaining elephant population of any country – wanted to extend the possibility of selling ivory. During an intense debate Botswana surprised everyone by joining the others in calling for an all-out ban. Even China came out strong. It was looking promising.

Then an amazing thing happened. The European Union, voting as one “member” of CITES but with each of its 28 countries still – nonsensically and disruptively – getting a separately counted vote, came out against the total ban. So did the United States. And so, incredibly, did the World Wildlife Fund.

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WWF’s wants more enforcement toward ending the illegal ivory trade – as if a total ban would not help do that.

Instead of a ban, the CITES nations agreed to tinker around the edges. The procedure for deciding how to let South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe sell ivory was suspended, leaving the countries that want to sell in limbo about how to proceed; they’ll be back.

And all nations were advised to end internal sale of ivory. The recommendation is non-binding. Japan has already said it won’t comply. If you want to look at that glass as half-full, then drink deep. If you care about elephants, then you’ll want something stiffer.

Many conservation organisations who worked hard for elephants have put a positive spin on the outcome, since this is what they got and it’s a little better than nothing. For my part, I’m disgusted – with the dithering, the murky messaging, the politics, the weakness.

If we cannot take a strong stand for elephants – the world’s most beloved and most recognisable creature – is there hope for a better deal between humanity and the living world? Indeed, is there simply even hope for elephants?

I understand there are problems. I understand that humanity’s decision to manage elephants and banish them to reserves and parks requires money.

I understand that expanding farms often come in conflict with elephants and that local people may be more inclined to keep elephants around at all if they can kill some for cash. I understand that elephants will eventually die of old age

and leave tusks worth money. I understand that a ban does not end criminal activity unless there’s enforcement.

I also understand this: whenever anyone is allowed to sell some ivory, there are people ready to kill elephants illegally wherever elephants live. By now everyone should know this in spades.

In the 1980s CITES enacted a legal ivory sales-quota system. It didn’t work. Elephant numbers continued plummeting because continuing to allow selling certain ivory facilitated easy laundering of any ivory. That was Lesson One.

The only thing that has ever worked was a bitterly won worldwide ivory ban, first implemented in 1990. Zero allowed. Ivory prices instantly collapsed. Elephant populations slowly increased. The ivory ban worked. Lesson Two.

But it lasted only until 1999. That year CITES allowed Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to sell 50 metric tons of stockpiled ivory to Japan, calling it a “one-time-sale”. Then China wanted in. In 2008, CITES administrators let China buy stockpiled ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – the second “one-time” sale.

Failure to learn from mistakes is unwise, but failure to learn from success takes true determination.

“Ivory is illegal; don’t buy it” is a clear message to consumers, law enforcers, and governments. “Some ivory is illegal, but some is okay,” creates confusion that offers perfect cover for killing elephants. Giving China some stockpiled ivory opened floodgates to

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laundering illegal tusks. Immediately, poaching surged, condemning tens of thousands of elephants to death while fuelling human bloodshed.

In Kenya, for instance, killing ballooned eightfold from fewer than 50 elephants killed in 2007 to nearly 400 in 2012. Aggressive enforcement has recently brought that number down. But we have very far to go to ensure a future for elephants. From an estimated 10-million elephants in the early 1900s, there are fewer than half that now. And an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 elephants are being killed every year – an elephant every 15 minutes. Today Africa’s elephant population is about 100 fewer than yesterday’s.

All of this robs elephants of course, but people too. In Kenya alone, 300,000

people rely directly on tourism for employment and every tourist comes wanting to see elephants. Poaching for profit is a poverty-maker.

Acutely, an elephant’s problem is ivory. Chronically the problem is shrinking space. Rich or poor, humans seem too much of a good thing. One wonders where this trend of growing human numbers and appetites, afflicting elephants and humans alike, is headed. The smallest slices of any pie get cut at the most crowded tables. Can we afford to value elephants, and human beings, any less than we do? Can we afford not to value them more? I am very fond of civilization, but what’s the plan?

Source: National Geographic/Conservation Action Trust

http://www.focus-africa.org

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HEALTH

Mozambique and Angola among top 20 tuberculosis countries

Mozambique and Angola are among the 20 countries with the highest incidence of tuberculosis in the world, with each estimated to have registered more than 80,000 new cases in 2015, a World Health Organization (WHO) report reveals.

The global report on tuberculosis, published Thursday 14 October by the WHO, estimates that 2015 saw 10.4-million new cases of tuberculosis in the world and warns that, although the incidence and mortality are falling, countries need to gear up to eliminate the disease.

Based on data collected from 202 countries and territories representing over 99% of the world population and global TB cases, the report highlights the 20 countries with the highest absolute number of new cases, to which it adds the 10 countries with the highest proportion of new cases in the population.

Among the top 20 come Mozambique, with 154,000 new cases in 2015, and Angola, with 93,000 new cases.

The incidence rate – the number of new cases in relation to the size of the population – varies widely between countries, ranging from less than 10 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants to more than 500.

Mozambique with 551 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants:

On this metric, Mozambique comes in with 551 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, a rate surpassed only by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), with 561 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Lesotho with 788 and South Africa with 834.

The report cross-references the list of 30 countries with the highest incidence of tuberculosis with two other lists: the 30 countries with new cases of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis and the 30 countries with new cases of HIV-associated tuberculosis.

There are 48 countries that are in at least one of the three lists and 14 countries that appear on all three lists, two of which are Portuguese-speaking: Mozambique and Angola.

Brazil is in two lists – high incidence of tuberculosis and high incidence associated with HIV – and Guinea-Bissau, another Portuguese-speaking country, appears only in the list of countries with tuberculosis linked to HIV.

Guinea-Bissau with new cases of HIV:

The WHO estimates that Guinea-Bissau registered 6,600 new cases of tuberculosis in 2015 (369 per 100,000 inhabitants), of which 40% (2,900) were HIV-positive.

In total, about a 1,000 sero-negative people and 1,500 sero-poitive people died in Guinea-Bissau in 2015 from tuberculosis, mortality rates of 63 and 81 people per 100,000 inhabitants respectively.

Angola:

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In Angola, it is estimated that 93,000 new cases of TB occurred in 2015 (a rate of 370 for every 100,000), of which 28,000 were HIV-positive (30%) and 4,100 were cases of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. In the same year 11,000 HIV negative people (45 per 100,000 inhabitants) and 7.2 HIV-positive (29 per 100,000 inhabitants) died of tuberculosis.

Brazil will have registered 84,000 new cases of TB in 2015: 52,000 men, 24,000 women and 8,000 children, with an incidence rate of 41 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Of these 13,000 (15%) were HIV positive.

Mozambique had an estimated 154,000 new cases of tuberculosis in 2015, of which 83,000 were men, 56,000 women and 15,000 children under 15 years. More than half of the new cases (52%) were people infected with HIV.

These figures are equivalent to an incidence rate of 551 to 100 000, one of the highest in the world.

34,000 people died in 2015 with HIV in Mozambique:

In 2015, 21,000 HIV-negative and 34,000 HIV-positive people died of TB in Mozambique. However, WHO warns that the estimated figures do not necessarily correspond to reported cases. Of the 10.4-million estimated new cases, only 6.1-million were detected and officially reported in 2015, representing a difference of 4.3-million.

This difference reflects a mixture of under-reporting of detected cases (especially in countries with large private sectors) and under-diagnosis (especially

in countries with difficult access to health services).

Ten countries, including Mozambique, represent 77% of the total difference between notifications and estimates.

Source: Deutsche Welle

Cases of diarrhoea on the rise in Vilankulo

During the past nine months, approximately 4,000 cases of diarrhoea were recorded in Vilankulo district, resulting in at least two deaths.

The district chief physician, Henrique Guambe, said that, despite the recorded increase in cases of diarrhoea, the number of diarrhoea-related deaths decreased from eight in 2015 to two this year.

Guambe said that the Vilankulo Hospital has enough drugs to see to any diarrhoea outbreak, however, he recommends strengthening hygiene and sanitation measures in a bid to ward off the disease.

Improper food preparation and ingesting meat passed its best before date are just some of the common causes of the water-borne disease in Vilankulo.


Significant improvements noted in National Health Service

The National Health Service is making significant improvements in the availability of human resources, which during the last 10 years experienced an increase in the number of officials serving the country from 25,679 to

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48,136 – representing an overall increase of 87%.

According to the Deputy Health Minister, Mouzinho Saíde, the improvements over the last decade has improved the health staff ratio per 100,000 inhabitants from 223.3: 100,000 to 189.4: 100,000.

Speaking in Maputo at the Consultative Meeting on National Accounts Relating to Human Resources, Deputy Minister Saíde said that the number of specialists in Mozambique had increased from 13,049 in 2006 to 25,184 in 2016, representing a 93% growth.

“The ratio per 100,000 inhabitants improved from 64.3 to 100.2, particularly

in the areas of Medicine, Nursing and Mother and Child Health Nursing, which went from 72.3 to 5.4 per 100,000; the ratio of doctors improved from 2.7 to 5.4 per 100,000; the ration of health workers to inhabitants improved from 1,694 to 1,088; and the ratio of medical care to inhabitant improved from 57,816 to 23,086”, said the deputy minister.

According to Deputy Minister Saíde, for next year the Ministry of Health will hire more than 2,000 professionals. While this is a decrease when compared to last year, it will ensure that the system has a sufficient number of professionals to provide quality services.

Source: A Bola

END

Documents

Weekly 14 - 21 October 2016.pdfTalks with Renamo resume with press blackout. Meeting between Nyusi and Dhlakama “further away than ever”. Page 45-46. “There will be no peace