WEEKLY MEDIA REVIEW No.

170: 3 MARCH TO 10 MARCH 2017

www.rhula.net

Managing Editor: Nigel Morgan

ENI sells Mozambique stake to ExxonMobil for US$2.8-billion (Pages 28-32).

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POINTERS:

ECONOMY:
There is increasing confidence in the upper echelons of President Filipe Nyusi’s government that,
despite some daunting hurdles ahead, 2017 will see Mozambique moving on from the annus
horribilis that followed last April’s exposure of the secret ‘toxic debt’ inherited from the
administration of former president Armando Guebuza.
Toxic debt:

“We want to honour our debt, but …” – Prime Minister (Page 17). Prime Minister Carlos
Agostinho do Rosário says that his government’s top priority is normalising relations with
creditors and the IMF, and that discussions are under way: “The principal challenge in
negotiations with the IMF is to assure a balance between the reforms to consolidate public
policies, on the one hand, but also assure that this does not affect resources for the Five-Year
Programme. We have to implement reforms in the public sector and state companies, but in a
way that leaves space for the most necessary areas, namely education, health and social
protection”. Joseph Hanlon’s take on this statement is that it is carefully nuanced to mean either
a) The government will accept responsibility for the loans, but only if the creditors take a major
‘haircut’ and the banks (Credit Suisse and VTB) accept some of the responsibility; or b) the debts
will be repaid, but will have to be deferred until there is gas production (early/mid-2020’s), and
there will be no punishment for those in Frelimo’s top ranks who were involved in the illegal acts
committed.

Could the ENI-Exxon deal plug the hole? (Pages 17-19 and 28-29). The government has been
eagerly waiting for a major investment with enough CGY exposure to resolve the debt crisis and
pave the way for re-instatement of IMF and G14 budgetary support. Its hopes were dashed in
2016 by historic lows in the LNG price and, although reluctant to admit it, Mozambique’s
mishandling of IMF / G14 / debt-holder relations. ExxonMobil’s US$2.8-billion purchase of a 25%
indirect stake in ENI’s operations in Rovuma Basin Area 4 is therefore long-awaited ‘manna from
Heaven’. The deal remains subject to clearance from regulatory authorities in Mozambique (and
elsewhere); but as far as the Mozambique government is concerned this will be a mere formality,
as it moves to extract as large a payment as it can from ENI, as soon as it can.

How much cash is the government expecting? The official position of the government is
awaited, but the Tax Authority tariff on CGT currently stands at 32%. On $2.8-billion that’s
approximately $900-million.

Is it that simple? No, there is a precedent that could complicate the matter. In 2013, when ENI
sold 20% of the same concession to CNPC for US$4.16-billion, it challenged demands from the
Tax Authority by arguing that it was selling a portion of a subsidiary of ENI registered in Italy. Only
after negotiations involving then president Armando Guebuza and the then ENI CEO, Paolo
Scaroni, was a settlement figure of US$400-million reached (alongside a commitment by ENI to
invest another US$130-million in the construction in a gas-powered electricity plant in Cabo
Delgado). The full 32% would have netted more than US$1.3-billion. The precedent is relevant
because ENI currently holds its 50% indirect share in Area 4 through its 71.4% stake in ENI East
Africa SPA, also registered in Italy. It’s not that ENI won’t end up paying, but rather that the
amount eventually agreed by negotiation could, like in 2013, be less than 32%. The Mozambique
government is on the back-foot when it comes to urgency of reaching an agreement with ENI.
This is not the best hand when it comes to negotiating with a major international oil company,
particularly one like ENI who are well-versed in the ‘intricacies and nuances’ of doing business
with Mozambique’s ruling political elite.
Will the ENI-Exxon deal positively affect Mozambique’s relationship with the IMF? (Pages
19-20). IMF spokesman, Gerry Rice replies: “I just don’t have anything on that
issue…Mozambique faces a very challenging situation…We have been emphasising the
importance of the independent audit and in that context pursue discussions on the possibility of a
new IMF-supported programme”.

World Bank forecasts recovery of Mozambican economy starting this year (Pages 19-20).
Resident Representative, Mark Lundell, predicts that Mozambique’s economic development
partners will return this year; but qualified this by saying that it will depend on the outcome of
international debt audit being conducted by Kroll (due at the end of March). He also believes that
the economy will return to previous levels of growth, thanks to the possibility of strong investment
in various sectors. “Mozambique’s economic growth has a strong base to increase this year. The
international situation is improving in several ways; investment will be strong and investors will
also strengthen their support for Mozambique.”

GDP growth & inflation (Pages 20-21). The economy grew by 3.9% last year (versus an
average growth rate of circa 7.5% over the last two decades). Annual inflation as at December
2016 was 20%, but the Banco de Moçambique predicts that it will fall to 14% this year and that
the gross domestic product (GDP) will increase by 5.5%. BMI consultancy lowers that growth
forecast to 3% with the comment: “The initial phase of developments in the natural gas industry
and a more flexible exchange rate will be the main drivers of the economic expansion over the
next two years, which will be very challenging”.

China advocates greater industrialisation of African economies (Page 21-22). Fluctuation in

commodity prices have led countries like Mozambique to place greater urgency on economic
diversification, particularly when the industrialisation of Africa has the support of major
international partners like China. “Africa is well positioned to industrialise. In addition to its
massive wealth of natural resources, the continent has a favourable demographic profile (its
rapidly growing population means that soon it will have the largest work force in the world) and
high urbanisation rates. It also benefits from a highly-trained diaspora”. Africa “can easily become
a global economic powerhouse in the next decade”, but to do that it “must industrialise” and that
includes fields like agro-industry.

Reports on the Indian Ocean Rim Summit in Jakarta (Pages 23-24).

Oil & Gas:

The ENI-Exxon-Mobil deal – quick summary: After many months of speculation ENI sells a
25% indirect interest in Rovuma Basin Area 4 for $2.8-billion. Area 4 is 70% owned by Italian-
registered ENI East Africa SPA (“EEA”). The deal will leave ENI and ExxonMobil with equal
stakes in EEA of 35.7% each, with CNPC of China holding the remaining 28.6% stake. In Area 4
this translates (indirectly through EEA) to 25% each for ENI and ExxonMobil, and 20% for CNPC.
The other Concessionaires in Area 4 are Portugal’s Galp Energia, South Korea’s KOGAS and the
Mozambique government through Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), who each own
a 10% stake. ENI will remain the operator.

ENI sells Mozambique stake to ExxonMobil for US$2.8-billion (Pages 28-29). Prior to the
ExxonMobil deal, the ENI consortium invested about US$2.8-billion in Area-4, and it is estimated
that the Floating Liquified Natural Gas (FLNG) project will cost a further US$8-billion. Production
of LNG is due to begin in 2022. However, the final investment decision cannot take place until
CNPC formerly commits itself to the investment (all the other partners have now approved their
share of the investment). ENI stated that it will continue to lead the Coral FLNG project and all
upstream operations in Area-4, while ExxonMobil will lead the construction and operation of
natural gas liquefaction facilities (“trains”) onshore.
Government awaits contract notice between ENI and ExxonMobil (Page 29). Friday 10
March: Minister Mineral Resources and Energy, Leticia Klemens, says that the government is
awaiting formal communication on ENI’s contract with ExxonMobil, in order to deduct capital
gains tax (CGT).

Exxon deal with ENI expected to bring hundreds of millions of dollars in capital gains for
Mozambique (Pages 29-30).

ENI maybe the last conventional E&P major in the world (Page 30-32). ENI’s strategy of early
monetisation has enabled it to cash-in more than US$9-billion in the last four years. According to
Goldman Sachs, ENI’s approach on conventional E&P will make it the top cash flow-making
machine among the major oil & gas companies. Its operating cash flow as a percentage of total
cash flow is projected to increase by more than 65% by 2021. The same projected ratio for
ExxonMobil is less than 20%, and less than 30% for Shell. Chevron is projected to see its
operating cash as a percentage of total cash flow grow by almost 50% during the next five years.
ENI’s ongoing conventional exploration activity has resulted in a reserve-replacement ratio of
139%. ENI’s organic reserve-replacement ratio even surged to 193%, the best performance in its
history. ENI aims at increasing production by 3% per year on average in the next four-year
period.

Pemba logistics base delayed, but will go ahead – ENH (Pages 32-34). 10 March. ENH’s
Chairman, Omar Mithá, issued an assurance that the logistical base for Mozambique’s oil and
gas industry in the city of Pemba (Cabo Delgado Province) is delayed, but far from abandoned.
He categorically denied rumours that the operators of the natural gas fields in the natural gas
fields in the Rovuma Basin, ENI and Anadarko, were not interested in the base. Mithá said that
some work has been done at the base, such as fencing it, building access routes, installing a
coffer dam, and resettling most of the families that had to be moved. But everything else has
been delayed because the timetable for processing and exporting Rovuma Basin gas has
slipped. The two consortia headed by ENI (Area-4) and Anadarko (Area-1) have yet to announce
their final investment decisions. Those final investment decisions, Mithá said, were crucial for
pushing ahead with the Pemba base, “otherwise we would be in danger of building a white
elephant”. Mithá denied claims that there was any kind of ban on one of the key investors in the
Pemba base, Orlean Invest, working with United States companies such as Anadarko. He
pledged that the Logistical Base would not abuse its quasi-monopoly position, and there was “no
intention of making the base expensive or non-viable”. The Pemba logistics base is being built by
China Harbour Engineering Corporation for a controversial joint venture between Italian-born
Nigerian businessman Gabriele Volpi’s Orlean Invest, ENH and the port and railway company
CFM. Critics of the proposal say the idea was to force ENI and Anadarko to use this logistics
base, but they never agreed, and plan to run their own logistics base at Palma (where Shell will
be based). Disagreement over Palma v Pemba could delay final investment decisions.

Another disagreement that could lead to delay in FID’s: while the biggest gain for government is
the capital gains tax, another is that if the gas and oil companies want to pay their contractors,
they must bring the money into Mozambique and convert half of it to meticais, even if they are
paying the contractors in foreign currency. While this provides important extra dollars for the
Banco de Moçambique, it is also regarded by foreign as an additional ‘tax’ on their operations.

Anadarko to invest US$770-million in exploration and Mozambique LNG (Page 34).

Anadarko says it is continuing the advancement of its LNG project, where it is has made progress
on the legal and contractual framework, and has recently submitted a development plan to the
government for the Golfinho/Atum off-shore discoveries (Area 1).
SASOL: The longest-established of the oil & gas exploration and development players in
Mozambique is head-to-head with government over another issue that deeply concerns foreign
investors in oil and gas industry Mozambique – labour employment regulations that fail to make
allowance for the shortage of skilled local labour, prevents investors from accessing sufficient
appropriately qualified resources from abroad and allows officials and ‘fixers’ to feed off threats of
vastly-inflated fines:

 Inspectors suspend 34 foreign workers at Sasol Mozambique (Pages 34-35).

 Sasol reacts to suspension of foreign workers (Page 35).
 Labour Ministry maintains suspension of foreign workers at Sasol (Page 36).
 Sasol gives preference to foreign workers (Pages 36-38).

Added to this is the problem of local content. Sasol’s response to the allegation that it is not giving
enough business to small and medium-sized local companies is that that local companies simply
do not meet their quality standards.

According to the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), the aim of using local content in the extractive
industry is to ensure that it generates development in the local economy by linking with other
sectors of economy, creating jobs outside the extractive sector; technology transfer; boosting the
private sector in the host country/community, and developing local social infrastructures.
However, Mozambique still does not have a specific law of local content. “Local content is not
used to benefit local communities or local business. It is used as a business opportunity for
figures from the political and economic elite…The role of these figures is to ensure the facilitation
of business through the influence of traffic in public licensing and inspection institutions”.

Búzi block shows good oil and gas potential” – ENH (Page 38).

Fuel subsidy costs over US$300,000 a day (Pages 39-40). Follow-up to letter Amepetrol sent
to PM (Rhula Weekly 169 Pages 37-38). Fuel is cheaper in Mozambique than in all the
neighbouring countries, leading to tanker trucks crossing the border from South Africa and
Zimbabwe to buy fuel and then export it illegally to resell it. Amepetrol repeats warning that the
country could be at a real risk of running out of fuel. Minister of Mineral Resources guarantees no
interruption in fuel supply (Page 40).

Transformation of Moatize coal waste could reduce fuel imports (Page 40).

Mining:

Indo-Canadian magnate Stan Bharti is preparing to break into the Mozambican mining sector
through the creation of a subsidiary of his Forbes & Manhattan fund (Page 41).

Mustang’s share rise on high-grade Mozambique graphite discovery (Pages 41-42).

Savannah Resources tenders to set up Mozambique mineral sands plant (Page 42).
However, after 22 months Savannah and Rio Tinto are still waiting for formal approval from
Mozambique’s Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy to combine their three projects.

Energy:

EdM wants to raise electricity prices (Pages 42-43).

Transport & Construction:

EN4 roadworks between Ressano border and Moamba may cause delays (Page 46).
Real estate industry get shake-up in Nacala-Porto, due to the effects of the construction of the
international airport, the multi-user coal terminal in Nacala-a-Velha and the rehabilitation of the
railway transporting coal from Tete (Pages 47-48).

Agriculture & Fishing:

Locust plague and drought look set to cause hunger in central Mozambique, affecting the
entire district of Cahora Bassa and the southern part of Tete Province. 108,000 farming families
have lost their crops (Pages 49-50).

Illegal fishing costs Mozambique US$67-million a year (Pages 51-52).

POLITICS:

Effective peace in sight: Dhlakama confident in signing a definitive agreement (Pages 53-
54). Working groups on administrative decentralisation and military affairs have 60 days to
present proposals in their respective areas. The working group on decentralisation have to submit
a draft law to the Assembly of the Republic, providing for the direct election of provincial
governors and the financial autonomy of the provinces. The military issue is simpler.

Government/Renamo dialogue resumes in Maputo (Page 54). Monday 6 March, the new
phase of the dialogue between the government and Renamo resumed in Maputo. Although no
statements were given to the press at the conclusion each day’s session, off-the-record
comments by government and Renamo officials express optimism on progress of talks.

The Contact Group, created by President Filipe Nyusi, made up of the ambassadors of
Switzerland (Chair), the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Botswana, Ireland,
Norway, China and the European Union was publicly presented on Wednesday 1 March. The
formation of the contact group “results from understandings between Dhlakama and President
Nyusi” and (since) “its members live in Mozambique and this will mean that there is no need for
additional costs or funds to keep them in the country” (Pages 54-55).

“Decentralisation by June unrealistic” Deutsche Welle Africa interviews Mozambican

governance expert Silvestre Baessa (Pages 55-56). Dhlakama has expressed his desire to see
the decentralisation bill submitted and approved by parliament by the end of the first half of this
year. “It’s a very tight deadline, especially because of the depth and complexity of the issue”.
Two considerations need to be taken into account: first is the political agreement that allows
Renamo to appoint governors in the provinces where it won, and the second is defining the
concept of decentralisation in legislation. The latter, in particular, will require much more work
than has been done so far. There are very big implications not only for the state, but for the
relationship between Frelimo and the Mozambican state. “I do not believe that Frelimo can take
such a decision before its Party Congress (26 October to 1 November)... I am therefore not sure
about the viability of Renamo’s deadline”.

October 2018 municipal elections: there is a package of reforms being demanded by

municipalities, namely greater autonomy, greater independence, greater room for political
manoeuvring. It makes sense to have these reforms debated, agreed and in place for the
elections. Such an approach requires moving forward with reforms that need to not only address
Renamo’s concerns, but also those of the MDM and civil society in general, who are calling for
greater management and leadership capacity in local government, especially in central
development issues such as the provision of basic services.

The President’s move to invite the ambassadors of countries who give direct support to the State
Budget is an attempt to solve, at a stroke, two or three problems at the same time. There is, for
example, the problem of the [hidden] debts and re-instatement of IMF and G14 budgetary
support. This model can be far more effective than the (previous) model of the mediators,
because here it is not only a political issue but also a content one. Some of these countries have
been at the forefront of the discussion of a set of reforms, from public sector reform,
decentralisation, etc. They have knowledge and experiences that can be useful in forming a
decentralisation package that better responds to the wishes of the people and Renamo. This
may be one of the smartest steps the president has ever taken in his relationship with the
international co-operation partners.

MDM wants a place at the dialogue table (Pages 56-57).

“It is not necessary for civil society to be at the negotiating table” – Dhlakama (Page 57).

Renamo requests the return of its Nampula base (Pages 57-58).

National Assembly ratifies African Charter on Democracy (Page 59). The Charter’s declared
intentions are “to promote adherence to the universal values and principles of democracy and
respect for human rights”, and “the principle of the rule of law premised upon respect for and the
supremacy of the Constitution and constitutional order”. This entails “the holding of regular free
and fair elections to institutionalise legitimate authority of representative government as well as
the democratic change of governments”.

Why opposition parties in southern Africa struggle to win power (Pages 60-62). Survey of
five countries in the Southern African region by Afrobarometer. In Mozambique levels of trust in
opposition parties was found to be at its highest level ever. However, there’s a much more
lopsided distribution of power and resources for opposition parties in countries with dominant
governing parties than for those in competitive party systems. This, coupled with a lack of
governance experience, makes it difficult for opposition parties to be seen as credible
alternatives. Only a minority of citizens in the five southern African countries with dominant
parties agree that the opposition’s primary role should be to monitor and criticise the government
in order to hold it accountable. This suggests that opposition parties might put off potential voters
if they are seen to be constantly criticising the ruling party rather than contributing to the country’s
development. Opposition parties might do better if they highlight their policy platforms and gain
citizen confidence in their plans and capabilities. This is a crucial insight for opposition parties in
the region as it runs counter to the opposition’s conventional role in Western democracies.

SECURITY:

US sees “low-intensity civil war” in Mozambique (Page 63). The annual report on human
rights prepared by the US State Department, released 3 March, uses the term “low-intensity civil
war”, coined by the Mozambican Human Rights League, to describe the situation in the country
(prior to the current ceasefire). The most significant human rights problems in the country are the
arbitrary and extra-judicial executions (“death squads”), the lack of respect for civil liberties and
impunity at all levels of government, police and armed forces.

Government forces accused of being behind various abuses in central Mozambique

(Pages 63-64) and Renamo members kidnapped in Manica (Pages 64-65). Despite this
Dhlakama insists that the situation in Mozambique is calm and that attacks targeting Renamo
bases have stopped. However, he laments the constant incidents that violate human rights. The
most frequent violations occur in places where populations engage in trade, with government
forces allegedly seize the assets of the sellers and threaten them. “The FADM themselves are
agents of the Traffic Police, and they intimidate motorists on the public highway … they stop the
cars, ask for between MT15,000 and MT30,000 and if you have no money your car stays with
them”, alleges Dhlakama.
CRIME:

Portuguese authorities “very concerned” about disappearance of Portuguese citizen

(Pages 67-69).

Thieves on the prowl in Maputo and Matola (Page 69). Beware of new tactic – criminals
throw rocks at vehicles windshields in the dead of night and spring into action when drivers stop
to investigate and assess the damage. Worst affected are Avenida OAU (after the roundabout in
the Avenida 25 de Setembro direction), the EN4 before the toll gate (especially at the pedestrian
bridges), and the Estrada-Velha in the city of Matola.

SOCIAL CRISIS / NGOs:

According to the UN, more than 2.1-million Mozambicans face prospect of hunger, an
increase of 700,000 compared to November, “in the face of declining stocks and while waiting for
the next harvest” in April (Pages 75-78).

HEALTH:

Cholera outbreak in Maputo and Nampula (Page 86).

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION:

Mozambique cracks down on illegal logging (Pages 90-91). Search for illegally logged timber
valued at US$300-million. Most of those responsible are of Chinese origin.

END
TABLE OF CONTENTS

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.

BUSINESS INDEX ........................................................................................................ 14

ECONOMY & BUSINESS ............................................................................................. 16

GRAPH 1: MOZAMBIQUE CURRENCY EVALUATION......................................... 16

Macro-economy: ...................................................................................................... 17
“We want to honour our debt, but …” – Prime Minister .............................................. 17
Could gas money plug the hole? ................................................................................ 17
Will taxes from ENI/Exxon deal affect Mozambique’s debt restructure? .................... 19
World Bank forecasts recovery of Mozambican economy starting this year .............. 20
BMI consultancy lowers Mozambique’s growth forecast to 3% .................................. 20
China puts industrialisation of African economies on the international agenda .......... 21
President Nyusi attends the Indian Ocean Rim Summit............................................. 23
Strong foundations for co-operation with Indonesia ................................................... 24
President Nyusi invites Indonesian businesses to invest ........................................... 25
Mozambican businesses regard IORA forum as “positive” ........................................ 26

Financial Services:................................................................................................... 27
Criminal proceedings against “Chinese Bank” ........................................................... 27

Oil & Gas:.................................................................................................................. 28

ENI sells Mozambique stake to ExxonMobil for US$2.8-billion .................................. 28
Government awaits contract notice between ENI and ExxonMobil ............................ 29
Exxon deal with ENI expected to bring hundreds of millions of dollars in capital gains
for Mozambique ......................................................................................................... 29
ENI maybe the last conventional E&P major in the world .......................................... 30
Pemba logistics base delayed, but will go ahead ....................................................... 32
Anadarko to invest US$770-million in exploration and Mozambique LNG ................. 34
Inspectors suspend 34 foreign workers at Sasol Mozambique .................................. 34
Sasol reacts to suspension of foreign workers ........................................................... 35
Labour Ministry maintains suspension of foreign workers at Sasol ............................ 36
Sasol gives preference to foreign workers ................................................................. 36
“Búzi block shows good oil and gas potential” – Mithá ............................................... 38
Mithá ensures that natural resources are competitive in the international market ...... 38
Fuel subsidy costs over US$300,000 a day ............................................................... 39
Minister of Mineral Resources guarantees no interruption in fuel supply ................... 40
Transformation of Moatize coal waste may reduce fuel imports ................................ 40

Mining: ...................................................................................................................... 41
Stan Bharti slips quietly into Maputo .......................................................................... 41
Mustang’s share rise on high-grade Mozambique graphite discovery ....................... 41
Savannah Resources tenders to set up Mozambique mineral sands plant ................ 42

Energy:...................................................................................................................... 42
EdM wants to raise electricity prices .......................................................................... 42
World Bank supports rural electrification to decisively curb poverty in Mozambique . 43
Molumbo village headquarters linked to national electricity grid ................................ 45

Transport, Construction & Development Projects: ............................................... 45

Launch of Maputo-Catembe Bridge support cables postponed ................................. 45
EN4 roadworks between Ressano border and Moamba may cause delays .............. 46
FEMATRO argues that the taxi fare is not sustainable .............................................. 46
Parliament approves bill to set up Mozambican Order of Architects .......................... 46
International investment fund builds shopping centre in Mozambique ....................... 47
Real estate industry receives shake-up in Nacala-Porto ............................................ 47

Agriculture & Fishing: ............................................................................................. 49

From now defunct IPEX, Macaringue will direct the Institute of Cereals of
Mozambique .............................................................................................................. 49
Locust plague and drought look set to cause hunger in central Mozambique ............ 49
Cattle breeders to get improved embryos from Brazil ................................................ 50
Illegal fishing costs Mozambique US$67-million a year ............................................. 51
 Tourism:.................................................................................................................... 52
President Nyusi urges profitable and sustainable tourism industry ............................ 52

POLITICS...................................................................................................................... 53
Effective peace in sight: Dhlakama confident in signing a definitive agreement ........ 53
Government/Renamo dialogue resumes in Maputo ................................................... 54
Analysts question President Nyusi’s contact group for peace talks in Mozambique .. 54
Decentralisation by June unrealistic, analyst says ..................................................... 55
MDM wants a place at the dialogue table .................................................................. 56
“It is not necessary for civil society to be at the negotiating table” – Afonso Dhlakama
................................................................................................................................... 57
Renamo requests the return of its Nampula base ...................................................... 57
President Nyusi praises courage of the Frelimo women’s detachment ...................... 58
National Assembly ratifies African Charter on Democracy ......................................... 59
Labour law to be revised this year ............................................................................. 59
President Nyusi in Sofala on working visit .................................................................. 60
Why opposition parties in southern Africa struggle to win power ............................... 60

SECURITY .................................................................................................................... 63
US sees “low- intensity civil war” in Mozambique ...................................................... 63
Government forces accused being behind various abuses in central Mozambique ... 63
Renamo members kidnapped in Manica .................................................................... 64
Sofala residents return home following the extension of the truce ............................. 65

CRIME........................................................................................................................... 66
GRAPH 2: Region by Day of Week ........................................................................ 66
GRAPH 3: Province by Time Period ....................................................................... 66
Portuguese authorities “very concerned” about disappearance of Portuguese citizen
................................................................................................................................... 67
 Renamo accused of being behind the abduction of Portuguese businessman in Sofala
................................................................................................................................... 67
Renamo denies any link to disappearance of Portuguese citizen .............................. 68
Thieves on the prowl in Maputo and Matola............................................................... 69
Fake traffic cop accused of soliciting bribe, swallowing vital piece of evidence ......... 69
INAE inspector detained for corruption in Maputo ...................................................... 69
Large scale driving test fraud uncovered in Maputo ................................................... 70
Police officer in Inhambane arrested for selling drugs ............................................... 71
Crew of train involved in wheat theft arrested ............................................................ 71
Man rapes and kills his sister in Gaza Province ......................................................... 72
Inharrime woman accused of abducting a baby ......................................................... 72
Maputo man kills mother after she refuses to give him food ...................................... 73
Maputo city mulls MT240,000 fine for illegal parking.................................................. 73
Lack of water leads to vandalism ............................................................................... 73

HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND NGO’S ......................................... 75

More than 2.1-million Mozambicans face prospect of hunger .................................... 75
Germany offers Mozambique €1.18-million in food aid .............................................. 75
About 900 hectares of crops lost in southern Mozambique ........................................ 76
“I went to sleep hungry in this land almost all of my childhood, but I cannot watch my
children suffer: It kills me” .......................................................................................... 76
Limpopo and Save Rivers burst their banks............................................................... 78
Two children die in Limpopo flood .............................................................................. 78
Two hundred people forcibly removed from Limpopo flooding risk areas .................. 79
Save floods affect 6,000 people in Nova Mambone ................................................... 79
Belavista-Boane road cut by floods ............................................................................ 80
Aid agencies in Mozambique call for support for Cyclone Dineo response ................ 80
Japanese government provides US$636,000 for drought victims in Mozambique ..... 81
Japan donates US$135,000 to support infrastructure rehabilitation in Inhambane .... 82
The AWF supports Mozambique’s resilience to climate change and reducing
vulnerability to floods in Inhambane and Chimoio ...................................................... 82
 AECF, AGRA and stakeholders meet over innovation, sustainable development in
Mozambique .............................................................................................................. 83
World Bank provides US$80-million for education in Mozambique ............................ 84
Student grants unpaid for five months: 570 affected at Pedagogical University
Zambézia ................................................................................................................... 84
Low pre-school attendance levels worries government and education partners ........ 85
People with albinism need “urgent attention” in Mozambique – UN expert tells Geneva
Human Rights Council ............................................................................................... 85

HEALTH........................................................................................................................ 86
Maputo prisoners unable to receive food from relatives due to cholera outbreak ...... 86
Assembly passes bill on medicines ............................................................................ 86
Families in Gaza refuse to have houses sprayed for mosquitoes .............................. 87
INAE incinerates rotten fish meant for hospital patients in Pemba ............................. 87
INAE warns bakers to follow recommendations ......................................................... 88
Government will not be blackmailed, will continue to shut down irregular business
premises .................................................................................................................... 89
INAE tackles sale of food from cars in Maputo .......................................................... 89
Out-of-date products discovered at supermarket in Sofala ........................................ 89

WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION .................................................... 90

Mozambique cracks down on illegal logging .............................................................. 90
World Bank approves €44.5-million for forestry project in Mozambique .................... 91
Police seize 16 guns from poachers in Matutuíne ...................................................... 92
French support for Mozambican conservation ........................................................... 92
Hong Kong Customs seizes suspected rhino horns ................................................... 93
Tanzania jails notorious elephant poacher ................................................................. 93
South Africa still losing three rhinos a day – WWF-SA .............................................. 94
BUSINESS INDEX
Actis ........................................................................................................................ 40, 41
AdeM ............................................................................................................................. 69
AfDB ........................................................................................................................ 77, 78
Anadarko ..................................................................................................... 12, 13, 25, 27
Banco de Moçambique...................................................................................... 13, 14, 20
BMI ................................................................................................................................ 14
BP ..................................................................................................................... 12, 21, 26
Búzi Hydrocarbon .......................................................................................................... 32
CBRC ............................................................................................................................ 39
CBStell .......................................................................................................................... 13
CFM .................................................................................................................. 13, 26, 66
Chevron......................................................................................................................... 25
China Harbour Engineering Corporation ....................................................................... 13
CNPC .......................................................................................................... 12, 21, 23, 26
Credit Suisse ................................................................................................................. 11
Delano Capital Corp. ..................................................................................................... 34
Delonex ......................................................................................................................... 12
Desert Lion Energy........................................................................................................ 34
EdM ................................................................................................................... 36, 37, 38
ENH....................................................................................................... 13, 21, 26, 31, 32
ENI ........................................................................................ 1, 12, 13, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
Exim .............................................................................................................................. 39
ExxonMobil ............................................................................ 1, 12, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
Fitch .............................................................................................................................. 14
Forbes & Manhattan ...................................................................................................... 34
Galp Energia ........................................................................................................... 21, 26
Goldman Sachs ............................................................................................................. 25
Holding 2020 ................................................................................................................. 16
IHS Markit ..................................................................................................................... 25
IMF ........................................................................................................ 11, 12, 14, 23, 24
KOGAS ................................................................................................................... 21, 26
Kroll ............................................................................................................................... 14
LAM ............................................................................................................................... 19
Matilda Minerals ............................................................................................................ 35
Mustang Resources ...................................................................................................... 35
Orlean Invest ........................................................................................................... 13, 26
PCD............................................................................................................................... 26
Proindicus ..................................................................................................................... 11
Rio Tinto ........................................................................................................................ 35
Rosneft .................................................................................................................... 12, 25
RPP Developments ....................................................................................................... 40
Sasol ............................................................................................... 12, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
Savannah Resources .................................................................................................... 35
Shell .............................................................................................................................. 25
Sulliden Mining Capital Inc. ........................................................................................... 34
Testop ........................................................................................................................... 19
VTB ............................................................................................................................... 11
World Bank................................................................................ 13, 14, 37, 38, 54, 79, 87
 Return to Contents Page

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Mozambique Exchange Rate and Fuel Prices: 10 March 2017

Mozambique Metical (MZN) Exchange Rate Mozambique Fuel Prices

Currency Buy Sell Fuel Type Price Per Litre

Euro (EUR) 73,59 73,66 Petrol 50.02MT

U.S. Dollar (USD) 69,59 69,66 Diesel 45.83MT

S.A. Rand (ZAR) 5,37 5,38

GRAPH 1: MOZAMBIQUE CURRENCY EVALUATION

16

Macro-economy:
“We want to honour our debt, but …” –
Prime Minister
“We want to honour the agreements we
have made with our creditors, but in a
balanced way.
Honour our agreements, yes, but also
leave space so that we can have
resources to fund the actions of the Five-
Year Programme”, said Prime Minister
Carlos Agostinho do Rosário at a press
conference Wednesday 1 March.
Top priority is normalising relations with
creditors and the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and discussions are under
way.
“The principal challenge in negotiations
with the IMF is to assure a balance
between the reforms to consolidate public
policies, on the one hand, but also assure
that this does not affect resources for the
Five-Year Programme.
We have to implement reforms in the
public sector and state companies, but in
a way that leaves space for the most
necessary areas, namely education,
health and social protection”.
Comment by Joseph Hanlon:
It was a carefully crafted statement of the
government’s negotiating positions with
the IMF and the private creditors. With the
IMF he took a clear stand: reforms,
especially of state companies, but no
austerity.
With the private creditors, the position
was more nuanced – “honour our
agreements” can mean many things, and
still leave space for the government to say
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that the loans were to private companies,
not the state.
This allows the government to say, in
effect, “we will accept responsibility for the
loans, but only if the creditors take a
major ‘haircut’ and the banks (Credit
Suisse and VTB) accept some of the
responsibility”.
But there can be an alternative reading,
which is that some in Frelimo want the
debts repaid, perhaps deferred until there
is gas production, and do not want to
criticise any of those involved.
It was notable that with Prime Minister
Rosário at the press conference was
Deputy Finance Minister Maria Isaltina
Lucas, who as National Budget Director
signed the first Proindicus loan guarantee
on 15 January 2013.
The Parliamentary Commission headed
by Eneas Comiche, who is a member of
Frelimo’s highest body, the political
commission, called the guarantees illegal
and unconstitutional, and in effect
accused Lucas of committing an illegal
act.
Source: Mozambique news reports &
clippings
Could gas money plug the hole?
The government has always hoped that
gas and other minerals would provide
enough short-term money to resolve the
crisis caused by the US$2-billion secret
debt and subsequent cut in donor budget
support and to the IMF loan.
Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do
Rosário at his 1 March press conference
reiterated these hopes, while implicitly
admitting delays.

Major investments are expected this year.
The northern gas fields are controlled by
consortia headed by ENI of Italy (farthest
offshore) and Anadarko of the USA
(nearest the Cabo Delgado coast).
Both plan to convert most of the gas to
liquefied natural gas (LNG) – the gas is
cooled to -162ºC and takes up only
1/600th the space of natural gas, so can
he shipped by boat.
LNG plants cost billions of dollars. LNG
prices hit historic lows at the start of 2016
and work on the Mozambique projects
was sharply slowed. Prices are rising
again, so work and various negotiations
are resuming.
Most important for Mozambique’s
finances, ENI Chief Executive Claudio
Descalzi told the Financial Times that the
company is “within weeks” of agreeing to
sell part of its 50% ownership of Area-4,
offshore of Cabo Delgado.
This could generate more than a US$100-
million in capital gains taxes.
Prime Minister Rosário said he expects a
final investment decision in the first half of
this year on ENI’s floating LNG plant. This
had been expected last year, and one
Area-4 shareholder, China National
Petroleum Company (CNPC), still needs
to approve the deal.
The project includes the construction of
six subsea wells connected to a floating
LNG plant, able to produce more than 3.3-
million tons per year of LNG.
Production could start as early as 2019
and the entire LNG production would be
sold to BP over 20 years.
He also said he expects agreement with
Anadarko and ENI on the onshore LNG
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plant, on the Afungi peninsula. This
requires moving 471 families, and
government has been demanding that the
gas companies provide more facilities for
the relocated community.
Prime Minister Rosário said he expects
contracts to be signed for gas and oil
prospecting by the winners of last year’s
auction, announced 27 October.
Six exploration and production contracts
were awarded, to ENI (offshore Angoche),
ExxonMobil with the Russian company
Rosneft (offshore Angoche and offshore
at the mouth of the Zambezi) river, Sasol
(onshore Pande/Temane, Inhambane
Province adjoining Sasol’s existing
concessions) and Delonex (onshore
Palmeira, Maputo Province).
The companies are committed to spend
US$691-million in the first four years.
Meanwhile Sasol last year found small
amounts of light oil in its Inhambane gas
fields, however, reports of further new oil
discoveries have been denied.
But Sasol has also been penalised for
having too many foreign workers in
Mozambique; 34 workers, most from
South Africa, were suspended after an
inspection in late February. (Click here for
link to related article).
Sasol also wants to build a 400 megawatt
(MW) gas fired power plant at the well
head in Temane, Inhambane and
Mozambique wants to build an electricity
line to Maputo as the first link in the
central-south power line. But finance will
be hard to find.
Zitamar reports that work has stopped on
the Pemba logistics base, being built by
China Harbour Engineering Corporation

for the controversial joint venture of
Nigerian-Italian owned Orlean Invest and
two state companies, the hydrocarbon
company Empresa Nacional de
Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) and the port and
railway company Portos e Caminhos de
Ferro de Moçambique (CFM).
The idea was to force ENI and Anadarko
to use this logistics base, but they never
agreed, and plan to run their own logistics
base in Palma. The joint venture office in
Pemba is now closed, says Zitamar, and
workers are being dismissed.
Prime Minister Rosário also noted that
rising coal prices mean that coal exports
are expected to increase. And China
Brazil Xinnenghuan International
Investment (CBStell) on 24 February
signed an agreement with the Ministry of
Industry and Commerce to build a coking
plant in Nacala.
This would be an important first step in
Mozambique processing its minerals.
Coking (or metallurgical) coal is converted
to high carbon coke for iron making by
heating the coal at high temperature (over
1,100ºC) in a kiln in an oxygen deficient
atmosphere to drive off the water, coal-
gas, coal-tar and other impurities.
The plant would cost US$1.4-billion and
be financed by the Chinese government.
The coke would be exported to Brazil.
(Also see Chinese investment in coking
coal, Rhula Weekly 169 Pointers and
Page 39).
Government revenues on these projects
come from various sources. The biggest
is the capital gains tax.
But another is that the gas and oil
companies want to pay contractors, they
must bring the money into Mozambique
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and convert half of it to meticais, even if
they are paying the contractors in foreign
currency; this provides important extra
dollars for the Banco de Moçambique, but
one reason for the delay is gas
companies are trying to renegotiate this.
Local spending provides economic and
tax boosts. And taxes are paid on mineral
exports.
(Click here for link to related article).
Source: Mozambique news reports &
clippings
Will taxes from ENI/Exxon deal affect
Mozambique’s debt restructure?
Partial transcript of a press briefing with
Gerry Rice, director of the IMF
Communications Department and IMF
spokesperson. Washington, D.C. March
9, 2017.
Questioner: (…) Exxon has purchased a
substantial stake in a gas project in
Mozambique and, you know, obviously
this will have tax implications for the
government, probably positive tax
implications. I’m wondering if the IMF has
a view on that, whether it changes the
government’s fiscal picture in any way; if it
changes the Fund’s view of that
restructuring there.
Mr. Rice: I just don’t have anything on
that issue.
Questioner: Do you have anything – Do
you have anything – What’s your most
recent, the most recent view you have on
Mozambique?
Mr. Rice: You know, I think we’ve talked
about it here before; Mozambique faces a
very challenging situation. Mozambique
defaulted, as you know, in January on a

bond payment, a coupon payment. What I
can tell you, is an IMF Mission was there.
We are very much engaged with
Mozambique to help them face the
situation. We have been, as you know,
emphasising the importance of the
independent audit to take account of the
spending that was discovered a number
of months ago. So we continue to follow
that independent audit, and in that context
pursue discussions on the possibility of a
new IMF-supported programme. That’s
probably as much as I have for you on
Mozambique.
Source: imf.org
World Bank forecasts recovery of
Mozambican economy starting this
year
The World Bank predicts that
Mozambique’s economic development
partners will return this year. The Banks
resident representative, Mark Lundell,
also believes that the economy will return
to previous levels of growth, thanks to the
possibility of strong investment in various
sectors.
Lundell, who, without advancing details or
figures, has said he thinks that there are
now conditions for a reversal of the
current deterioration in almost all
indicators of macro-economic
performance with a strong impact on the
cost of living and business performance.
“Mozambique’s economic growth has a
strong base to increase this year. The
international situation is improving in
several ways; investment will be strong
and investors will also strengthen their
support for Mozambique”, Lundell
predicts.
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This is a vision shared by several national
and foreign institutions (including the
Banco de Moçambique) that have been
following the course of the national
economy since the beginning of the crisis
in late 2015.
The World Bank director also believes in
the recovering confidence of international
partners – which has been taken as a top
priority agenda – who suspended financial
support to Mozambique a year ago
following the discovery of undisclosed
government debts. But he reiterates that
this depends on the international debt
audit being conducted by Kroll. “Being
able to finish the audit later this month
would be a good step and we have every
confidence that it will be”, Lundell said.
Economic instability has led Mozambique
to grow by only 3.3% last year, one of the
lowest rates in the last two decades, when
average growth rates have been around
7.5%. Inflation is still above 20%, but the
Banco de Moçambique predicts that it will
fall to 14% this year and that the gross
domestic product (GDP) will increase by
5.5%.
Source: O País
BMI consultancy lowers Mozambique’s
growth forecast to 3%
On Monday 6 March, Business Monitor
International (BMI) said that
Mozambique’s economy could grow 3%
this year, up from the 2% it posited last
year, but below the average of 6.5%
between 2010 and 2016.
“The initial phase of developments in the
natural gas industry and a more flexible
exchange rate will be the main drivers of
the economic expansion over the next two
years, which will be very challenging”,

analysts commented in a note sent to the
financial news agency Bloomberg. In the
note, the Fitch group economic analysis
unit also anticipates 3.5% growth in 2018
and sees delays in the development of
infrastructure as likely “because of the
financial default in January”.
The forecast 3% growth this year
represents a decline from estimates at the
beginning of last month, when BMI
anticipated a 4% expansion in the GDP,
already a downward revision against its
previous 5% forecast.
The Mozambican executive expects
growth to accelerate from 3.9% in 2016 to
5.5% this year, similar to forecasts by
Mozambique’s central bank and that of
the Analysis and Policy Division of the UN
Department of Economic and Social
Affairs in a report published earlier this
year. The BMI forecasts come in the
context of evolving relations with the IMF
and the attempted resumption of
negotiations with public debt creditors.
In a meeting with journalists last week,
Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do
Rosário said that normalising relations
with lenders and the IMF remains at the
top of the executive’s priority, stressing
that “the main challenge in negotiations
with the IMF is to ensure a balance
between the reforms we have to make to
consolidate public policies on the one
hand, but we also want to ensure that we
do not affect the resources allocated to
the government’s Five-Year Programme”.
In a meeting with the journalists in
Maputo, Prime Minister Rosário added:
“We will have to implement reforms at the
level of the public sector and in public
companies, in a way that effectively gives
us space so that we have resources for
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the most disadvantaged areas, namely
education, health and social protection”.
On public debt, Prime Minister Rosário
said he wanted to fulfil commitments. “We
want to honour the commitments that we
have made with our creditors, but in a
balanced way. Honouring commitments,
yes, but also, on the other hand, leaving
space for us to have resources to fund the
government’s Five-Year Programme”.
Source: Lusa
China puts industrialisation of African
economies on the international agenda
Continued low commodity prices have led
countries such as Angola, Equatorial
Guinea and Mozambique to place greater
urgency on economic diversification, at a
time when the industrialisation of Africa
has the support of major international
partners, especially China.
A report prepared for the last G20 summit
in Hangzhou (China) in September 2016,
contains a set of recommendations for
African countries, including an
unprecedented reference to what is
dubbed the “New Industrial Revolution”,
strengthening access to internal and
external financing as well as increased
integration of global and regional trade.
The report, along with the outcome of the
latest ministerial meeting of Forum
Macau, also focuses on supporting the
development of agriculture and agro-
industry, and the need for technology
transfer, investment in energy efficiency
and materials and promoting
environmentally sustainable technologies
and industries. Li Yong, director-general
of the United Nations Industrial
Development Organisation, argues in a
recent article that Africa “can easily

become a global economic powerhouse in
the next decade”, but to do that it “must
industrialise”. “The question is how. The
short answer is money and action. We
have to challenge the international
community and development partners to
support their statements with real financial
commitments. And we have to build
partnerships to implement these
programmes”, added Li.
“Africa is well positioned to industrialise.
In addition to its massive wealth of natural
resources, the continent has a favourable
demographic profile (its rapidly growing
population means that soon it will have
the largest work force in the world) and
high urbanisation rates. It also benefits
from a highly-trained diaspora”, he says.
Through reforms, says Li, Africa could
open up the way to public-private
partnerships that create investment in the
development and maintenance of
infrastructure, while facilitating co-
operation with international organisations
and international financial institutions,
which can provide additional funds.
The latest Forum Macau summit in
October 2016 ended with the
announcement of support for the
industrialisation of the Portuguese-
speaking countries, in line with the
Forum’s action plan for China-Africa Co-
operation in 2015 in Johannesburg (South
Africa).
At the Macau Ministerial Conference,
China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang,
announced Chinese credit lines to
Portuguese-speaking Africa and Timor-
Leste worth ¥2-billion (approximately
€270-million) over the next three years, to
promote infrastructure projects, as well as
industrialisation.
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A Forum Macau Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) on co-operation in
production capacity was also signed,
which provides for the creation of a
working group, which will work under the
Permanent Secretariat of the Forum and
which will “co-ordinate the planning of co-
operation, establish links between
development policies and create a
database of production capacity co-
operation projects”.
At the G20 Summit in Hangzhou (China)
took on the goal of industrialisation in
Africa and in developing countries with the
support of the leaders of the most
developed economies. Economic
diversification and strengthening of
production capacity jumped to the top of
the agenda for the Portuguese-speaking
countries after a sharp drop in commodity
prices from 2014, which left oil producing
countries such as Angola and Equatorial
Guinea in economic and financial
difficulties.
In his last New Year message, the
Angolan President, José Eduardo dos
Santos, admitted the difficulties facing the
country and pledged to expand the
country’s economic base. Equatorial
Guinea, Africa’s third largest oil producer,
is facing a similar situation as it tries to
diversify and attract foreign investment
through so-called Holding 2020, a state
investment and stake-holding company
with funds of US$1-billion.
In Mozambique, with China’s support, a
programme called ‘Co-operation of
Productive Capacity’ is under
implementation, which aims to support the
industrialisation of the country, promoting
exports and reducing imports.
Source: MacauHub

President Nyusi attends the Indian
Ocean Rim Summit
The Mozambican government regards the
Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
Summit as a moment for reaffirming the
importance of the organisation in
strengthening co-operation between the
member states, according to Albertina
Macdonald, director for International
Organisations and Conferences in the
Mozambican Foreign Ministry.
She was speaking to reporters outside the
meeting of senior officials who attended
the IORA Heads of State Summit, at
which Mozambique was represented by
President Filipe Nyusi.
The summit is a special occasion,
Macdonald said, since it marks the 20th
anniversary of the creation of the IORA
(this year held under the theme
‘Strengthening Maritime Co-operation for
a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian
Ocean’). “As one of the founder members
of IORA”, she added, “Mozambique is
reaffirming its importance in strengthening
co-operation between its member states
and other partners with interests in the
Indian Ocean, so that we can advance
with agendas such as the blue economy,
sustainable development, and making
marine resources profitable. Cross-cutting
actions such as eco-tourism and the
empowerment of women are also part of
the IORA agenda”.
Among the priorities for Mozambique,
Macdonald said, was co-operation in
fisheries. Mozambique sought assistance
from IORA in terms of training, both in
fisheries and in other areas of interest to
the country. There are also two co-
operation projects in agriculture that are
just starting.
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One question on the IORA agenda,
Macdonald said, “is how to protect
ourselves from the impact of natural
disasters. We have had phenomena such
as tsunamis and oil spills, among others.
And we must also not forget that, as
coastal countries, we are subject to rises
in sea level, which are already visible”.
Sea level rise, caused by climate change,
is particularly a threat in the central
Mozambican province of Sofala, and its
capital, Beira.
IORA is a regional organisation consisting
of the coastal states bordering the Indian
Ocean.
The organisation consists of 21 member
states and is based on the principle of
open regionalism to strengthen economic
co-operation, in particular to facilitate
investment, promotion and social
development in the region.
The IORA Summit produced four
documents in a bid to turn the Indian
Ocean into a peaceful, stable and
prosperous region.
The four documents are IORA Concord,
IORA Action Plan, IORA Declaration on
Preventing and Countering Terrorism and
Violent Extremism, and Joint Declaration
of the IORA Business Community to Build
Partnerships for a Sustainable and
Equitable Economic Growth.
The documents had been discussed in a
ministerial meeting on Sunday 5 March,
and had received support from 21
member states of IORA and seven
dialogue partners. They were
subsequently discussed at the ministerial
level meeting on Monday before being
ratified by the heads of state on Tuesday,
7 March.

The key document (i.e. the IORA
Concord, also known as Jakarta Concord)
is a strategic document containing vision
and norms of IORA meetings to
strengthen regional architecture in facing
the challenges ahead. The IORA Action
Plan contains the actions plan for Jakarta
Concord and enhancement of
implementation of priority areas and
cross-sector commitment.
The third document is the IORA
Declaration on Preventing and Countering
Terrorism and Violent Extremism which
underlines the importance of co-operation
among IORA member states in combating
terrorism. The last one is the Joint
Declaration of the IORA Business
Community to Build Partnerships for a
Sustainable Economic Growth which is
aimed at strengthening co-operation and
partnership to expand and diversify trade
and investment, with a focus on small,
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
During the summit, according to a
statement from President Nyusi’s office,
the Mozambican President was one of the
main speakers at the Third Session of the
IORA Business Forum, held under the
motto ‘Towards Sustainable and Equitable
Growth in the Indian Ocean Rim’.
The participants at this forum will show
the business potential which their
countries possess and will seek to attract
investments.
President Nyusi also met with his
Indonesia counterpart, Joko Widodo, and
with Indonesian business people
interested in investing and establishing
partnerships in Mozambique.
During this visit, President Nyusi was
accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs and Co-operation, Oldemiro Balói;
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of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries,
Agostinho Mondlane; Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
Mozambique to the Republic of Indonesia,
Maria Gustava and other staff members of
state institutions.
Among the priority matters on the summit
agenda were maritime security, the
facilitation of trade and investment,
fisheries management, disaster
management, academic, scientific and
technological cooperation, as well as
tourism co-operation and cultural
interchanges.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Folha de Maputo/Tempo
Jakarta
Strong foundations for co-operation
with Indonesia
On Tuesday 7 March, President Filipe
Nyusi declared that there are strong and
clear foundations for Mozambique to co-
operate advantageously with Indonesia,
through the establishment of partnerships.
Speaking to journalists in Jakarta, where
he took part in the first Heads of State
Summit of the IORA, President Nyusi said
Mozambique hopes to take advantage of
the technological potential and the
experience of Indonesia.
“We have consolidated our relations”, he
said. “Our meetings with the leadership of
this country will continue in order to
strengthen our economic co-operation”.
President Nyusi added that he had noted
the great interest shown by Indonesian
business people in co-operating with
Mozambique, but that they raised the
issue of facilitating investment
procedures. He said some Indonesian
businesses are interested in Mozambican

cotton, and this will be analysed, bearing
in mind that Mozambique wants to
process its cotton internally.
Increasing co-operation between the two
countries was on the table when
President Nyusi met with his Indonesian
counterpart, Joko Widodo, on Tuesday.
At the meeting, President Widodo
promised a line of credit for Mozambique,
to strengthen the operations of
Mozambican businesses, particularly in
the areas of road and rail transport.
“This credit can be used this year”, said
President Nyusi.
As for the IORA summit, he believed it
had achieved its goals, and had provided
Mozambique with an opportunity to
publicise its potential.
The summit was held under the theme of
‘Strengthening Maritime Co-Operation for
A Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian
Ocean’. The rotating presidency of IORA
passed from Indonesia to South Africa.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
President Nyusi invites Indonesian
businesses to invest
On Tuesday 7 March, President Filipe
Nyusi invited Indonesian businesses to
invest in Mozambique.
Speaking in Jakarta at a meeting with
Indonesian business people, he said he
hoped their companies would do business
in Mozambique, taking advantage of the
enormous opportunities that the country
offers.
President Nyusi guaranteed that the
government will do all in its power to
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facilitate the entry of Indonesian
companies into Mozambique, and that
legislation on foreign investment is being
reformed.
“There are many opportunities in
Mozambique, where your technology and
your financial capacity can be capitalised
upon”, he said.
Agriculture in particular was a strategic
area in Mozambique’s development plans,
President Nyusi added, and he believed
that Indonesian agricultural experience
and know-how could be of great value.
Mozambique has favourable agro-
ecological conditions, he stressed, and
there were guaranteed markets for
Mozambican agricultural produce.
Other areas the President stressed were
tourism and the hotel industry, energy,
mining and hydrocarbons, and fisheries.
“We already have many hotels built by
Asian investors”, said President Nyusi,
“but as yet we don’t have any that are the
result of Indonesian investment”.
As for energy, he said that Mozambique
has massive potential for hydropower and
renewable sources of energy, as well as
enormous coal and natural gas deposits.
Turning to transport, he pointed to the
airport at Nacala on the northern coast,
which could be an important hub in air
links between southern Africa and Asia.
(At the moment, however, not a single
international airline stops at Nacala, and
the only flights are domestic, operated by
Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, Ltd.,
LAM).
He told the business people that earlier in
the day he had met with his Indonesia
counterpart, Joko Widodo, and “we

discussed political, economic and co-
operation matter. I am pleased because I
saw in President Widodo’s heart a great
willingness to co-operate with
Mozambique”.
Trade between Mozambique and
Indonesia reached US$178.7-million in
2013, but in 2016 fell to only US$44.5-
million. The two governments have
pledged to recover, and improve upon,
the performance of 2013.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Mozambican businesses regard IORA
forum as “positive”
The group of Mozambican business
people who attended Monday’s Business
Forum of IORA in Jakarta have declared
their readiness to meet the challenges of
the organisation.
They told Mozambican reporters that their
participation in the Forum was “opportune
and positive”, in that they had made
contact with colleagues from other IORA
member countries, and this could lead to
the establishment of partnerships in
various areas of economic activity.
Munir Sacoor, of the Mozambican
electrical company Testop, said he
expected partnerships of mutual benefit to
be agreed. “So far everything is moving
ahead positively”, he said.
“We shall now bank on the
industrialisation of Mozambique. Once we
have our own industries, we shall save
foreign exchange currently spent on
imports”.
“We shall embark on an industrialisation
project so as to provide more jobs for
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Mozambicans”, he said. “We have to be a
country of the future”.
But Sacoor gave no details of this
industrialisation project which he admitted
would take several years to implement.
A second businessman, Imram Gulam,
said he had come to Jakarta to promote
the name of Mozambique.
“Just as President Filipe Nyusi is doing,
our task is to look for partnerships here so
that, together with local Indonesian
businesses, we bring the technology they
possess, for example in the area of
coconut processing, where they have a lot
of experience”.
The challenge, Gulam said, is to convince
businesses from Indonesia and other
IORA members to invest in Mozambique.
“Today (Monday) we had contacts with
several business people. We think we will
be able to bring some of them to
Mozambique, in the area of
industrialisation”.
The Confederação das Associações
Económicas de Moçambique (CTA), the
representative body of Mozambican
employers, considered participation in the
forum as “positive”.
The CTA Deputy Chairperson, Agostinho
Vuma, said “our great objective was to
sign the joint declaration among the
members of this association to
accompany a series of actions which can
put into practice the development of the
Mozambican economy in a sustainable
manner, and also with an impact on the
lives of citizens”.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique

Financial Services:
Criminal proceedings against “Chinese
Bank”
On Monday 6 March, the Mozambican
Attorney-General’s Office announced that
it is prosecuting seven people (one
Chinese citizen and six Mozambicans),
believed to be the ringleaders in the
“Mutual Aid Credit Association”, better
known as “the Chinese Bank”.
But the Association was not a legitimate
bank at all, since it had no authorisation
from the Banco de Moçambique to
undertake banking activities.
It accepted deposits from citizens, who
were apparently unaware of the illegal
nature of its activities, and reimbursed
them at high levels of interest.
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Depositors had to deposit at least
MT20,000 meticais (US$294, at current
exchange rates) into bank accounts
specified by the Association, and at the
end of each month they would receive
interest of 30% (far higher than anything
that real banks pay on deposit accounts).
This appears to be a Mozambican version
of a pyramid scheme in which people are
persuaded to part with their money
against promises of payment unavailable
through normal channels.
The initial depositors get the promised
payments, but the scheme inevitably runs
out of money and collapses, with the later
depositors losing everything.
In this case, collapse was avoided
because of intervention by the Banco de
Moçambique.

In July 2016, the central bank froze the
Association’s accounts, and since then
the depositors have been trying to recover
their money, without success.
According to the Attorney-General’s
Office, this illicit operation involved
MT482-million, and 16,000 depositors.
This banking fraud cost the state over
MT29-million in lost taxes.
The prosecution is charging the seven
suspects with fraud, the illegal collection
of deposits, money laundering, and
membership of a criminal association.
“During the investigation”, said a release
from the Attorney-General’s Office, “it was
found that the association is not
registered in Mozambique, and has no
authorisation to exercise financial activity”.
Prosecutors have now sent the case to
the Kampfumo district court in Maputo,
where a judge will decide if there is
sufficient evidence to hold a trial.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Oil & Gas:
ENI sells Mozambique stake to
ExxonMobil for US$2.8-billion
ExxonMobil has emerged as the buyer for
a 25% indirect stake in ENI’s Mozambique
operations after weeks of speculation that
the Texan oil giant was the frontrunner.
Italian group ENI had been looking for a
partner to help bring Mozambique’s vast
offshore gas resources to the global
market, with ExxonMobil tipped as the
most likely candidate due to its
exploration licences in the southeast
African country.
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The agreed terms between ExxonMobil
and ENI include a cash price of around
US$2.8-billion. ENI currently holds a 50%
indirect share in the Mozambique natural
gas site through a 71.4% stake in ENI
East Africa.
The deal will leave ENI and ExxonMobil
with equal stakes in ENI East Africa of
35.7% each, with CNPC of China holding
a 28.6% stake. The other three partners,
with 10% each, are Galp Energia of
Portugal, KOGAS, and Mozambique’s
ENH.
Plans are advanced to set up a floating
liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility in
Area-4 above the Coral South gas field.
So far, the consortium has invested about
US$2.8-billion in Area-4, and it is
estimated that the FLNG project will cost
a further US$8-billion.
Production of LNG is due to begin in
2022. However, the final investment
decision cannot take place until CNPC
formerly commits itself to the investment
(all the other partners have now approved
their share of the investment).
An agreement has already been reached
under which all the gas produced from the
FLNG plant will be sold to the British
company BP over a 20-year period.
Darren Woods, chairman and chief
executive at ExxonMobil, said that the
purchase would be “a major addition” to
the company’s global development
portfolio, stating:
“This strategic investment will enable
ExxonMobil’s LNG leadership and
experience to support development of
Mozambique’s abundant natural gas
resources.

“Our industry-leading project execution,
advanced technologies, financial strength
and marketing capabilities will help deliver
reliable, affordable energy to customers
and create long-term economic value for
the people of Mozambique, project
partners and ExxonMobil shareholders”.
Eni chief executive officer Claudio
Descalzi said that:
“This deal represents material evidence of
our exploration strategy based on the
early monetisation of our exploration
discoveries, as a part of our ‘dual-
exploration’ model. Through this strategy,
ENI has been able to cash in more than
US$9-billion in the last four years.
Moreover, the agreement confirms the
world class quality, production potential,
technical and financial robustness of the
entire project”.
ENI stated that it will continue to lead the
Coral FLNG project and all upstream
operations in Area-4, while ExxonMobil
will lead the construction and operation of
natural gas liquefaction facilities onshore.
It argues that “this operating model will
enable the use of best practices and skills
within ENI and ExxonMobil with each
company focusing on distinct and clearly
defined scopes while preserving the
benefits of a fully integrated project”.
The deal remains subject to clearance
from regulatory authorities in Mozambique
and elsewhere.
If it goes ahead, it will lead to a very large
payment of capital gains tax by ENI to the
Mozambican state.
Source: The Financial Times/Agencia de
Informacao de Moçambique
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Government awaits contract notice
between ENI and ExxonMobil
On Friday 10 March, the Mozambique
government announced that it is awaiting
a communication on ENI’s contract with
ExxonMobil on the concession of gas
from Area-4, to deduct capital gains tax.
“[The conclusion of the agreement
between ENI and Exxon] shows that we
are on the right track, we have not yet
received the purchase and sale contract,
we are transparent, as soon as this
happens, we will disclose”, said the
Minister of Mineral Resources and
Energy, Leticia da Silva Deusina
Klemens, in statements to journalists in
Maputo.
Source: A Bola
Exxon deal with ENI expected to bring
hundreds of millions of dollars in
capital gains for Mozambique
The world’s largest oil company,
ExxonMobil, has announced that it has
entered into an agreement with ENI to
purchase 25% of the concession that
Italian energy company has in the
Rovuma Basin natural gas exploitation
Area-4.
The official reaction of the government of
Mozambique to this US$2.8-billion deal is
awaited, particularly from the Tax
Authority (AT) which stands collect about
32% of that amount in taxes, but which
some years ago, @Verdade reports, had
to prevent ENI evading the tax payments
in a similar financial transaction.
“This strategic investment will enable
ExxonMobil’s expertise in LNG to support
the development of Mozambique’s
abundant natural gas resources”, said the

company’s chief executive, Darren
Woods, in the statement.
ExxonMobil will focus its efforts on the
construction and operation of the
liquefaction plants while the Italian oil
company will continue to lead the floating
gas extraction platform installation.
Although the announcement of this
important agreement for the start of
natural gas exploration in Mozambique
still lacks the approval of President Filipe
Nyusi’s government, previous meetings
between senior representatives of the
companies and the head of state have
indicated that agreement will be a
formality.
During his visit to the United States last
September, President Nyusi visited
ExxonMobil’s headquarters and met with
its former “boss” and current US
Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.
Previous operation and capital gains:
ENI tried to evade tax office demands in a
similar previous financial operation, but
because of the economic and financial
crisis that Mozambique is experiencing as
a result of the discovery of undisclosed
state-guaranteed debts in April 2016,
which slashed income from co-operation
partners and direct foreign investment,
any prospective income will be welcomed.
Beyond the investment expected to take
place – with China’s state-owned CNPC
yet to announce its final decision for Area-
4 – this financial transaction could benefit
state coffers by several hundred millions
of US dollars from ENI and ExxonMobil
capital gains tax. By law, the Tax
Authority can tax around 32% of the
amount of the operation.
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However, the Tax Authority’s Amélia
Nakhare should remember that in 2013,
when ENI sold 20% of the same
concession to CNPC for US$4.16-billion,
the Italian company tried to evade tax
demands by arguing that that it was
selling a portion of a subsidiary of ENI
registered in Italy.
Only after negotiations involving then
president Armando Guebuza and ENI’s
then executive director Paolo Scaroni, did
the Italian oil company agree to pay
US$400-million in capital gains tax and to
invest another US$130-million in the
construction in a gas-powered electricity
plant in Cabo Delgado.
A poor deal for the treasury when,
according to the capital gains tax formula
of 32%, the amount would have been
around US$1.3-billion, writes @Verdade.
Source: @Verdade
ENI maybe the last conventional E&P
major in the world
The sale of 25% stake in the Area-4 block
in Mozambique to ExxonMobil signal once
more ENI’s “dual-exploration” model,
which aims at strictly controlling costs and
optimising the supply chain.
Analysts have been raising their rating on
the Italian firm’s shares, stating its unique
position in the E&P segment, which will
ultimately boost its operational cash flow
in the next five years.
Since its five-year peak in 2014, natural
gas prices have more than halved, falling
from a little more than US$6 to US$2.95
MMBtu at Nymex.
Just as with oil, conventional exploration
& production (E&P) has become
particularly challenging, even for

multinational oil and gas companies. In
response to this new market environment,
many of them have turned to
unconventional E&P and acquisitions to
remain profitable.
Chief Executive Officer of ENI since the
year the oil and gas prices started
collapsing, Claudio Descalzi, has quite a
different approach. He actually wants to
turn the Italian-based and highly
diversified company into a more focused
E&P enterprise.
For instance, the group sold several
pipeline and oilfield services businesses.
From this perspective, it comes as no
surprise that ENI Mozambique finally
announced the sale of interests in its gas-
rich Area-4 block, offshore Mozambique,
to ExxonMobil for US$2.8-billion.
The long-term transformation of ENI into
an E&P focused company requires a
model in which costs are minimised. This
means making partnerships with other
experimented competitors that can share
the costs, while freeing up capital for ENI.
“This deal represents material evidence of
our exploration strategy based on the
early monetisation of our exploration
discoveries, as a part of our dual-
exploration model”, confirms ENI’s CEO,
commenting the sale and purchase
agreement with ExxonMobil to acquire an
ENI’s 25% stake in the Area-4 block.
While ENI will continue to lead the Coral
floating LNG project and all upstream
operations in Area-4, ExxonMobil will lead
the construction and operation of natural
gas liquefaction facilities onshore. This
strategy based on early monetisation has
enabled ENI to cash in more than US$9-
billion in the last four years.
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The average upstream cost of ENI’s new
projects was reduced from an already low
US$30 barrels of oil equivalent per day
(boe) level in 2014 to around US$20/boe
today. This cost structure is built on
exploration costs of less than US$1.5,
opex of US$7 and capex of US$11/boe.
Such strategic moves by ENI have
precedents in Africa. In December last
year, ENI agreed to sell a 30% stake in its
giant Egyptian offshore gas field Zohr to
Russia-based Rosneft for US$1.575-
billion. This transaction occurred less than
a month after the sale of another 10%
stake in the same gas field to Russia-
based Rosneft for more than US$2-billion.
According to Goldman Sachs, ENI’s
approach on conventional E&P will make
it the top cash flow-making machine
among major oil & gas companies. Its
operating cash flow as a percentage of
total cash flow should increase by more
than 65% by 2021.
The same ratio should only increase by
less than 20% for ExxonMobil, less than
30% for Shell, while Chevron may see its
own operating cash as a percentage of
total cash flow grow by almost 50% during
the next five years.
“Among the European majors, only ENI
has been able to successfully translate
exploration activities into valuable giant oil
and gas discoveries”, says Michele Della
Vigna, analyst at Goldman Sachs, who
initiated a coverage of the stock with a
“Buy” rating last month.
“The industry has forgotten how to do
exploration”, said Claudio Descalzi in an
interview with the Financial Times last
week. He added that while “everybody
else” was looking for tar sands or tight oil

or acquisitions he thought “there was still
potential in conventional exploration”.
As a result of this reduced interest from oil
& gas companies – in part due to currently
low level of energy prices – global
discoveries of new fields have dropped
substantially last year.
IHS Markit reported that discoveries of
new oil and gas fields had dropped to a
60-year low in 2016, with only 174
discoveries (76 in conventional oil, 75 in
conventional gas) against an annual
average of 400 to 500.
In the meantime, ENI’s ongoing
conventional exploration activity has
resulted in a reserve-replacement ratio of
139% for the firm, many times greater
than industry average and including the
effect of the disposal of Zohr in Egypt. Its
organic reserve-replacement ratio even
surged to 193%, the best ever
performance in ENI’s history.
Thanks to a strong production in the last
quarter of 2016, a high proved reserve-
replacement ratio, a well-stocked pipeline
of new and high quality projects ENI aims
at increasing production by 3% per year
on average in the next four-year period,
while intensifying the restructuring
process of its mid-downstream
businesses.
“The solidity of our balance sheet has
been preserved by maintaining a
sustainable level of gearing, while ENI
has been the only major to reduce its
leverage during the 2014-16 period”,
explains Descalzi in ENI’s most recent
annual report.
Source: Club of Mozambique/Levy-Sergio
Mutemba
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Pemba logistics base delayed, but will
go ahead
The logistical base for Mozambique’s oil
and gas industry in the city of Pemba
(Cabo Delgado Province) is delayed, but
far from abandoned, the chairperson of
ENH, Omar Mithá, assured reporters on
Friday 10 March.
He categorically denied rumours that the
operators of the natural gas fields in the
Rovuma Basin, ENI and Anadarko, were
not interested in the base.
The Pemba Logistical Base was
inaugurated by the then president,
Armando Guebuza, who laid the first
stone in August 2014, amid considerable
fanfare. The government granted the
company Ports of Cabo Delgado (PCD) a
30-year lease on the base.
PCD is owned 50% by ENH and 50% by
CFM. PCD then subleased the Pemba
base to ENH Integrated Logistics Services
(ENHILS), which is a partnership between
ENH Logistics (a 100% owned subsidiary
of ENH) and the Nigerian company
Orlean Invest.
Mithá said that some work has been done
at the base, such as fencing it, building
access routes, installing a coffer dam, and
resettling most of the families that had to
be moved.
But everything else has been delayed
because the timetable for processing and
exporting Rovuma Basin gas has slipped.
Back in 2014, there was optimism that
LNG would be available for export in 2018
or 2019. Now 2022 is mentioned as the
most likely date for the start of LNG
exports.

The two consortia headed by ENI (for
Rovuma Basin offshore Area-4) and
Anadarko (Area-1) have yet to announce
their final investment decisions.
Those final investment decisions, Mithá
said, were crucial for pushing ahead with
the Pemba base, “otherwise we would be
in danger of building a white elephant”.
Furthermore, if the base had been built, it
would currently be mostly idle, but with
wages and other fixed costs needing to be
paid.
Mithá denied claims that there was any
kind of ban on Orlean Invest working with
United States companies such as
Anadarko. In its operations in Nigeria,
Orlean Invest had US clients including
Chevron and ExxonMobil “which wouldn’t
be the case if Orlean Invest was on a
blacklist”.
He pledged that the Logistical Base would
not abuse its quasi-monopoly position,
and there was “no intention of making the
base expensive or non-viable”.
Mithá said that the final investment
decision for Area-4 is likely by the end of
this month. Only one of the partners, the
Chinese company CNPC has yet to
commit itself to the investment.
ENI controls a 50% indirect interest in
Area-4, owned through ENI-East Africa,
which holds 70% of the concession. The
remaining 20% held via ENI-East Africa
belongs to the CNPC. The other three
partners, with 10% each, are Galp
Energia of Portugal, KOGAS, and ENH.
But this ownership structure is about to
change, since ENI announced on
Thursday that it has signed an agreement
with ExxonMobil under which the latter will
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buy a 25% stake in Area-4 for US$2.8-
billion.
The first phase of exploiting the Area-4
gas will be a floating LNG unit (FLN)
positioned above the Coral South gas
field, which will cost about US$8-billion, in
addition to the US$2.8-billion already
invested.
An agreement has been reached under
which all the gas from the floating unit will
be sold to the British company BP.
The floating LNG unit, Mithá said, with be
the largest investment ever in
Mozambique, amounting to about 10
times more than was invested in the
Mozal aluminium smelter just outside
Maputo.
ExxonMobil, however, will not be involved
in the floating unit. Its expertise is
earmarked for what is known as “Mamba
onshore” – taking gas from a second
Area-4 field, the Mamba field, and
processing it onshore.
Whereas all production from the floating
unit will be exported, some of the Mamba
gas can be used domestically.
The quantity of LNG that will be produced
at the floating plant will be relatively small,
said Mithá, which is why it is more
advanced than the plans for Mamba
Onshore, or the Area-1 production which
will also be onshore.
The FLNG, Mithá said, “will put
Mozambique on the map, show that
Mozambique is serious and can handle
complex projects”.
As for the onshore processing, Mithá said
that in December the government had
reached agreement with Anadarko and
ENI on building the jetty and maritime

offloading facility on the coast of Palma
district.
He expected work to start soon on the
“Resettlement Town” where families will
be moved from those parts of the Afungi
Peninsula, where the LNG factories
(known as “trains”) are to be built.
Resettlement is expected to cost US$350-
million, and follows a long series of
consultations with the local villagers, and
the provincial and district authorities.
He guaranteed that seeds and other
agricultural inputs will be provided for
resettled families, and fishing inputs for
the many residents of the peninsula who
make their living from the sea.
Fishing would be impossible in the area
covered by the jetty and offloading facility
– but there was plenty of space further
south on the peninsula, or near Palma
town, where the fishermen could work.
Mithá said.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Anadarko to invest US$770-million in
exploration and Mozambique LNG
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has
announced its 2017 initial capital
expectations and guidance.
In the statement, the company has
announced its expectations to invest
approximately US$770-million in its deep-
water and international exploration
programme and LNG project in
Mozambique.
Within the year, the company is planning
to drill up to 10 exploration/appraisal wells
in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico, Côte
d’Ivoire and Colombia, where it recently
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added to its exploration success with
another discovery at the Purple Angel
prospect.
Anadarko is expecting to continue the
advancement of the Mozambique LNG
project, where it is has made progress on
the legal and contractual framework, and
recently submitted a development plan to
the government of Mozambique for the
Golfinho/Atum discoveries.
Source: LNG Industry
Inspectors suspend 34 foreign workers
at Sasol Mozambique
A total of 34 workers of different
nationalities at the Sasol oil company in
Inhambane were suspended last week by
the General Inspectorate of Labour
(Inspecção Geral do Trabalho de
Moçambique, IGT) because they were
found to be working illegally according to
Mozambique’s employment of foreign
workers regulations, a statement from the
Ministry of Labour, Employment and
Social Security reads.
The suspensions took place during a
National Mining and Civil Construction
Inspection Campaign which began on 20
February after an IGT brigade in
Inhambane visited the Sasol facilities in
the district of Inhassoro.
The inspection revealed 34 foreign
workers contravening regulations, 17 of
whom were South African nationals. “Of
this number, six workers, despite having
submitted certificates of hiring under the
quota system, did not meet the conditions
for the exercise of their roles, since the
company had already exhausted the
quota to which it is legally entitled, hence
they should have requested permission
from the Minister of Labour, Employment

and Social Security, while the other 11
workers did not present any documents
authorising them to work in Mozambique
at all”, the Ministry of Labour, Employment
and Social Security document reads.
Sasol said at the time that 10 of the 11
workers were working on a short-term
basis and one as a service provider, but
did not present any work permits enabling
them to work in the country.
A further 17 workers without permits were
identified at Sasol Petroleum Mozambique
and immediately suspended. Those
identified were of British, Iranian,
Canadian, Brazilian, American and South
African nationality.
Source: O País
Sasol reacts to suspension of foreign
workers
Reacting to the suspension of 34 of its
foreign workers in the southern province
of Inhambane, the South African
petrochemical company Sasol has denied
that it is in violation of Mozambican labour
legislation.
Last week, the IGT in the Labour Ministry
announced that it had suspended 34
foreigners, 17 of them South Africans,
who were supposedly working illegally at
the Sasol gas processing centre in
Temane.
Six of the South Africans, the IGT said,
had been contracted under the quota
system for foreign workers. But Sasol had
already exhausted its quota, the IGT
claimed, and in order to employ additional
foreign labour, it should have requested
authorisation from the Labour Minister.
The other 28 foreign workers presented
no documents allowing them to work in
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Mozambique, the IGT claimed. In addition
to the South Africans, they included
workers from Britain, Canada, Iran, Brazil
and the United States.
The inspection at the Sasol plant was part
of a national campaign to inspect the
mining and building industries.
In a Monday press statement, Sasol gave
a different version of events.
It said the IGT “reviewed the work
authorisations of expatriate staff.
However, although the expatriates had
work authorisations, some concerns were
raised. After the inspection, an Inspection
Minute was provided which included the
suspension of the workers involved”.
Sasol said it is currently analysing the
Inspection Minute “and is working with the
Labour Ministry in order to clear up the
matter”.
Sasol added that, according to its own
records, its recruitment is in line with the
quota system, and with the work
authorisation procedures.
“In Mozambique, as in other projects
throughout the world, we promote
localisation and compliance with local
labour legislation”, the company added.
“We remain committed to our growth
plans in Mozambique and we are
continuing our partnership with the
Mozambican government”, the statement
said.
Despite the suspensions “all the functions
and operations of the Temane Processing
Centre and of the drilling campaign are
proceeding”.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique

Labour Ministry maintains suspension
of foreign workers at Sasol
The Ministry of Labour, Employment and
Social Security has confirmed the
continuing suspension of the 34 Sasol
workers found to be working in
Mozambique illegally. The 17 workers
identified during an inspection campaign
into the mining and of civil construction
sectors of the company had no
certification authorising them to work in
the country. Of the other 17 persons
located at the company’s Temane facility,
11 had no work permits, and the six with
certificates were found to be in excess of
the quota to which the company was
entitled.
Authorisation in such cases can only be
made by the Ministry after verifying that
there are no nationals with qualifications
equivalent to those of the foreign workers
being hired. The company’s reaction to
the IGT measure does not therefore stand
and may lead the company to an
erroneous interpretation of the facts.
According to a statement sent to Folha de
Maputo, the Labour Ministry is
investigating the case of the six workers
who obtained permits without being
entitled to them. The national inspection
campaign meanwhile continues until 22
March.
Source: Folha de Maputo
Sasol gives preference to foreign
workers
Sasol, which has been exploring natural
gas in Inhambane Province for 16 years,
is still not giving business to small and
medium-sized local companies. According
to an unnamed representative of Terra da
boa gente (Land of the good people),
Sasol justifies this behaviour by arguing
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that local companies do not meet their
quality standards. According to the Centre
for Public Integrity (Centro de Integridade
Pública, CIP), “local content is not used to
benefit local communities or local
business. It is used as a business
opportunity for figures from the political
and economic elite”.
In addition, the South African
petrochemical company gives preference
to foreign labour at the expense of
Mozambicans, last week the IGT
discovered 34 foreign workers who has
been illegally employed by Sasol.
According to the National Statistics
Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estatística,
INE), over the course of the past 16
years, Sasol has been exploiting
Mozambique’s resources and yet “almost
no benefits were obtained locally with
regard to basic infrastructure or job
creation”.
According to @Verdade, despite the
multi-million dollar investments,
sumptuous profits and tax benefits, last
year Sasol employed only 147
Mozambican citizens, out of a total of 166
employees, and not all were from
Inhambane. In addition to the preference
for foreign labour, particularly from the
parent company in South Africa, over the
course of the past 16 years, the oil
company has giving priority to foreign
companies for the supply of services and
goods. According to the CTA, only five
local companies had the opportunity to
provide goods and services to Sasol.
Most of the company’s consumables,
even those that are not industry-specific
and some of which Mozambique does not
have, are imported by foreign companies
or companies that are not wholly owned
by Mozambican citizens.

Supposedly in an attempt to reverse this
scenario, in late June 2016, the company
held, for the first time, a meeting with
representatives of local companies
established in the province of Inhambane.
The event focused on a “local content
programme” and took place in Maputo
and Inhambane. One of the basic
conditions stipulated with regard to
competing for business opportunities with
Sasol is the registration of the potential
supplier in a company database; however,
several requirements were outlined which
small and medium-sized companies of
Inhambane could not meet.
@Verdade subsequently held a
telephonic interview with the Chairman of
the Inhambane Business Council, Amade
Osman, who stated that “(...) the
involvement of these companies in
general is not very noticeable”. “In
Vilanculo practically nothing has come
from this local content with regard to small
and medium-sized companies. In
Inhassoro there is some indication that
some of the foreign companies hired (by
Sasol) are starting to subcontract
nationals, but it is still a very derisory
thing”, said Osman.
On the other hand, for businesses that
managed to register at the local content
event, it was promised that information on
business opportunities would be made
available immediately. As such, Sasol
announces said information in the state-
run newspaper published in Maputo;
however, this publication is difficult to
access in Inhambane.
“(...) Going on opportunities I think Sasol
should find ways to make the disclosure
of information in co-ordination with the
private sector here [in Inhambane], send a
copy of the announcement so that we can
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share with our associates”, lamented
Osman. Earlier in the week, @Verdade
contacted Sasol to ask how many local
micro, small or medium-sized enterprises
have begun to provide some type of
service to the company since the launch
of the programme. The multinational didn’t
respond.
@Verdade subsequently attempted to
ascertain how many business
opportunities have emerged for
companies in Inhambane, but Sasol again
did not respond. “Local content” benefiting
figures from the political and economic
elite:
Mozambican governors have repeatedly
pointed out that agreements with
companies that exploit Mozambique’s
mineral resources stipulates that they [the
companies] must ensure that part of their
suppliers are nationals and of the region
where they are located, so-called “local
content”, hence the name of the initiative
launched by Sasol just over six months
ago.
Borges Nhamire, a researcher at CIP,
explained to @Verdade that
philosophically the aim of using local
content in the extractive industry is to
ensure that it generates development in
the local economy by linking with other
sectors of economy, creating jobs outside
the extractive sector; technology transfer;
boosting the private sector in the host
country/community, and developing local
social infrastructures.
But Mozambique still does not have a
specific law of local content, although the
Mining Law (Law 20/2014, of 18 August)
and Law (Law 21/2014, of 18 August)
make mention of the use of local content
but without establishing specific rules.

“From the provision of the articles on the
local content in the above-mentioned
laws, we learn that the use of local
content in the extractive sector is a
standard option and not a mandatory rule.
That is, it is not mandatory. It is only
advisable to resort to local content when it
proves more advantages”, said Nhamire,
adding that: “the Local Content Law has
been in development since 2015”.
According to Nhamire, “practice in
Mozambique shows that local content is
not used to benefit local communities or
local entrepreneurship. It is used as a
business opportunity for political and
economic elite figures. These figures are
associated with international capital,
sharing an average of 5% to 15%. The
role of these figures is to ensure the
facilitation of business through the
influence of traffic in public licensing and
inspection institutions”.
“In the cases studied by CIP, in the
extractive and infrastructure sector, the
participation of local entrepreneurs in
large projects is often done without the
realisation of capital. It is a jury rather
than capital participation. Being that the
capital of these figures is political”,
concluded Nhamire.
Source: @Verdade
“Búzi block shows good oil and gas
potential” – Mithá
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of
ENH, Omar Mithá, recently revealed to
parliamentarians that surveys of the Búzi
hydrocarbon exploration block in Sofala
are giving strong indications of the
presence of hydrocarbons there. Mithá
explained that investment in the
exploration phase could reach US$700-
million and that research in the new
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blocks most recently concessioned
provided a “vote of confidence in the
likelihood of more resources to be
discovered”.
This is not the first time that the Búzi
region has revealed hydrocarbon
potential. In the 1960s, natural gas was
discovered there, but the quantities
identified by US multinationals at the time
were considered commercially non-viable,
which is why the government granted the
area to an Indonesian company to carry
out studies.
Working in partnership with ENH, Búzi
Hydrocarbon has carried out seismic
studies and environmental impact
assessments as the necessary precursor
to sinking research wells.
The Búzi block, formed by the districts of
Búzi, Machanga and Chibabava, is
located in the Mozambique sedimentary
basin, one of the least explored regions
from the point of view of hydrocarbon
potential.
Source: O País
Mithá ensures that natural resources
are competitive in the international
market
The Chairman of ENH, Omar Mithá,
recently assured that natural resources
possessed by Mozambique are
competitive in the international market.
During a parliamentary hearing Mithá said
that more than 500 families will be
resettled in the district of Palma (Cabo
Delgado Province), to give rise to the
construction of a liquefied natural gas
plant. Gas projects, he said, could
generate close to 70,000 jobs.
Source: Folha de Maputo/Rádio Moçambique

Fuel subsidy costs over US$300,000 a
day
The government’s current fuel subsidy
policy is costing “between US$300,000
and US$500,000 a day”, according to a
source from the Mozambican Association
of Fuel Companies (Associação
Moçambicana de Empresas Petrolíferas,
Amepetrol).
“Has anyone ever thought what the result
would be if all these subsidies were
invested in health, education and other
priority areas?”, the Amepetrol source
added.
He was speaking to Agencia de
Informacao de Moçambique about the
letter which Amepetrol sent to Prime
Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário last
week calling for an end to the subsidy
system.
Currently, the government fixes fuel
prices, at a level lower than the world
market price of petrol or diesel. The
government is supposed to pay the
difference to the fuel distribution
companies. But it does not pay the
subsidy promptly, and Amepetrol says the
government currently owes the
companies around US$70-million. That
sum is rising by between US$7-million
and US$10-million a month.
Amepetrol suggests returning to the old
system of monthly reviews of fuel prices,
based on the world market price of refined
fuels and the exchange rate of the metical
against the dollar. Under that system,
jettisoned several years ago, any variation
in market prices or the exchange rate in
excess of 3%, in either direction, would
automatically trigger adjustment of the
prices paid by the public.
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“Fundamentally what is happening with
the fuel companies is the same as buying
something for ten meticais and selling it
for five”, exclaimed the Amepetrol source.
Fuel is cheaper in Mozambique than in all
the neighbouring countries. A litre of
petrol at a Mozambican filling station
costs MT50.02 (approximately 74 US
cents). Amepetrol says in South Africa,
the price is the equivalent of MT73.6, in
Tanzania MT61.45, in Malawi MT80.03, in
Zambia MT90.04, and in Zimbabwe
MT97.9.
This is a powerful incentive for motorists
in neighbouring countries to drive over the
border and fill their tanks in Mozambique.
The situation is particular blatant in
Manica Province, where tanker trucks
from Zimbabwe buy fuel and then export it
illegally to resell it, at much higher prices,
in Zimbabwe.
South African trucks also find it very
convenient to refuel in Mozambique.
“Every day we see large, long distance
trucks entering Mozambique from South
Africa along the N4 motorway”, said the
Amepetrol source, “If each of those trucks
buys 600 litres in Mozambique, that
amount, multiplied by 1,200 trucks a day,
is an enormous burden for the
Mozambican economy”.
He noted that, even if the government
were to increase the petrol price by 20%,
raising it to MT60 a litre, it would still be
the cheapest petrol in the southern
African region. This is true despite the
recent appreciation in the value of the
metical against the dollar, since the
revaluation of the metical is lower than the
rises in recent weeks in international fuel
prices.

Amepetrol insists that it is urgent to end
the subsidy system, since there is a risk
that, if the government is unable to honour
its commitments to the distribution
companies, they will be unable to honour
their commitments to the suppliers, and
the country could be at a real risk of
running out of fuel.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Minister of Mineral Resources
guarantees no interruption in fuel
supply
Last week, Amepetrol sent a letter to the
Prime Minister, warning that the country
risks running out of petrol and diesel, if
the government does not change its
current fuel subsidy system. In the letter,
the companies said they can no longer go
on shouldering the difference between the
price which they pay for fuel on the
international market (denominated in US
dollars), and the price in meticais at
Mozambican filling stations, which is fixed
by the government.
In an exclusive with O País this week, the
Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy
confirmed that she received the letter and
assured that is looking for solutions. As
such, Minister Leticia da Silva Deusina
Klemens promised that there would be no
fuel shortage.
Source: O País
Transformation of Moatize coal waste
may reduce fuel imports
At a time when the country is having
difficulty importing sufficient fuel, the
Pedagogical University (UP) on Tuesday
brought together experts, teachers and
students to discuss solutions tailored
specifically to Mozambique.
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The experts proposed the transformation
of coal waste from mines in Moatize into
fuel. In addition to reducing environmental
pollution, this initiative would lower
imports and create jobs.
“The oil refinery project will give us clean
diesel fuel close to home. It will save the
government US$60-million a year, and the
fuel will be sold to the state in meticais,
not in dollars, which is a great advantage.
During the life of the project, the
government could save US$6-billion and
generate 9,000 direct or indirect jobs in
Tete and Beira”, Hugh Brown said.
Former minister of Mineral Resources and
Energy, John Kashamila, was one of the
key speakers at the event and recalled
that 25 years ago he had participated in
the design of the projects. He argued that
the initiatives could be successful and
would have the advantage of being
supported by the private sector.
“I believe in the success of these projects,
and that the government will evaluate
them correctly. It will not be one of those
initiatives that goes nowhere”, Kachamila
said.
Rector of the Pedagogical University, Luís
Jorge Ferrão, committed the university to
creating more opportunities to discuss the
matter.
“We were there to talk and we got to talk
about the possibility of funding master’s
degree programmes and doctorates to
give the country the capacity to respond
to the challenges”, he said. The seminar
also addressed policy framework,
investments in the oil and gas industry
and their benefits to the population.
Source: O País

Mining:
Stan Bharti slips quietly into Maputo
Indo-Canadian magnate Stan Bharti is
preparing to break into the Mozambican
mining sector through the creation of a
subsidiary of his Forbes & Manhattan
fund. Toronto-based tycoon Bharti
instructed his personal adviser, Indivar
Pathak, to set up a branch of his Forbes &
Manhattan (F&M) investment fund in
Maputo on 23 January. F&M has a vast
portfolio of mining investments in Canada
but also in Africa, South America and the
Middle East.
Pathak, a Russian resident who had
already announced in the Armenian press
in late December that he was looking for
new investments for F&M in Russia and
Armenia, is to take a 5% stake in the new
African company. Bharti, a former mining
engineer who was trained in Moscow, has
taken a number of initiatives recently in
Mozambique. He is chairman of Canadian
investment company Sulliden Mining
Capital Inc., which established a
subsidiary in the country in May.
To run his international operations, Bharti
draws on a large network of personalities
who sit on to F&M’s consultative board.
Among them are American star TV
presenter Larry King, former Canadian
international trade minister Pierre
Pettigrew and retired Canadian general
Lewis MacKenzie. Bharti’s son, Julian
Bharti, who is managing director at F&M,
is also developing his own investment
company in Toronto called Delano Capital
Corp. In October, this company invested
US$2.6-million in Desert Lion Energy,
which is working on lithium projects in
Namibia.
Source: Africa Intelligence
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Mustang’s share rise on high-grade
Mozambique graphite discovery
Australian ruby miner Mustang
Resources’ share price on the ASX
surged on the morning of Monday 6
March, after the company announced it
had made a high-grade graphite discovery
at its Caula project, in Mozambique.
“This high-grade graphite will enable us to
generate a top-quality product at a
relatively low cost, increasing margins and
providing protection against any price
volatility”, Managing Director Christiaan
Jordaan said in a statement.
Results from the first five diamond drill
holes have returned grades of up to 26%
total graphitic carbon (TGC).
The recent diamond holes drilled on the
project have an average of 15.9% TGC
within the mineralised graphitic
mineralisation zone from 10 meters to
65.68 meters.
The graphite mineralisation is shallow with
high grades close to the surface, including
23.2% TGC at11 meters from surface,
23.6% TGC at 12 meters from surface
and 22.8%TGC at 13 meters from
surface.
The highest TGC value recorded for this
hole is 24.9% TGC at 24.44 meters.
The Caula drill core is now on its way to a
Perth lab, which will assess its
metallurgical characteristics.
These results, combined with the assays,
will be used to calculate a maiden Joint
Ore Reserves Committee-compliant
resource estimate.

Mustang expects to publish this estimate
in the June quarter followed by an initial
scoping study in August.
The company also intends to undertake a
comprehensive analysis of flake size
distribution and preliminary flow sheets for
high-quality graphite concentrate
products, aimed at confirming field
observations which suggest the Caula
graphite deposit contains large flake-
sizes.
The company’s shares closed the day up
9.64%.
Source: Mining Weekly
Savannah Resources tenders to set up
Mozambique mineral sands plant
Matilda Minerals, the Mozambican
subsidiary of Savannah Resources, has
launched a tender for a contractor to build
a mineral sands plant for its mining project
in southern Mozambique.
According to the tender, Matilda already
has the parts for the plant, which are
currently stored in containers at the
project site.
Tender documents need to be obtained
by interested parties before 10 March.
Expressions of Interest need to be
submitted by 29 March.
Savannah is planning to enter into a Joint
Venture with mining giant Rio Tinto to
jointly develop their neighbouring heavy
minerals sands mining prospects in
Mozambique. However, after 22 months
the companies are still waiting for formal
approval from Mozambique’s Ministry of
Mineral Resources and Energy to
combine their three projects: Savannah’s
Jangamo prospect in Inhambane
Province, Rio Tinto’s neighbouring
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Mutamba prospect, and Rio Tinto’s
Chilubane prospect further south in Gaza
Province.
While the approval is still pending, the
companies have entered into a new
‘consortium agreement’ to start work on
the projects even without approval for the
JV. Exploratory drilling is currently
underway, and Savannah announced on
28 February that it had “identified
significant zones of high grade total heavy
mineral (THM) mineralisation” at the
Ravene deposit on the Mutamba North
concession.
Source: Zitamar News
Energy:
EdM wants to raise electricity prices
The Mozambican electricity company,
Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM), has
requested authorisation from the
government to increase electricity prices.
Speaking in the southern province of
Inhambane, the EdM spokesperson, Luis
Amado, said the increase proposed was
MT1.32 (around two US cents) per
kilowatt hour.
“We hope this is approved, and a price
rise for next year as well”, said Amado,
“until we reach a point where what we buy
is reflected in the price we sell to the
public. Then we will have a platform on
which to grow and expand sustainably”.
He recognised that a price increase will hit
consumers in their pockets, but argued
there is no other way out, given the
financial crisis facing EdM.
In November 2016, EdM increased
electricity prices by an average of MT1.49

per kilowatt-hour – the first increase in the
price of electricity for five years.
In percentage terms, the prices rose by
between 27% and 40%. The price per
kilowatt-hour roses from MT4.16 to MT5.8
for consumers on the low voltage general
tariff (for industries, trade, offices, shops
and similar establishments) who use up to
300 kilowatt-hours a month. This was an
increase of 39%.
Use of more than 300 kilowatt-hours
pushed the price up steeply. Between 301
and 500 kilowatt-hours the price rose from
MT5.94 to MT8.29 per kilowatt-hour.
Above 500 kilowatt-hours a month, the
increase was from MT6.5 to MT9.07 per
kilowatt hour.
The preferential household tariff is
considerably lower. For the first 300
kilowatt-hours, the price rose from MT2.95
to MT4.04 per kilowatt hour, and between
301 and 500 kilowatt-hours a month from
MT4.17 to MT5.72 per kilowatt-hour.
Consumption in excess of 500 kilowatt-
hours now cost MT6 rather than MT4.38
per kilowatt hour. This increase is 37%.
Farmers enjoy a lower tariff. This
agricultural tariff rose by only 27%, from
MT2.68 to MT3.4 per kilowatt hour for the
first 300 kilowatt-hours, and rising to
MT5.3 per kilowatt hour for consumption
in excess of 500 kilowatt-hours.
In addition, all these consumers pay an
additional fixed rate, irrespective of
consumption, which rose from MT108.82
to MT152.37 a month (a 40% rise).
The “social tariff” for low income domestic
consumers who use less than 100
kilowatt-hours a month remained
unchanged, at MT1.07 per kilowatt-hour.
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Speaking to reporters at the time, the
chairperson of the EdM board, Mateus
Magala, said price rises were essential “in
order to mobilise resources to ensure
universal access to electricity by 2030”.
Magala said that, with a general tariff
equivalent to 5.3 US cents per kilowatt
hour, Mozambican electricity remained
the cheapest in the region. In other
members of Southern African
Development Community (SADC),
electricity cost 12.5 US cents per kilowatt-
hour, which made further investment
possible, and this greater access to
electricity.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/O País/Rádio Moçambique
World Bank supports rural
electrification to decisively curb
poverty in Mozambique
Families of the little village of Damo,
Moamba district (some 90 kilometres from
Maputo), remember the times when
firewood and kerosene lamps were the
only sources of light to illuminate the
interior of their homes. With World Bank
support to the government of
Mozambique’s Energy Development and
Access Project (EDAP), life in this and
many other villages across the country
have changed dramatically in recent
years.
“My life is not the same anymore”, said
Laura Chissico, a resident of Moamba
district who recalls how life has changed
for better. “Now that we have electricity,
we have been able to earn MT5,000 to
MT7,000 (approximately US$60 to
US$100) a month from the sale of
‘badjias’ and other cookies. We even
started to use a conventional oven that

allowed us to diversify our products and
expand the business”.
Like many other residents in Moamba and
other districts impacted by the project –
including those in the provinces of Cabo
Delgado, Niassa, Manica, and Inhambane
– Laura used “xiphefo”, a homemade
unreliable kerosene lamp, as the main
source of light, rendering it almost
impossible to carry out any public or
commercial activity at night in the district.
With investments in new distribution lines,
installation of transformers as well as new
connections, her life, and those of many
other rural residents across the country,
has turned around completely.
Schools, health centres, and businesses
among the biggest beneficiaries:
José Filimone, a wood artisan in Maputo
Province, who owns a small business with
over 10 workers, is another satisfied
beneficiary who explained how his
business is thriving these days thanks to
electricity. “We are now using electric
tools, which means working faster and
getting better finishing quality, something
that hardly ever happened before”, he
recalls visibly happy. “We have bigger
orders today, and our lives improved
significantly”.
The World Bank is currently in the second
phase of a US$120-million programme
called Energy Development and Access
Project aimed at improving access to
electricity in Mozambique. As part of this
project, which is about to close, 42,500
new clients from peri-urban settlements
have been added to the network.
Investments under the project include the
expansion of existing networks in fast-
growing areas as well as in large cities,
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including over 400 kilometres of new
transmission and distribution lines. Other
areas benefiting from World Bank support
are the improvements of institutional and
regulatory capacity in the energy sector,
as well as efforts to extend access to
energy in rural areas through off-grid
renewable solutions such as photovoltaic
solar panels installed in the provinces of
Inhambane, Manica, Cabo Delgado, and
Niassa, connecting over 500 health
centres and 300 schools.
The nexus between poverty and energy:
In Mozambique, poverty is concentrated
in rural areas. The authorities established
that accelerating and expanding access to
rural electricity is key in fighting poverty.
As part of this thrust, Mozambique is one
of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa
with the highest rate of new connections,
averaging 120,000 new connections per
year over the past five years.
The authorities’ energy-mix plan is to
maximise hydropower potential, especially
through the Cahora Bassa Dam as the
primary source of electrification while also
investing in alternative sources of energy.
To that end, the government approved
recently the Renewable Energy Strategy
which seeks to boost energy access to
rural areas.
Solar power offers great potential for
Mozambique and remains largely
untapped in the country. The authorities
have recently set forth their medium-term
energy-mix plan which includes 55% of
renewables by 2030. The World Bank has
also provided support for planning, policy,
and institutional development of
Mozambique’s power sector. This
includes assisting in the elaboration of the
National Rural Electrification Strategy and
investment programmes. In addition, the

Bank is also working in co-ordination with
the government’s Energy Fund (FUNAE)
in promoting the use and distribution of
cooking stoves, in an initiative aimed at,
among other things, bringing down
pressure on wood fuels, reducing
deforestation, as well as protecting
women and children against carbon
monoxide and volatile particles emanating
from coal, which is widely used for
cooking throughout Mozambique.
Source: World Bank
Molumbo village headquarters linked
to national electricity grid
On 28 February, the headquarters of the
town of Molumbo district (Zambézia
Province) was connected to the national
power grid fed by the Guruè sub-station.
The electrification of this district will
stimulate the local economy through the
realisation of various projects, in addition
to the connection of approximately 1,300
new consumers.
The project was budgeted at MT187-
million, financed by the government, and
consisted of the construction of 65
kilometres of medium voltage line at 33kV
from Gurué to Molumbo; 115 kilometres of
medium voltage line at 33kV from
Molumbo to Milange; 30 kilometres of low
voltage line at 0.4kV in Molumbo and
Malange and the assembly of 18
transformer stations in Molumbo and
Milange.
The electrification of Molumbo is part of
the government’s efforts to guarantee
assess to electricity to all, in partnership
with EdM. This project is currently being
expanded to the surrounding
neighbourhoods.
Source: Magazine Independente
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Transport, Construction &
Development Projects:
Launch of Maputo-Catembe Bridge
support cables postponed
The ceremony marking the beginning of
the laying of the metallic cables
supporting the trays of the Maputo-
Catembe bridge has been postponed to a
day yet to be announced.
Notícias reports that bad weather was the
main cause of the postponement.
The Maputo-South Development
Company is the public entity in charge of
the works that are being carried out by
China Road and Bridge Corporation
(CBRC).
With the completion of the bridge,
improved performance is expected with
regard to companies and tourist areas in
the southern part of Maputo Province.
Temporary suspension of maritime traffic
had been announced.
The bridge will span of 680 meters in
length at a height of 60 meters in relation
to the sea level, in order to ensure
navigability to the Maputo and Matola
ports.
The construction of the Maputo-Catembe
bridge is part of a project that includes
connecting roads to the southernmost part
of the province of Maputo, with an
estimated final cost of US$785-million, an
amount financed through loans contracted
by the government of Mozambique with
the Exports and Imports Bank of China
(Exim).
Source: Notícias

EN4 roadworks between Ressano
border and Moamba may cause delays
Road traffic on National Road Number
Four (EN4) between the border town of
Ressano Garcia and the intersection with
the Moamba district headquarters
(Maputo Province), is to be subject to
traffic controls. The measure, in force on
section 16 of EN4, will allow rehabilitation
of 40 kilometres of roadway over a period
of 10 months.
A statement from TRAC Mozambique
sent to Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique says that the heavy traffic on
the road will mean delays at times. In
order to minimise disruption, “Stop and
Go” systems will be implemented. Section
16 currently has just two lanes, one in
each direction. It will not be widened at
this time, unlike other sections.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
FEMATRO argues that the taxi fare is
not sustainable
The prices of semi-public passenger
transport have not changed in nine years.
As such, the taxi operators argue that the
activity has become unsustainable, and
they are now demanding solutions from
the government. The concern was
presented on Wednesday 8 March during
a meeting held by the Minister of
Economy and Finance with businessmen
from the city of Maputo, with the aim of
finding ways to increase production in the
capital.
The Mozambican Road Transport
Federation (Federação Moçambicana dos
Transportes Rodoviários, FEMATRO)
lamented the fact that transport tariffs
have not been revised since 2008,
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although operating costs have
skyrocketed. FEMATRO argued that the
solution drawn up nine years ago by the
government to stop the increase in the
price of transport in the cities of Maputo
and Matola was provisional and today
they do not satisfy the needs of the
operators. In response to the request,
Minister Adriano Maleiane challenged the
operators to comply with the law to merit
support. The parties have not yet reached
a consensus.
Source: O País
Parliament approves bill to set up
Mozambican Order of Architects
On Thursday 9 March, the National
Assembly passed unanimously the first
reading of a government bill establishing
the Order of Architects, a professional
body that will supervise the practice of
architecture in the country. Introducing the
bill, the Minister of Public Works, Carlos
Martinho, said that there is a rapidly
growing market for architects in
Mozambique, attracting both Mozambican
and foreign professionals, “and so rules of
conduct must be defined to ensure the
best performance of the profession”.
The Order of Architects, he said, “will
contribute to improving the quality of
projects and rationalising budgetary waste
due to the poor quality of building work”. It
will also “contribute to the defence and
promotion of architecture and town
planning, and care for the social function,
dignity and prestige of the profession”.
The Order will licence architects and lay
down the level of training required before
anyone can practice architecture. As with
the existing professional Orders (of
doctors, engineers, or lawyers), nobody
will be allowed to practice unless they are

members of the Order. The Order will also
set up an Ethics Council which will protect
professional ethics, and handle
disciplinary proceedings. The ethical
principles which architects must follow
include “public interest, impartiality,
competence, good relations with
colleagues and legality”.
Architects must “refrain from any
illegitimate pressure on public authorities
with the purpose of obtaining benefits for
their work”. The bill was uncontroversial
and the Assembly passed it by
consensus.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
International investment fund builds
shopping centre in Mozambique
The Actis investment fund will invest
US$96-million in a building with a
shopping centre and hotel in the city of
Maputo called Baia Mall, already under
construction on Avenida Marginal.
The Baia Mall is a project promoted by the
Automobile & Touring Club of
Mozambique, real estate development
company RPP Developments and the
Actis fund, and the shopping centre will
include benchmark retail brands, such as
Super Spar, Game and Woolworths.
The shopping centre will have a total area
of 30,000 square metres, more than 100
shops, restaurants, a service area and
more than 1,000 parking spaces. The
project that will create more than 2,500
jobs.
The new Mozambican shopping centre is
scheduled to open in late 2017.
Although this is the first investment by
Actis in Mozambique, the international
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fund has an investment portfolio of over
200 projects in 44 countries around the
world, with a total of US$9-billion in
invested capital.
Louis Deppe, a partner of Actis East
Africa Real Estate, said the fund would
announce “new investments in
Mozambique very soon” and added that
the “Baia Mall is an international project
that aims to respond to the needs of the
Mozambican market”.
Source: MacauHub
Real estate industry receives shake-up
in Nacala-Porto
The real estate market in the port city of
Nacala (Nampula Province) experienced
a significant surge between 2011 and
2015, with the construction of buildings
and rental of apartments stimulated by
major projects such as the construction of
the local international airport and the
Nacala-a-Velha coal terminal.
At the time, the demand for real estate
was great, with supply insufficient to
accommodate the workers of the
companies providing services to the two
international projects, many of them from
all over the country – and the world.
Property in suburban neighbourhoods
appreciated as people invested heavily in
real estate. Allied to this, the construction
of the airport heralded a promising future
for hotels and tourism.
However, with the completion of the two
projects and the deceleration of the
country’s and world economies, the real
estate business with its new residential
and commercial property, hotels and
rental sector, began to face problems.
 Return to Contents Page

The rent on a ‘type three’ house in a good
neighbourhood, around MT120,000 a
month in 2011, has fallen to less than
MT30,000. A ‘type two’ apartment in the
same area rented for about MT40,000 per
month; today, it is MT9,000. Many
buildings, some completed and others
unfinished, stand empty. The exit of many
investors from the Special Economic Zone
has transformed into “white elephants” the
apartment blocks that were built when
business was promising.
Paralysed works:
The crisis in the sector has brought many
projects to a halt, with owners waiting for
better days to resume work. They are
visible across the city, their workers idle.
Many of the projects were started by
Mozambicans of Lebanese origin who did
not want to speak to Notícias. These
citizens came to Nacala-Porto at the
height of the boom to sell real estate to
national and foreign companies settling in
the city for the business opportunities
associated with the projects then
underway. One reporter also learned that
the current economic and financial crisis
has forced some construction companies
to suspend work, particularly in the
tourism and hotel industry.
financial resources was greater than the
local supply. “Because these projects
brought with them a qualified workforce
demanding decent accommodation, when
they signed contracts with the companies,
they requested accommodation”,
explained António. Owners were obliged
to refurbish properties, with some
borrowing from banks to finance work
they have yet to see any return on.
“Currently, prices tend to conform to our
reality. There are individuals who have
become indebted to the bank to acquire
land in Nacala-a-Velha and today do not
know what to do with this land. So too
some hotels have been built there and
have not so far even been opened”, he
concludes. António says better times will
return to the Nacala-Porto real estate
sector. Other investment opportunities are
lurking there, especially when gas
extraction in the Rovuma Basin in Cabo
Delgado starts.
Source: Jornal Notícias/Luis Norberto

Effects of mega projects:

According to economist Antoninho

António, the current crisis in the Nacala
real estate market is due to the effects of
the construction of the international
airport, the multi-user coal terminal in
Nacala-a-Velha and the rehabilitation of
the railway transporting coal from Tete.

At the time, he explains, real estate rental

prices were artificially high because of the
demand for accommodation by qualified
technicians, and because the demand for

48

Agriculture & Fishing:
From now defunct IPEX, Macaringue
will direct the Institute of Cereals of
Mozambique
On 1 November 2016, the government
wound up the Institute for Export
Promotion (Instituto de Promoção de
Exportações, IPEX) with the promise that
some officials would be reinstated in other
state institutions.
Among those is IPEX’s former chairman,
João Macaringue, who was sworn in as
director general of the Mozambican
Institute of Cereals by Prime Minister
Carlos Agostinho do Rosário on Thursday
2 March.
Macaringue replaces Sidónio dos Santos
in his new job, with responsibility for
regulating and promoting agricultural
production and marketing at a time when
the country faces the challenge of
increasing production and ending hunger.
In fact, the Prime Minister demanded co-
ordinated effort to create a food reserve
capable of filling the national deficit.
“The Mozambican Grain Institute, an
agricultural marketing agent, must monitor
the production chain from the purchase,
storage and conservation to the sale of
agricultural products”, Prime Minister
Rosário said.
In addition to Macaringue, the Prime
Minister also swore in Arsénio Sarmento
as director general of the Sports
Promotion Fund, replacing Adamo Bacar.
Sarmento is charged with mobilising funds
for the promotion of sport and
construction of sports infrastructure.
Prime Minister Rosário also swore in
Geraldo Albasini as deputy director
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general of the National Institute for Quality
Standardisation, where he will assist
Alfredo Sitoe in certifying the quality of
products sold to consumers.
The nominees promised to do their utmost
to honour missions entrusted to them.
“We’re leaving one challenge and taking
up another. What matters is that we adapt
existing tools to what we want. Let’s go.
What is wanted is work”, said Macaringue.
Source: O País
Locust plague and drought look set to
cause hunger in central Mozambique
A locust plague is destroying agricultural
crops already hit by drought, and
hundreds of desperate small farmers in
the village of Chissua 2, in the Cahora
Bassa district of central Mozambique,
foresee a “prolongation of hunger”.
“There is hunger”, says Chissua resident
Lina Hinácia Lungulane, summarising the
poor harvest in the last two growing
seasons, and foreseeing “an extension of
the hunger sacrifices” from the locust
plague destroying the ears of corn that
have managed to survive the heat.
“This season (2016-17) we started well
and it rained at the right time for sowing,
but we started having insufficient rain in
early February, at the crucial time for
crops, and the situation has worsened
with the locust plague”, another resident,
Alzira Albano, told Lusa.
In this underprivileged village of 722
inhabitants, the crop devastation (caused
by the drought) is affecting the entire
district of Cahora Bassa and the southern
part of Tete Province, famine has
changed the habits of the population, who
survive on only one meal a day.

“Usually people eat just one meal a day to
save on the little food they buy from
shopkeepers”, said Rogério Jimo, a local
government official, adding that social
support is being provided to 40 elderly
and other vulnerable groups.
According to Jimo, these single meals are
usually interspersed with cucumber and
watermelons, the production of which is
also “very scarce” this year, in contrast to
the past when they served as a basis of
support for thousands of people in the
region.
For emergency supplies, some village
women are harvesting pumpkin leaves,
beans and okra for drying before they are
devoured and totally destroyed by the
locusts.
“We dry and then store them in bags to
make curries or stews when we have
nothing else to eat”, said Albano, as she
spreads green herbs on a raffia bag
stretched under the intense sun.
The drought and famine in the south of
Tete contrasts with the abundance of
production in the north of the province,
which has generated business
opportunities for small traders, who supply
the hungry villagers with cereals and
vegetables.
Several peasants have try to swap
farming for cash work in mining or
charcoal production, but their initiative has
proved insufficient to curb the
unprecedented hunger plaguing hundreds
of villages in the region.
“The money we use to buy corn to make
our daily meal comes from gold mining
and charcoal production, but we still
cannot fight hunger, because we are
already weak at work because of a lack of
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food”, said Tito Zuze, whose hope of
seeing a crop this season is fading as
there is no insecticide to fight the locusts
and no rain to rejuvenate the crops.
Data from the Tete provincial government
indicates that the districts most affected
by the drought are located in the south of
the province and include Changara,
Cahora Bassa, Marara and Mágoè.
The drought is also being felt in the
southern part of Moatize and Chiúta
districts, along with the Dôa district in
eastern Tete, which together have
reported 108,000 farming families having
lost their crops.
Tete is the hottest province in
Mozambique, and the drought affecting
these nine districts has only contributed to
the considerable losses of production,
making it the province with the most
hunger clusters in the country.
Source: Lusa
Cattle breeders to get improved
embryos from Brazil
During the course of this year, cattle
breeders in Zambézia, Sofala, Tete and
Manica provinces will receive embryos
from improved cattle varieties from Brazil.
The ongoing project in the Zambezi Valley
consists of the in vitro production and
transfer of embryos for the genetic
improvement of beef cattle and milk.
The governor of Zambézia, Abdul Razak,
said on Wednesday 8 March in
Quelimane that about US$900,000 was
available for the project, which would
benefit about 1,500 family farmers and
boost the supply of meat and milk to the
domestic market.

“This programme introduces a complete
meat production, breeding, slaughtering,
processing and marketing chain, and is
expected to encompass around 1,500
breeders in the four provinces covered by
the Zambezi Valley”, he explained.
According to Razak, the programme
forms part of the government’s agriculture
and food security strategy.
President of the Industrial and
Commercial Association of Zambézia,
Inusso Ismael, said he believed that the
project would boost the economic
capacity of livestock farmers.
Source: Rádio Moçambique
Illegal fishing costs Mozambique
US$67-million a year
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
is a common enemy that all states should
fight against, declared Mozambique’s
Deputy Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters
and Fisheries, Henriques Bongece, on
Monday 6 March.
Speaking at the opening of a technical
assistance seminar on formulating
national strategies, aimed at improving
fisheries control measures, Deputy
Minister Bongece stressed that illegal
fishing “significantly reduces the economic
and natural resources of the global
economy and the marine environment”.
Its effects, he said, are felt most severely
on low income developing coastal
countries and small island states which
depend on fishing.
The cost to the Mozambican state of
illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
is estimated at US$67-million a year,
according to the statistics from the
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Ministry’s National Directorate of
Operations.
The Director of Operations, Leonid
Chimarizene, told the seminar that
measures are now under way to reverse
this trend. One of these measures is the
installation on board about 270 licensed
industrial and semi-industrial fishing boats
of VMS (Vessel Monitoring System)
equipment.
This is a system that allows fisheries
regulatory bodies to track and monitor the
activity of fishing vessels. Such systems
are used in various countries to improve
the management and sustainability of the
marine environment, through ensuring
appropriate fishing practices, and
preventing illegal fishing.
Boats carrying VMS equipment can be
visualised by regulators, who receive
information on exactly how they are
fishing. But the major problem now,
Chimarizene said, is posed by foreign
vessels without VMS equipment, which
enter Mozambique’s territorial waters and
are difficult to control.
“We have partnership agreements with
neighbouring countries”, he said, “and in
the event that any illegal fishing is
suspected, we activate measures of
collaboration with other countries to
monitor the vessels concerned”.
He stressed that no country should allow
any vessel suspected of illegal fishing to
enter its ports, under the Agreement on
Port State Control.
Chimarizene added that recently regional
patrols allowed the detection of two
foreign vessels from the Comoro islands
who were caught fishing illegally in

Mozambican waters, and were each fined
US$5,000.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) regards illegal,
unreported and unregulated fishing as a
threat to conservation and to the efficient
management of fishery resources.
FAO representative Castro Camarada told
the seminar that, although the impact of
illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
is not well documented, there is a general
sense that its costs and impacts are
serious both for coastal states and for
legal fishermen, whose livelihoods
depend on these resources.
He said that technologies are being
developed that will allow better tracking of
illegal, unreported and unregulated
fishing, and that there is a growing
political will to implement policies that
tackle this problem.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Tourism:
President Nyusi urges profitable and
sustainable tourism industry
On Monday 6 March, President Filipe
Nyusi urged the countries bathed by the
Indian Ocean to work together to
transform tourism into a profitable,
sustainable and inclusive industry.
In this way, he argued, a dynamic would
emerge from tourism products and
services which could be a driving force in
the growth of the economies of those
countries.
President Nyusi was speaking in Jakarta
during the third session of the IORA, held
under the theme ‘Towards the
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Sustainable and Equitable Growth of the
Indian Ocean Rim’.
In his intervention, President Nyusi said
the event was an appropriate forum for
exchanging experiences, and sharing
good practices and challenges, as well as
to draw up common perspectives for
capitalising on tourist activity.
“We are tourist countries par excellence”,
he said, “endowed with great natural
beauty. We are united in the richness of
the cultural diversity resulting from the
integration of four continents, all of them
bathed by the waters of the Indian
Ocean”.
Despite the beautiful beaches, islands
and marine biodiversity, which enchant
tourists and scientists alike, these
characteristics, President Nyusi said, are
not yet contributing to the welfare of the
people in many of the IORA member
states – hence the need to transform
tourism into a profitable and sustainable
industry.
The main constraint, he continued, lies in
the absence or inadequacy of
infrastructures which can facilitate the
development of tourism. Tourism “has to
do with access and flexibility”, President
Nyusi said. “Nautical sports, ecotourism,
beach tourism, cultural tourism and
business tourism are all influenced by the
question of access”.
This meant, he stressed, that massive
investment is required, particularly in air
and sea transport. “The development of
tourism has always been accompanied by
the modernisation of the connected
infrastructures. It generates revenue for
countries, and creates more jobs for their
citizens”.

Tourism, President Nyusi claimed, “can
also contribute to the level of
understanding and interaction between
peoples, promoting peace and concord in
the world”.
In Mozambique, he continued, the
government has chosen tourism,
alongside agriculture, mining, energy and
fisheries, as a key area for its socio-
economic development strategy.
Far-reaching reforms are under way, he
said, aimed at creating a business
POLITICS
Effective peace in sight: Dhlakama
confident in signing a definitive
agreement
The ceasefire in Mozambique that was to
end on Saturday 4 March has been
extended for another 60 days. Renamo
leader Afonso Dhlakama believes that this
agreement will last. “I believe that this
time [we will have a lasting agreement],
the way I talk to the President of the
Republic, he also says that he is prepared
to end all pending issues”, said Dhlakama,
speaking by phone to a group of
journalists gathered at Renamo
headquarters in Maputo from the district of
Gorongosa (Sofala Province).
Insisting that the “confusions in the
country will cease”, Dhlakama recalled
that he signed the 1992 General Peace
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environment more favourable to
investment in tourism. Procedures for
licensing economic activities are being
simplified, in order to encourage
investors.
President Nyusi hoped that Mozambique
could learn from the experiences and
visions of other countries in order to place
tourism in a top position in its
development strategy.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Agreement with then president Joaquim
Chissano and the Agreement on
Cessation of Military Hostilities in 2014
with Armando Guebuza, but the country
was unable to live in harmony. “We are
going to see the agreement that I am
going to sign with President [Filipe] Nyusi,
if it will end all the confusion in the
country, in order to have effective peace,
democratic elections, free and
transparent, for the development of
Mozambique”, said Dhlakama.
The Renamo leader added that the
working groups on administrative
decentralisation and military affairs,
formed with the government in the context
of the peace negotiations, will work hard
over the next 60 days to present
proposals in their respective areas.

“What I can say is that serious work will
happen, because we will have to finish
this work, and then finally sign the final
agreement of hostilities so that there will
be effective peace”, he said. The working
group on decentralisation, Dhlakama
continued, will have to submit a draft law
to the Assembly of the Republic, providing
for the direct election of provincial
governors and the financial autonomy of
the provinces.
“The military issue is simpler, it is the
framework of Renamo cadres in positions
of leadership of the Defence and Security
Forces, the [discussion on the detachment
from political parties] of the police and the
SISE [Information and State Security
Services] will come later”, he added. At
the press conference on Friday, the
Renamo leader announced the extension
of the truce in the confrontations with the
FADM for another 60 days, expressing
confidence in a definitive agreement.
“I invited you to communicate and declare
the extension of the truce, from 00:00
tomorrow. As of 4 March to 4 May of this
year of 2017, we will have another 60 day
truce”, Dhlakama said. The truce is the
third since December, after the first, which
lasted a week, was extended by 60 days
to 4 March.
Source: Lusa/TVM
Government/Renamo dialogue
resumes in Maputo
On Monday 6 March, the new phase of
the dialogue between the government and
Renamo in the presence of the
international Contact Group resumed in
Maputo.
The subjects under discussion on Monday
included issue of decentralisation and
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military matters. The session marked the
resumption of the dialogue between
delegations of the two parties that had
been interrupted since the end of last year
(2016).
These negotiations take place without
international mediation, but are supported
by national and foreign experts appointed
by both parties.
The discussions were supported by the
Contact Group, which consists of six
ambassadors and the representative of
the European Union.
Monday’s discussions took place behind
closed doors in a Maputo hotel, and no
statements were given to the press at the
conclusion of the day’s session.
However, recent statements by the
government and Renamo express
optimism with regard to talks.
Source: RFI/Deutsche Welle
Analysts question President Nyusi’s
contact group for peace talks in
Mozambique
The Contact Group created by President
Filipe Nyusi and made up of the
ambassadors of Switzerland, the United
States of America, the United Kingdom,
Botswana, Ireland, Norway, China and the
European Union was publicly presented
on Wednesday 1 March.
However, analysts say they do not
understand what lies behind President
Nyusi’s decision to call for the involvement
of foreign ambassadors in the political
dialogue only a month after dismissing
international mediators.
The President said at the time that the
Contact Group would join the government

and Renamo teams in discussing military
and decentralisation matters, without,
however, indicating their role.
Observers say they are trying to
understand this move, especially since
President Nyusi dismissed international
mediators in January, stating that: “the
Mozambican people are grateful and
appreciates the efforts of the mediators
who have been instrumental in bringing
the government and Renamo positions
closer together”.
Analyst Tomás Uamusse said he did not
understand this decision because “when
the President dismissed the international
mediators, I thought that the trust between
President Nyusi and Afonso Dhlakama
had reached such a level that they no
longer needed mediation”.
However, for Jerónimo Malagueta, deputy
of the Assembly of the Republic and
senior Renamo official, the formation of
the contact group, “is a peaceful matter
and results from understandings between
Dhlakama and President Nyusi”.
“One aspect related to the contact group
is that its members live in Mozambique
and this will mean that there is no need for
additional costs or funds to keep them in
the country”, he said.
When the Mozambican statesman
announced the suspension of international
mediation, he said the working groups,
comprising government and Renamo
representatives, agreed between the
President and Dhlakama, would discuss
military and decentralisation matters in the
presence of experts.
Source: VOA Portuguese
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Decentralisation by June unrealistic,
analyst says
Last week Renamo leader Afonso
Dhlakama expressed his desire to see the
decentralisation bill submitted and
approved by parliament by the end of the
first half of this year. Deutsche Welle
Africa interviewed Mozambican
governance expert Silvestre Baessa to
assess the viability of this ambition.
DW Africa: Is Renamo’s goal to complete
decentralisation by the end of the first half
of this year realistic if we consider the
complexity of the governance system?
Silvestre Baessa (SB): From the
deadline point of view, I think not. It’s a
very tight deadline, especially because of
the depth and complexity of the issue. I
believe that there are two situations that
must be considered. One is the possibility
of a political agreement that allows
Renamo to appoint governors in the
provinces where it won and the second is
decentralisation in the deeper meaning of
the word, which will require much more
work than has been done so far.
On the other hand, I do not believe that
Frelimo can take such a decision before
its Congress (26 October to 1 November),
which will be the highest meeting of the
party this year, and therefore difficult
decisions such as negotiations with
Renamo and the decentralisation package
itself and all other reforms, which have
very big implications not only for the state,
but in the relationship between Frelimo
and the Mozambican state, will not be
taken before this party meeting. I am not
sure about the viability of Renamo’s
deadline.

DW Africa: So it is more likely that this
package will be finalised before next
year’s municipal elections?
SB: Next year we have local elections,
and there is a package of reforms that is
being demanded by municipalities,
namely greater autonomy, greater
independence, greater room for political
manoeuvring, etc., and it would make
sense that for this new municipal
mandate, which starts after the 2018
elections, a new package should come
out. So I think there is an important
opportunity to put this decentralisation
package into effect with the municipal
bodies elected at the 2018 elections.
But I believe there is an opportunity until
the end of next year; the elections take
place in October. There is enough time to
move forward with some reforms that may
not only address Renamo’s concerns, but
also the MDM’s and society’s in general,
which call for greater management and
leadership capacity in local government,
especially in central development issues
such as the provision of basic services.
DW Africa: President Filipe Nyusi
recently announced a new contact team
for peace negotiations. Until December,
groups of international mediators
participated in this process. What dictated
the creation of a new group?
SB: I think that the President’s move to
invite the ambassadors of countries who
give direct support to the State Budget is
an attempt to solve, at a stroke, two or
three problems at the same time. We
have had this whole situation of the
[hidden] debts, and this model can be far
more effective than the model of the
mediators, because here it is not only a
political issue but also a content one.
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Some of these countries have been at the
forefront of the discussion of a set of
reforms, from public sector reform,
decentralisation, etc. They have
knowledge and experiences that can be
useful in forming a decentralisation
package that better responds to the
wishes of the people and Renamo. So this
may be one of the smartest steps the
president has ever taken in his
relationship with the co-operation
partners.
Source: Deutsche Welle
MDM wants a place at the dialogue
table
The Mozambican Democratic Movement
(MDM) says that the President is
demonstrating an exclusionary attitude in
not appointing MDM representatives to
join the government and Renamo working
groups that are discussing peace, even
while President Filipe Nyusi talks about
inclusion.
The MDM has long been demanding its
involvement in the current political
dialogue in Mozambique and had hoped
that a representative of the party would
join the teams discussing military and
decentralisation issues with the support of
foreign ambassadors.
At the recent meeting between the head
of state and the chairman of the MDM,
President Nyusi said he would report
everything that was being discussed in the
political dialogue to Daviz Simango.
But according to Assembly of the Republic
deputy and senior member of the second-
largest opposition party in Mozambique,
Fernando Bismarque, this diminishes the
presidency.

“I think it diminishes the head of state to
say he will report everything that is
happening in the dialogue to the MDM
president. I think that the President should
use his constitutional powers and reserve
a place for the MDM in the political
dialogue”, he said.
Bismarque also said it was necessary to
“lay the foundations for a true national
reconciliation, because one cannot speak
of peace without reconciliation”. Some in
Frelimo, however, consider the MDM
position on the current political dialogue to
be too pessimistic.
The MDM currently governs in four
important municipalities: Beira (Sofala
Province), Nampula (Nampula Province),
Quelimane and Guruè (both in Zambézia
Province).
Source: VOA Portuguese
“It is not necessary for civil society to
be at the negotiating table” – Afonso
Dhlakama
Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama recently
said that the civil society organisations
that claim to actively participate in the
ongoing political dialogue do not have to
“make such a fuss”. According to
Dhlakama, the advice and the proposals
that they put forward through the seminars
and various lectures are enough.
Dhlakama explained that “civil society as it
is, in any free and democratic country,
makes proposals and advises the parties”.
Last year, the civil society organisations
that made up the Monitoring Panel on
Political Dialogue for Peace (Painel de
Monitoria do Diálogo Político pela Paz),
but without any representation at the
ongoing talks in Maputo, said they
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planned to bring the leadership of the
government and Renamo, as well as that
of the people, together in a “national
conference on peace, reconciliation and
development”, with the aim of trying to
persuade the government and Renamo to
sign a final agreement and to ensure
forgiveness among Mozambicans.
At the time, Salomão Muchanga,
president of the Youth Parliament, who
hosted the above panel, said that the
country “needs a sincere, urgent and
sustainable peace” and “enough
excludable dialogue” promoted by the
executive and by the opposition party.
However, on Friday 3 March, Dhlakama
said that: “it is not necessary for civil
society to pull up a chair to be at the
negotiating table”.
On Monday 6 March, the Monitoring Panel
issued a statement in which it considered
that limiting the discussions to “a group of
Frelimo and Renamo militants supported
by foreigners, excluding segments from
Mozambican society … will maintain the
same spirit of exclusion that resulted in
the total failure of previous attempts at a
genuine and lasting peace between the
Mozambicans”.
Source: @Verdade
Renamo requests the return of its
Nampula base
On Wednesday 8 March, the Renamo
Women’s League gathered on the
occasion of International Women’s Day to
reflect on the political-military situation in
the country.
Although there are steps in place aimed at
achieving peace, the women’s wing wants
concrete and swift action from the main

role players. In addition, the women’s
league demanded the return of their
party’s base in Nampula, which was taken
on 8 March 2012.
“The 8th of March reminds us of 8 March
2012, when our colleagues in Nampula
could not celebrate International Women’s
Day, because our headquarters were
stormed. We therefore appeal to the
government and to President Filipe Nyusi
– who says he wants peace – to return to
us our headquarters in Nampula”, said
Maria Ines Martins, president of the
Renamo Women’s League.
Source: O País
President Nyusi praises courage of the
Frelimo women’s detachment
On Saturday 4 March, President Filipe
Nyusi praised the courage and
determination of the 25 women who
founded the Women’s Detachment of the
Frelimo guerrilla army exactly 50 years
ago, on 4 March 1967.
Addressing a ceremony in Maputo
celebrating the anniversary, President
Nyusi described the Women’s
Detachment (DF) as an expression of the
unequivocal determination of women to
take part in the construction of the
country.
The women of the DF, he said, cleared
the path for the affirmation of a society
free of discrimination based on gender,
where there would be equal opportunities
for all before the law.
The founders of the DF, he continued, had
faced and defeated those voices who
opposed the inclusion of women in the
national liberation struggle. The best way
of honouring their sacrifices was to
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continue to work for a society of equality
between men and women.
“The Women’s Detachment was the
prelude to a broad front for the
emancipation of Mozambican women”,
said President Nyusi. “These women
dedicated their lives to ensuring that
Mozambique would be free of the colonial
yoke. That is why, 50 years later, we pay
homage to the women of the DF, for
bearing privations during the liberation
struggle, and, above all, for overcoming
those privations”.
All Mozambicans, he added, are called
upon to make the dreams of those women
their own dreams.
The ideals that inspired the women of the
DF, said the President, continue to inspire
the women of today. “We are profoundly
grateful to you for your determination, for
your honesty, and for the example of
heroism which you set for the
Mozambican people, and particularly for
the youths of today and tomorrow”, he
declared.
President Nyusi pledged that his
government will continue to prioritise
gender equality, and reaffirmed his
undertaking to continue working for the
consolidation of peace, national unity and
social well-being.
He reiterated his invitation to all
Mozambicans to advance together in the
search for lasting peace and tranquillity,
for sustainable development, and for a
social and political environment in which
everyone can make Mozambique their
own house, where they can live, work and
prosper.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique

National Assembly ratifies African
Charter on Democracy
On Thursday 9 March, the National
Assembly unanimously passed a motion
to ratify the African Charter on
Democracy, Elections and Governance.
The Charter was adopted at the 2007
African Union (AU) heads of state summit
and Mozambique signed the document in
2010.
The Charter’s declared intentions are “to
promote adherence to the universal
values and principles of democracy and
respect for human rights”, and “the
principle of the rule of law premised upon
respect for and the supremacy of the
Constitution and constitutional order”.
This entails “the holding of regular free
and fair elections to institutionalise
legitimate authority of representative
government as well as the democratic
change of governments”.
The Charter also commits AU members to
political pluralism, the separation of
powers, promotion of gender equality, and
the effective participation of citizens in
governance.
Signatories to this Charter are obliged “to
strengthen and institutionalise civilian
control over the armed and security
forces”, and “to take legislative and
regulatory measures to ensure that those
who attempt to remove an elected
government through unconstitutional
means are dealt with in accordance with
the law”.
In the event of a coup, or other
unconstitutional transfer of power, the
signatories of this charter are committed
to working together to restore
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constitutional rule and to see that those
who sought to overthrow a legitimate
government are brought to justice.
Any unconstitutional change of
government will also lead to the
suspension of the country concerned from
the AU, and “punitive economic
measures” may be taken against those
involved in overthrowing democratic
legitimacy.
This was entirely uncontroversial, and the
only change sought by deputies was to
improve the Portuguese translation of the
Charter.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Labour law to be revised this year
Mozambique’s labour law will be changed
this year, a decade after it came into
force, the Ministry of Labour, Employment
and Social Security announced on
Tuesday 7 March in a press release.
The revision is intended to adapt
regulations to the growing demands of the
labour market, including the start of
several new projects and a fall in
economic activity.
The Ministry statement does not specify
the points that will be changed, but it is
anticipated that these will be identified by
the Consultative Committee on Labour, a
body made up of employers, workers and
the government.
The process will take place in two parts,
comprising of a survey of the points that
should be revised based on the country’s
experience since the implementation of
the current legislation, followed by the
revision process itself. The Ministry of

Labour intends to extend the discussion to
other stakeholders, such as academics.
The law will not be replaced, Minister
Vitória Diogo explains. The goal is to
catch up, as the country has grown very
quickly in the last 10 years while labour
legislation has remained unchanged.
“The country has made very significant
progress in these last 10 years, which has
left some of these issues out of balance,
not only in the social, economic, labour
and legal fields”, the press release reads.
Minister Diogo stressed “the importance of
this revision, considering that this may
mean creating the conditions for more
investment, and with that the creation of
more jobs in the country, because all
reform, whether legal or otherwise, should
have as its goal the creation of a good
business environment and flexibility in the
market”. Source: O País
President Nyusi in Sofala on working
visit
On Friday 10 March, President Filipe
Nyusi travelled to the city of Beira to
commence a two-day working visit to
Sofala Province.
The head of the state visited areas
affected by the floods in Beira to learn
about residents’ current situation and
ongoing mitigation measures.
While in Beira, the President inaugurated
the Inhamízua Water Distributor Centre,
financed by the Mozambican government
and the World Bank as part of the Water
Supply and Institutional Support Project
(WASIS) as part of a programme of
investments for the improvement and
expansion of the city water supply system.
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The President was accompanied on his
visit by the Minister of Public Works,
Housing and Water Resources, Carlos
Martinho, along with staff of the
Presidency and other state institutions.
On Monday 13 March, President Nyusi
will travel to Japan for a four-day visit at
the invitation of the Japanese Prime
Minister, Shinzo Abe.
Source: Folha de Maputo/Zitamar News
Why opposition parties in southern
Africa struggle to win power
Over the last three decades there’s been
some progress towards institutionalising
multiparty democracy in sub-Saharan
Africa. Despite this, elections in the region
rarely result in changes of government.
Arecent survey by Afrobarometer – a non-
partisan African research network – sheds
some light on why this is the case.
The survey, which involved 9,500
interviews conducted in 2014-15 in
Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South
Africa and Zimbabwe, found widespread
support for multiparty politics.
But the results also show that opposition
parties face major obstacles to winning
majority support. These include the fact
that they aren’t trusted as much as
governing parties and that very often they
aren’t seen as a viable alternative to the
dominant ruling party.
All five countries are governed by parties
that emerged from liberation movements
and have been in power for decades since
independence. Although some of these
incumbents have lost some electoral
support in recent years, opposition
support has not been high enough to
unseat them.

The trust question:
The latest findings mirror the results of a
survey in 36 African countries in 2014-15
which found that opposition parties had
the lowest levels of popular trust among
12 types of institutions and leaders. While
trust in ruling parties was 46%, it was only
35% for opposition parties.
This was an improvement over the
situation more than a decade earlier when
trust levels in opposition parties was much
lower.
In Namibia and Mozambique levels of
trust in opposition parties were found to
be at the highest levels ever. But in
Zimbabwe trust in the political opposition
declined sharply after 2008-09. Similarly,
the proportion of Zimbabweans who said
they felt “close to” an opposition party
dropped from 45% in 2009 to 19% in
2014.
This dramatic reversal of fortune provides
an important lesson for opposition parties
in the other four countries. First, the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai,
was unable to leverage its role in
stabilising the country when it was part of
the Government of National Unity (GNU).
Secondly, infighting and increasing
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fractionalisation may have further shaped
public opinion about its viability as a party.
Unequal:
There’s a much more lopsided distribution
of power and resources for opposition
parties in countries with dominant
governing parties than for those in
competitive party systems. This, coupled
with a lack of governance experience,
makes it difficult for opposition parties to
be seen as credible alternatives.
Take the example of Botswana. The
Botswana Democratic Party, in power
since independence in 1966, is the
region’s most enduring dominant party. It
has even adopted the slogan “There is still
no alternative”.
Although the party has been able to
maintain a majority of parliamentary seats,
its share of the popular vote declined to
46.7% in 2014, the lowest level of any of
the dominant parties in the region.
Afrobarometer’s 2014 survey, which took
place a few months before the election,
showed that 44% of Botswana agreed that
the political opposition presented a viable
alternative vision and plan for the country.
In Botswana’s “winner-takes-all” electoral
system, a large part of the opposition’s
success in the 2014 election was due to
three parties forming a coalition – the

Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).
This reduced vote splitting. A recent
decision to expand the coalition to include
the country’s remaining major opposition
party, the Botswana Congress Party, has
led to speculation about the chance of an
opposition electoral victory in 2019.
Similarly, in South Africa, the opposition’s
strong showing in the 2016 local elections
has bolstered its optimism about its
prospects in the 2019 national and
provincial polls.
This success suggests that confidence in
the political opposition may have grown
since the 2015 Afrobarometer survey.
It could also reflect widespread
dissatisfaction with the governing African
National Congress and political
institutions, leaders and performance on a
range of key policy areas.
But public dissatisfaction with government
performance doesn’t necessarily translate
into perceptions that opposition parties
could do a better job, as Figure 2 shows.
This is particularly so in South Africa and
Zimbabwe. While eight in 10 citizens in
the two countries report poor government
performance on their top policy priority,
unemployment, only 37% say that another
political party could solve the problem.
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Role of opposition parties:
What role should opposition parties play?
Only a minority of citizens in the five
southern African countries with dominant
parties agree that the opposition’s primary
role should be to monitor and criticise the
government in order to hold it
accountable.
This is true even among respondents who
are opposition party supporters (Figure 3,
below). In South Africa there’s even been
a decline since 2008-09 in support for
opposition parties playing a “watchdog”
role.
This suggests that opposition parties
might put off potential voters if they are
seen to be constantly criticising the ruling
party rather than contributing to the
country’s development.
Opposition parties might do better if they
highlight their policy platforms and gain
citizen confidence in their plans and
capabilities.
This is a crucial insight for opposition
parties in the region as it runs counter to
the opposition’s conventional role in
Western democracies.
Source: The Conversation

SECURITY
US sees “low- intensity civil war” in
Mozambique
The annual report on human rights
prepared by the US State Department
uses the term “low-intensity civil war”,
coined by the Mozambican Human Rights
League, to describe the situation in the
country.
“Clashes between the government and
Renamo, which the Mozambican Human
Rights League regards as a ‘low-intensity
civil war’, have increased in the rural
areas of central and north-western
Mozambique and have contributed to over
10,000 people fleeing to Malawi”, the
document, released on 3 March, says.
The US notes that observers of the 2014
election, which brought Frelimo’s Filipe
Nyusi to power, found a “lack of
transparency” in the counting of votes and
other irregularities. The report says that
“the country has experienced significant
upheaval due to the continuing armed
conflict between the Defence and Security
Forces and the militarised members of the
opposition Renamo party”.
The State Department also recalls the
discovery of mass graves, and says that:
“although the government blocked access
to the site, journalists found about a dozen
bodies scattered in the surrounding bush”.
“Although a parliamentary inquiry has not
reached any definitive conclusion [on
these mass graves], it was the first time
such a research commission was formed”,
the authors of the report add.
The US understands, therefore, that “the
most significant human rights problems [in
the country] are internal conflict, the
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arbitrary and extra-judicial executions, and
the lack of respect for civil liberties”.
The document underlines that the
government has taken some steps to
investigate these violations but that
“impunity has continued to be a problem
at all levels” and gives the example of
alleged government-sponsored “death
squads” targeting Renamo members.
“The government has promised to
investigate these activities, but so far no
charges have been laid,” the report
observes.
Source: Lusa
Government forces accused being
behind various abuses in central
Mozambique
During the first two months of the truce
(January and February), the FADM
stationed in the provinces of Manica and
Sofala were accused of carrying out at
least two attacks targeting Renamo
guerrillas, and were linked to various
forms of abuse and ill-treatment against
the local population. According to Renamo
leader, Afonso Dhlakama, in Gorongosa
(Sofala Province) the FADM “behaved
badly”, burning tents and looting goods.
In the locality of Nhassacara, in the
administrative post of Nhapassa, Báruè
district (Manica Province), government
forces allegedly carried out an attack
against the Renamo guerrillas stationed in
the area. According to Dhlakama, his men
did not respond to this provocation
because they were not ordered to.
Another attack was allegedly carried out
on Sunday 26 February, when forces from
the independent Chimoio battalion carried

out an incursion to the Renamo base in
the town of Chua, Manica district. Once
again, the Renamo guerrillas allegedly
refrained from responding because they
were not given permission to react.
According to Dhlakama, the FADM
apologised for their action two days later
and the government was informed of the
alleged incident.
Dhlakama insists that the situation in
Mozambique is calm and that attacks
targeting Renamo bases have stopped.
However, he laments the constant
incidents that violate human rights.
“I do not wish to elaborate on this”,
Dhlakama said on Friday 3 March via a
telephone conference held with journalists
to announce the extension of the truce for
a further two months.
According to the Renamo leader, the most
frequent violations occur in places where
populations engage in trade, whereby
government forces allegedly seize the
assets of the sellers and threaten them.
“The FADM themselves are agents of the
Traffic Police, and they intimidate
motorists on the public highway … they
stop the cars, ask for between MT15,000
and MT30,000 and if you have no money
your car stays with them”, alleges
Dhlakama.
According to Dhlakama, this behaviour is
common and cautioned that, if his men
were not as disciplined as they are, they
would have violated the truce in
retaliation, “because the FADM ambush to
capture men”.
According to the guidelines of the truce,
the FADM may (for security reasons)
patrol within a three to four kilometre
radius of the Renamo bases; however,
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Dhlakama accuses the FADM of violating
the agreement by ignoring the patrol
boundary. “Last week they [the FADM]
took two women and forced them to
spend the night at a FADM position in
Tazaronda.
Source: @Verdade
Renamo members kidnapped in Manica
On Monday 6 March, unidentified men
beat and kidnapped two members of
Renamo, when they tried to re-open a
Renamo office at Honde, in Barue district
(Manica Province). The Honde office was
closed during the renewal of the Renamo
insurgency in 2016. Honde is near the site
of major Renamo ambushes against
vehicles on the road between Manica and
Tete provinces.
With the truce declared by Renamo leader
Afonso Dhlakama in late December, and
now extended until May, Renamo
members have set about resuming normal
political activities and reopening offices
that had been temporarily closed. But in
Honde, when Renamo members went to
what had been their office, they found that
the building was flying the flag of the
ruling Frelimo Party. When they asked
what was going on, they came under
attack.
According to the witnesses who spoke to
O País, about a dozen people, armed with
sharp instruments, attacked the Renamo
group. One of those who escaped the
attack, Maria Joaquim, said “a group of
men appeared carrying stakes and
bamboo. They told us to run away, so we
did start to run”.
She said they kidnapped two Renamo
members, whom she named as Bengala
and Lucas Zacarias. So far the two are

still missing, and the case is in the hands
of the police.
“This is our office”, declared the Renamo
Barue district delegate, Celestino
Daimone. “During the conflict we
abandoned it, and our offices were
occupied by other people. This is one
case. When we arrived, we approached
Frelimo to ask them what was going on,
and to convince them to remove their flag
and give back our office. Then the
confusion began”.
According to unconfirmed information, an
eyewitness told reporters that the group of
attackers allegedly accused Bengala of
“spoiling the area by bringing armed men
into the region”.
On the afternoon of Thursday 9 March,
Sofrimento Matequenha, a Renamo
provincial political delegate in Manica, told
reporters that investigations into the two
missing Renamo members had not
produced any new leads.
“We went to the graveyard where they
said the bodies were, but they were not
there, and it would be useless to continue
to search a whole bush in vain, without
concrete clues”, Matequenha said,
condemning the provocation that
culminated in the disappearance of the
party members.
Matequenha has no doubt that the
abduction was linked to the “political
ignorance” of the members of Frelimo,
whom he accused of being the instigators
of the incident that ended in the beating
and disappearance of the two Renamo
members.
“They usurped and destroyed our
headquarters in the time of confusion, and
built their own house there and hoisted
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the Frelimo flag over it, so when they saw
the Renamo brigade coming to take the
place back, that was it, there was
confusion”, Matequenha said. Police have
yet to comment on the incident but have
promised clarification.
Meanwhile, in Quelimane (Zambézia
Province), Renamo is facing no such
difficulties. According to O País, Renamo
is resuming its political work in the
province, and boasts that it will win the
2018 municipal elections throughout
Zambézia. Speaking to Renamo members
in Quelimane on Tuesday, Renamo
official Latifo Ismael declared that the
truce is a reality and nobody should be
afraid of being threatened.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/O País/Lusa/Moçambique Media
Online/VOA Portuguese
Sofala residents return home following
the extension of the truce
Hundreds of residents of Vunduzi (Sofala
Province), who fled their homes and
agricultural fields because of the political
tension, have begun to return to their
homes. The return of the population is due
to the truce between the government and
Renamo, initially decreed in December
last year and recently extended for a
second time.
Following the truce, small business and
semi-collective passenger transport were
resumed between the town of Gorongosa
and casa banana, passing through
Vunduzi and Satunjira. Despite the
presence of the Defence and Security
Forces, the local population is said to be
living without fear of a possible exchange
of shots between government forces and
Renamo men.
Source: O País
 Return to Contents Page

CRIME

The following graphs and map relate to the political and security incidents in Mozambique
from 01/01/2016 to 23/02/2017.

GRAPH 2: Region by Day of Week

GRAPH 3: Province by Time Period

Should you wish to view the full report and additional statistics on
Mozambique incidents please email alerts@rhula.net

66

Portuguese authorities “very
concerned” about disappearance of
Portuguese citizen
The Portuguese authorities are “very
concerned” about the lack of information
on the whereabouts of the Portuguese
businessman missing since the middle of
last year, the Portuguese Foreign Minister
told Lusa on Friday 3 March.
“The Portuguese authorities – the
President of the Republic and the
government – are very concerned, as is
their duty to act when it comes to the
disappearance of a fellow citizen in a
region such as Mozambique, especially
when, several months after it occurred, we
have no concrete information to tell them
[the family] of the fate, the destination or
the whereabouts of this fellow citizen”,
Minister Augusto Santos Silva said.
A week ago, the Portuguese Foreign
Ministry reported that the Mozambican
Interior Minister “gave an account” in
Lisbon to President Marcelo Rebelo de
Sousa, and to Prime Minister António
Costa, “that investigations by the
Mozambican authorities on the situation of
the Portuguese citizen who disappeared
in Mozambique in mid-2016 continue”.
Mozambican Minister Jaime Monteiro
transmitted this information as the envoy
of President Filipe Nyusi.
“We have done everything we can from a
diplomatic and political point of view to
obtain information on this case. The
Mozambican authorities tell us that they
are carrying out the necessary police and
judicial investigations”, Minister Silva said.
“The very positive steps taken last week in
the political dialogue between the
Mozambican government and Renamo
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could improve the conditions for these
police investigations to be effective”, he
added.
Portugal is awaiting developments in the
case of the missing Portuguese man and
has offered the Mozambican authorities
“any co-operation they deem necessary
and useful, whether at the police or
judicial level”.
“The Mozambican authorities say that it is
necessary to create conditions of security
so that the police can do a more effective
job, and they think that now there will be
an improvement in these conditions”,
Minister Silva said.
Asked if the delay in Mozambique’s official
response troubled the Portuguese
government, the Minister replied: “It is not
a matter of being troubled or satisfied. It is
a question of doing our job, which is to
always ensure that the interests and rights
of the Portuguese are being respected”.
Source: Lusa
Renamo accused of being behind the
abduction of Portuguese businessman
in Sofala
The Interior Minister, Jaime Monteiro, was
in Portugal last week to elaborate on the
July 2016 abduction of the Lusitanian
businessman in Gorongosa (Sofala
Province). The situation is said to have
resulted in diplomatic unease owing to the
lack of clarification on the matter.
In separate meetings, the Mozambican
Minister told the Portuguese President
that “investigations are ongoing”, whilst
alluding to the possibility that Renamo
may have been behind the abduction.
Both meetings have since been described

as “not having the desired effect for either
party”.
During the meeting, Portugal offered to
collaborate with Mozambique in the
investigation with regard to juridical
matters. However, Portugal is said to have
received an evasive response to its offer.
In addition, the Mozambican Minister said
that it has been suggested that Renamo,
which has armed bases in Gorongosa,
was involved in the abduction. This theory
is allegedly based on information
communicated by the businessman’s
family.
This statement came as a surprise to the
Portuguese authorities, especially since
the family never conveyed such
information to them over the course of the
past eight months, during which time the
Portuguese authorities have kept in close
contact with the family.
According to Público, although the
businessman disappeared in Gorongosa,
“Lisboa believes there is strong evidence
that suggests that Renamo had nothing to
do with the case” and that “other clues
should be investigated”.
According Público, Minister Monteiro’s
visit to Portugal was disappointing.
A high-level state official allegedly told
Público that “In practice, diplomatic
relations with Mozambique are frozen … I
would not be surprised if some
investments were cancelled …
Mozambique is playing with fire …
Investors have to feel safe and know that
the authorities will co-operate if one of
their citizens disappears”.
Source: @Verdade
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Renamo denies any link to
disappearance of Portuguese citizen
On Tuesday 7 March, Renamo rejected
allegations that the party was in some way
involved in the 2016 disappearance of a
Portuguese businessman in Sofala
Province. Party spokesperson António
Muchanga said that: “Renamo had
nothing to do with the abduction of the
Portuguese citizen”, and accused
Mozambican judicial authorities of failing
to investigate the case properly.
“There were people who volunteered to
help in the investigations and the
government refused”, Muchanga said,
challenging the Mozambican judicial
authorities to conduct a serious
investigation into the case.
Without being specific, Muchanga said
that people in the area knew who
kidnapped the Portuguese man and what
means of transport was used. “He who
owes nothing, fears nothing”, he went on
to say. “So we appeal for common sense
on the part of President Nyusi’s envoys.
Only this will show that he is negotiating
peace open-heartedly, we cannot deceive
ourselves”.
Renamo denied being involved in the
incident, characterising the accusations
made by the Interior Minister as “absurd”.
According to Público, Minister Jaime
Monteiro said there were suspicions that
Renamo, which has armed bases in
Gorongosa, was involved in the
abduction.
“The position of President Nyusi’s envoy
is absurd”, Muchanga said. If it is
confirmed that he made these statements,
“he is rendering a poor service to the
Mozambican state”.

“More than eight months have gone by,
and relatives of the man who disappeared
have come to Mozambique several times
to speak with official entities, and never
has the government offered this version. It
is an attempt to ‘cover the sun with the
sieve’ which can only tarnish the good
name of our country”, Muchanga added.
Source: Lusa
Thieves on the prowl in Maputo and
Matola
Police in the cities of Maputo and Matola
have recently noticed a new tactic used by
car and accessory thieves. These
criminals throw rocks at windshields in the
dead of night and spring into action when
drivers stop to investigate and assess the
damage. Folha de Maputo says it has
information that police in Malanga and
Maquinag and the Mounted Brigade have
received reports from motorists who have
fallen victim to this new criminal syndicate.
Worst affected are Avenida OAU (after the
roundabout in the Avenida 25 de
Setembro direction), the EN4 before the
toll gate (especially at the pedestrian
bridges), and the Estrada-Velha in the city
of Matola.
Source: Folha de Maputo
Fake traffic cop accused of soliciting
bribe, swallowing vital piece of
evidence
A 26-year-old man caught impersonating
traffic police has been in police custody
since Friday 3 March. The accused
attempted to extort MT30,000 from a
Portuguese driver who he claimed had
committed a traffic infringement.
The accused, however, denies the
allegation and claims simply to have
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drawn the infringement to the driver’s
attention. “I just told him that he was
committing an infringement. I did not
charge him any money”, he explained.
However, the Maputo police
spokesperson, Paulo Nazaré, said that
the accused, whose name has not been
revealed, had been practicing this activity
for some time using a letter of
identification from the traffic police. “The
young man is a criminal and used a letter
of identification, which he swallowed at
the time of his arrest”, Nazaré said.
Source: @Verdade/O País
INAE inspector detained for corruption
in Maputo
On Monday 6 March, Mozambique’s
Central Office for the Fight against
Corruption (Gabinete Central do Combate
à Corrupção, GCCC) announced the
detention of an inspector from the
National Inspectorate of Economic
Activities (Instituto de Actividades
Económicas INAE), who was caught red-
handed taking a bribe.
The inspector, who was not named, was
caught taking MT8,000 (about US$117)
out of a total of MT30,000 demanded from
the manager of a commercial
establishment (also not named) in
Maputo.
A press release from the GCCC said the
man detained was one of three inspectors
who inspected the establishment and then
demanded a bribe of MT30,000 to avoid
payment of a fine for the various
irregularities detected.
“This practice is a criminal offence”, said
the release, “since the INAE inspectors
took advantage of the work they were

doing for corrupt purposes”. It urged all
business people not to pay bribes to
public servants, but instead to denounce
to the authorities anyone seeking bribes
or making illicit charges.
The GCCC also announced the arrest of a
police officer from the health department
of the General Command of the
Mozambican police force, who had
charged candidates MT60,000 for
admission to an initial course at the basic
police training school at Matalane, just
outside Maputo.
Candidates must be in good health before
they can join the police and attend
courses, and this requirement opened the
path for corrupt behaviour by this
individual. This arrest confirms what has
long been suspected – namely that
candidates for the police force are now
obliged to bribe unscrupulous officers in
order to join.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Large scale driving test fraud
uncovered in Maputo
Over 1,100 driving tests in Maputo city
and province have been annulled because
of fraud by the candidates. The National
Institute of Land Transport (Instituto
Nacional de Transportes Terrestres,
INATTER), which is responsible for
issuing driving licences, issued a
statement identifying the candidates
concerned, not by their names, but by bar
codes, filling an entire page of the Maputo
daily paper Notícias.
Under the driving test regulations, none of
these candidates should be able to obtain
a driving licence, and they must wait at
least 12 months before sitting the test
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again. Cited in Thursday’s issue of the
independent newssheet Mediafax,
INATTER spokesperson Vasco Tovela
said the frauds took place during the
multi-media written exams on driving
theory. The most common form of
cheating was simply to ask somebody
else to sit the test. The candidate did not
even enter the examination room, but just
sent in a surrogate, presumably an
experienced driver.
Given the scale of the fraud, this looks like
an organised criminal enterprise, in which
significant sums of money no doubt
passed hands.
Most of the frauds took place over a year
ago, and so the candidates have been
called in to sit the test again. Tovela said
that many of them already had driving
licences: this was because the fraud was
not detected immediately, and so they had
time to sit the second, practical, part of the
test, and pick up their licences.
But once the theoretical tests were
annulled, the driving licences of those
candidates became null and void, and the
traffic police, working with INATTER, have
been confiscating them. The candidates
will have to re-sit both the theoretical and
the practical tests.
Asked about the current situation, Tovela
said that, although he could not be certain
that all the fraudulent schemes have been
dismantled, “the situation has greatly
improved”. So far only the INATTER
driving centres in Maputo and the
neighbouring city of Matola have been
investigated, but Tovela said the
investigations are now being extended to
the northern city of Nampula.
Source: Mediafax/Notícias/Club of
Mozambique

Police officer in Inhambane arrested
for selling drugs
On Friday 3 March, the PRM neutralised a
gang dedicated to the sale of drugs. The
gang was found to be in possession of an
unspecified quantity of cocaine, heroin
and marijuana. According to reports, a
police officer was among those arrested.
The local police command condemned the
corrupt officers behaviour and warned that
a criminal case has been opened against
the gang, which could result in the
expulsion of the officer from the police
force.
Authorities said the group was wanted for
their involvement in other crimes not only
in the provincial capital, but also in
Maxixe.
Source: O País
Crew of train involved in wheat theft
arrested
The police arrested nine railway workers
for involvement in the theft of 20 tons of
wheat last month.
The nine were members of the crew of the
train that was robbed, and they helped
organise the theft. The police arrested six
of them at Messica, in the central province
of Manica, and the other three in the
neighbouring province of Sofala.
The theft occurred on 25 February, when
the train was carrying a cargo of wheat
from the port of Beira to Zimbabwe. When
the train stopped in Messica, a gang of
thieves started looting the wagons. The
police believe they intended to sell the
wheat on the informal market.
Five members of the gang were caught
red-handed as they moved the sacks of
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wheat from the wagons to waiting pick-up
trucks. The police seized four of these
vehicles.
Manica provincial police spokesperson
Elcídia Filipe said it was thanks to a tip-off
from the local population that the theft was
interrupted and the criminals arrested.
This was by no means the first such theft:
Filipe said local people had seen trains
stopping in the Messica area, and
unloading goods on several occasions,
both in broad daylight and at night.
The train was operated by Mozambique’s
port and rail company CFM, which worked
with the police to identify the thieves. A
representative of the CFM central division,
Luis Jone, told reporters that whenever
anything of the sort happens the train
crew and the security accompanying the
train are asked to investigate.
The police at Messica had already told
CFM that on 25 February they had
recovered wheat looted from the train.
Jone said the CFM investigators then
went to the rail station at Machipanda, on
the border with Zimbabwe, “and we
confirmed that grain had indeed been
taken from some of the wagons”.
This flatly contradicted the version of the
crew and the security escort who denied
there had been any theft at all, and
claimed that the wheat arrived at
Machipanda in good condition.
This is not the first case of theft from
trains on the Beira-Zimbabwe line in
recent months. “There was an incident in
the village of Revue in December, when
unspecified amounts of maize and wheat
were taken”, said Jone. “Another theft
occurred on 2 January at Zimpinga, in
Gondola district, when 210 sacks of rice,
each weighing 50 kilograms, were stolen.

Legal proceedings in these cases have
been started. Assessment of the losses
has not yet been concluded”.
As for the four pick-up trucks into which
the stolen wheat was being loaded when
the police struck, they have now been
returned to their owners – even though
these men tried to bribe the head of the
Messica police post, Antonio Massaite,
with MT60,000 (about US$880). Massaite
refused the bribe, and the owners of the
vehicles will face charges of bribery as
well as of theft.
Johoane Rupia, owner of the two of the
trucks, told reporters he did not know
where the wheat had come from. He said
he had been contacted “by the owners of
the merchandise” to carry it into Messica
town, a distance of about 10 kilometres,
for which he would be paid MT2,000.
(See PRM recovers 20 tons of stolen
wheat on a train in Manica - page 70,
Rhula Weekly No.169).
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Diario de Moçambique
Man rapes and kills his sister in Gaza
Province
A 31-year-old man (identified as Rafael
Paulo Bila) was recently arrested by the
Gaza PRM on charges rape and murder.
According to reports, Bila is accused of
raping and murdering his 29-year-old
sister. Bila is believed to have killed his
sister in an attempt to spare here from
suffering from an unnamed illness. The
crime occurred during the course of the
week 24 February to 3 March in the
village of 3 de Fevereiro, Limpopo district.
Bila has allegedly confessed to the crime.
According to reports, the victim was
smothered to death with a handkerchief,
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and preliminary investigations show that
she was indeed raped and asphyxiated.
Bila allegedly remained with the body until
1 March, when he buried his sister in the
family cemetery. Residents spotted Bila in
the process of burying his sister and
called the police, who immediately
arrested Bila and began the process of
exhuming the body.
Source: @Verdade
Inharrime woman accused of
abducting a baby
On Friday 3 March, 28-year-old Selma
Américo Zavale was detained in Inhrime
district (Inhambane Province) on charges
of abducting a one-week-old baby from
the local maternity hospital.
Zavale admitted that she pretended to be
a hospital employee to gain access to the
baby. The detainee told the police that
she had recently suffered a miscarriage
as a result of drug use. Zavale said that
her husband returned to South Africa for
work after learning of her pregnancy, and
so she intended to kidnap the child in
order to pass it off as her own and save
her marriage.
She later told the police that she does not
know what came over her, claiming to
have been taken over by the devil. The
baby was later recovered thanks to the
collaboration of the population.
Once the baby was returned to its family,
police officials in Inharrime held sessions
in order to raise awareness with regard to
this type of crime, which has increased in
several areas in Mozambique over recent
months.
Source: Correio da Manhã/Rádio
Moçambique

Maputo man kills mother after she
refuses to give him food
A 27-year-old man from Gondola district
(Manica Province) was recently arrested
on charges of murder. According to the
detainee, who admitted to the crime, on
the day of the murder he went out to
bathe in the nearby brook, and when he
returned home he found his mother
preparing a meal. The perpetrator
demanded that his mother give him some
of the food and when she refused an
argument broke out.
The detainee subsequently reached for a
nearby machete and struck his mother in
the neck, killing her. The perpetrator
immediately fled to Chimoio were he was
apprehended by the police. Speaking to
the PRM, the detainee said that his sister
has sent evil spirits to kill him.
Source: @Verdade
Maputo city mulls MT240,000 fine for
illegal parking
Illegal parking in Maputo City may soon
get a fine of MT240,000 (around
US$3,494 at current exchange rates),
reports Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique. The measure, according to
the Domingo, “is being analysed by the
Municipal Assembly” as part of a set of
changes in the Traffic Post that the
Municipal Council intends to implement,
due to the growing wave of illegal parking
in the country’s capital. The Municipal
Council of Maputo City believes that the
illegal occupation of spaces for car
parking must be severely punished.
The reserve of space at the level of the
Traffic Post will have a new section with a
total of 11 articles, which will regulate
various situations related to daily life in the
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city, with penalties considered severe for
offenders. The other expected penalty is a
fine for occupying reserved spaces
reserved with a higher number of vehicles
than the corresponding legally authorised
area.
In the new posture a fine equivalent to
MT20,000 (about US$284) will be applied
for each extra vehicle parked in any
legally reserved space. The applicants for
the reservation of spaces for the parking
of vehicles have reportedly resorted
several tricks to get to park extra vehicles
in such spaces.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Domingo
Lack of water leads to vandalism
While the government fails to keep its
promise to supply water on alternate days,
residents in affected neighbourhoods
have diverted water pipes, while others
are reduced to washing clothes in
drainage ditches. Yet these residents still
receive regular bills regardless of the fact
that they are not receiving any water.
Despair has overcome Madalena
Matusse, a resident of Malanga
neighbourhood, west of Maputo. Water,
which she should be getting on alternate
days, has not run from her taps for more
than two weeks.
So Madalena goes to the drainage ditch to
wash clothes. The government is failing to
fulfil its promise to supply water every
other day. “I do not stay at home, I work,
but I’m here. I did not go to work because
of this [searching for water]”. In Matola’s
Trevo neighbourhood, Marta Matlombe
organises residents to divert a water pipe
that supplies other neighbourhoods:
“There’s no water in our backyards, so
today we decided to break into the

general pipe because we have no other
choice. We are living from well water and
they’re selling it for MT5 a bottle”. In
Mavalane, north of the capital, residents
have had no water for more than three
weeks but continue to receive invoices
without adjustment. Estevão Chiota has a
€4 bill to pay. “How is the water charge
coming to this if we’re not using it?” he
asks. “The taps have been dry for more
than three weeks, but they’ve sent
invoices for more than MT500.
Water is missing, but there is no shortage
of bills:
Verónica Zacarias also does not have
water, but, she complains, Aguas da
Região de Maputo (AdeM) continues to
send bills. “Here we are, two months
without water, but we receive invoices
regularly. Mavalane does not have water:
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we have to go to neighbouring districts
like Hulene, for example”. AdeM denies
that some neighbourhoods have water 24
hours a day, with spokesperson Afonso
Mahumane insisting they are all rationed.
“There may be isolated cases, in which
case we will intervene. If this is
happening, it may be that it is an isolated
area that may be receiving different rights
…” says Mahumane.
Regarding the bills, he says: “We sent
verification teams, and depending on the
situation adjustments will be made”. Water
restrictions in Maputo, Matola and Boane
are due to low levels in the Umbelúzi
River, which are drastically reduced owing
to the drought affecting the country this
last year.
Source: Deutsche Welle

HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND NGO’S
More than 2.1-million Mozambicans
face prospect of hunger
According to the United Nations (UN),
about 2.1-million Mozambicans face the
prospect of hunger, an increase of
700,000 compared to November, “in the
face of declining stocks and while waiting
for the next harvest” in April.
“Harvesting starts at the end of March and
in April, and as the months to the next
harvest pass by, last harvest stocks are
declining and the market is also more
difficult for buyers. Hence the increase in
the number of people affected”, World
Food Programme (WFP) representative in
Mozambique, Karin Manente, told
reporters.
Last year, Mozambique was one of the
countries worst affected by the drought
caused by the El Niño phenomenon, and
by mid-2016 international organisations
were already predicting a food crisis
between November of last year and April
2017.
According to Manente, in November the
number of people at risk of hunger
amounted to 1.4-million, but after a
reassessment carried out by the
government and partners including the
WFP, “the estimate increased to 2.1-
million”.
She said that the majority of people facing
acute food insecurity are in the south of
the country, in Gaza, Inhambane and
Maputo – and in the centre, especially in
Tete, Sofala and Manica provinces.
Source: Lusa
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Germany offers Mozambique €1.18-
million in food aid
The German government has announced
that it is making a further €1.18-million
(about US$1.25-million) available for food
aid and the acquisition of seeds in the
southern province of Inhambane.
This aid follows €550,000 donated last
year, via the NGO Welthungerhilfe
(German Agrarian Action), for food aid
and combating the effects of the El Niño
weather phenomenon in Inhambane.
According to a Tuesday 7 March press
release from German Co-operation, last
year’s project reached over 10,000 people
in the drought stricken districts of Mabote
and Govuro.
The new aid will allow German Agrarian
Action to extend its support to Massinga
district, and to cover about 25,000 people.
The food aid provided through this project
will be supplemented by the provision of
seeds to small farmers.
The aim, the release says, “is to meet the
need for basic foodstuffs, and to promote
production”.
Massinga was one of the districts worst hit
by cyclone Dineo, which struck
Inhambane on the night of 15 February.
The release adds that Germany has also
recently provided €500,000 to the NGO
CARE-Mozambique, and €13-million to
the WFP, to improve the food situation of
people affected by last year’s drought,
and, over the medium-term, to make them
more resilient to future dry periods.

German Agrarian Action has been
operating in Mozambique since the late
1980s, providing emergency aid, and
supporting rural development, and the
provision of water and sanitation services.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Observador/Lusa
About 900 hectares of crops lost in
southern Mozambique
Some 900 hectares of miscellaneous
agricultural crops have been lost in the
Guijá district (Gaza Province) to the rising
waters of the Limpopo River, and
authorities have issued an alert.
“The situation is complex and requires our
attention”, said Guijá district administrator
Arlindo Maluleque, adding that there are
points at which the rise of the river
destroyed bridges, constraining travel
between localities.
According to Maluleque, about 650 small
farmers have been affected by the floods,
affecting mainly the maize and tomato
crops, which are normally exported to
other districts, including the capital.
“At this point, according to what we’ve
been told, we will be hit by another wave
and this worries us”, Maluleque says. He
says that the long-term solution to the
problem is the construction of proper
water control infrastructure.
The Director of Economic Activities in
Guijá, Acácio João, told reporters that the
situation is complex and that the district
government has little option but to urge
people to carry on planting and take
advantage of what little rain has fallen in
the region after almost a year of severe
drought.
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“We are having problems acquiring seeds
as part of our response, and we need
partners quickly”, said João, adding that
the district had hoped to harvest more
than 121,000 hectares of miscellaneous
crops by the end of the first phase of the
current agricultural campaign.
The districts of Chókwè, Chibuto and Xai-
Xai are similarly affected by the Limpopo
exceeding alert levels, with the National
Disaster Management Institute (Instituto
Nacional de Gestão de Calamides, INGC)
estimating that about 34,000 families have
been affected. Heavy rainfall in South
Africa and Zimbabwe, through which the
Limpopo flows before reaching
Mozambique and the Indian Ocean, is to
blame.
The INGC maintains that after the floods
have receded somewhat, the population
must take advantage of the fertile period
to relaunch agricultural production.
Source: Lusa/O País
“I went to sleep hungry in this land
almost all of my childhood, but I
cannot watch my children suffer: It kills
me”
In Guijá district (Gaza Province), “things
are still complicated”, and after months of
severe drought, flooding is now the
problem, with the rising Limpopo River
affecting hundreds of farmers and
menacing the approaching growing
season. A little over four kilometres from
Caniçada, Rosita Muchanga, a 43-year-
old small farmer, assesses the impact of
the floods in her machamba, a plot of
about 50 square meters on one of the
banks of the Nkolawane River, a tributary
of the Limpopo.

Rosita explained to Lusa that she has lost
almost everything with the rise of the river
and today, threatened by what she calls
the “constant enemy” of the more than
92,000 people of this small forgotten
district in Gaza, she fears for her six
children’s future, because, since “Papa
Marcos [her late husband] died”, the field
had been the mainstay of her family’s
survival.
The pools of water in the sprawling fields
on the banks of the Nkolawane are
testament to the frustration of those who,
like Rosita, believed the new year would
usher in “better days”, and now, between
the mud and wet sand, reaps what little is
left to avoid an “old and well-known
enemy” in the lands of Gaza: hunger.
“I have no problem; I went to sleep hungry
in this land almost all of my childhood. But
I cannot watch my children suffer. It kills
me”, she confesses as she cleans her
muddy hoe. “It’s like a curse: when the
nightmare is not the drought, it’s the that
water takes everything”.
By the end of last year, Guijá, bordered on
the southwest by the second largest river
in southern Africa, was struggling with a
severe drought that left some 13,000
families in food insecurity after ruining two
agricultural campaigns, to the horror of a
population dependent on subsistence
agriculture.
With the little rain that fell in late February
after almost two years of hopelessness,
farmers in arid Guijá planted crops such
as corn and tomatoes, whose production,
in addition to domestic consumption, use
to supply neighbouring districts as well as
the Mozambican capital. But with heavy
rains in South Africa and Zimbabwe, the
Limpopo rose and flooded a significant
part of the agricultural land, mostly located
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in the river plain. “It is a paradox and a
cyclical problem. We thought times would
improve with the rain, but that did not
happen”, says director of economic
activities in Guijá, Acácio João. More than
900 hectares have been declared as lost
in this first phase alone, he says, and,
according to information from the INGC,
“things will get worse”.
Although the Limpopo problem is “not
new”, having beset the administrative post
of Caniçada in 2013 and neighbouring
Chókwè, so far nothing has not been done
to avoid the recurrence of the situation,
which requires “serious and intentional
intervention”. For the director of the
district’s economic activities, building
water management infrastructure in the
Mapai region, 400 kilometres from the
Caniçada administrative post, would
facilitate water control and ensure that
farmers were able to use the resource
well.
But the dream seems distant, judging by
the basic challenges that the district still
faces, such as the construction of roads
and a bridge over the Nkolawane River
and the improvement of the health and
education systems. “It would be a divine
blessing to have infrastructure like that.
We know it is not easy, but it would be a
relief for our population”, says Reginaldo
Matavel, head of the Chivoguene
administrative post, one of the worst
affected with more than 87 hectares of
various crops lost.
Matavel says the alternative has been to
encourage people to sell their livestock to
ensure that there is food, a process he
says is complicated in that most of the
people had already lost their livestock to
the drought.

“Things are not easy”, said the head of the
village of Chivoguene, adding that only
the help of partners and the INGC had, in
many cases, ensured that the district
government was able to assist farmers in
times of disaster. “Only a miracle will
finally solve this situation. It’s not possible
for people to live like this anymore”,
Matavel says.
But, pending the miracle, Rosita, like the
more than 600 farmers who have lost their
crops, are tired of “all this poverty” and,
once again assailed by the “curse” of
Guijá, thinks of leaving everything and
going to the capital. “I am tired of looking
at my children with nothing, and the
question that never leave me is: what
have we done to deserve this hunger?”
she asks.
Source: Lusa
Limpopo and Save Rivers burst their
banks
The Limpopo River has burst its banks in
the southern province of Gaza, leading
the authorities to urge people living near
the river banks in Chókwè and Guijá
districts to seek higher ground.
A food surge down the river, from
Zimbabwe and South Africa, raised the
level of the river in Mozambique sharply
as from Thursday 2 March. The flood
surge reached Chókwè on Friday, raising
the Limpopo to 7.5 metres, 2.5 metres
above flood alert level.
According to a report on the independent
television station STV, 600 hectares of
crops have already been lost and several
roads in the Limpopo Valley have been
cut, notably the Guijá-Chinhacanine,
Guijá-Chibuto and Chissano-Chibuto
roads. Visiting the threatened areas on
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Friday, João Machatine, the general
director of the Mozambican relief agency,
the INGC urged local communities to
accept the advice from the authorities and
stay away from the river. His key message
was that people should move,
immediately they receive the alert, rather
than risk being isolated by the rising
waters.
Further north, the Save River has, for the
second time this year, inundated the town
of Machanga, in the central province of
Sofala. The sharp rise in the level of the
Save has been attributed to torrential
rains in Zimbabwe. The administrator of
Machanga district, Tome José, cited by
Rádio Moçambique, said that the flooding
has affected 5,100 households in 20
villages.
The waters of the Save swept across
Muchanga on Friday morning. About
6,000 pupils in 13 school could not study
that day, and 10 patients at a local health
centre had to be moved to safer areas.
The road from the main north-south
highway to Machanga town is cut in two
places, said José, and an electricity pylon
has been knocked down by the river,
depriving the town of its power.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Two children die in Limpopo flood
Two children have died in the current
flooding in the Limpopo Valley, in the
southern province of Gaza.
The children lost their lives on the morning
of Saturday 4 March when, along with
seven adults, they were crossing the
Limpopo in a rowing boat, attempting to
reach Chibuto district. According to district
administrator, Brigida Matavele, the boat

overturned, and the two children drowned.
All the adults were rescued.
The river has inundated parts of Chókwè,
Guijá and Chibuto districts, although at
the weekend it did not reach the predicted
height of 8.3 metres. This would have
been 3.3 metres above flood alert level,
and enough for the river to have swept
over the top of the dyke built to protect
Chókwè town. The maximum reported
height of the Limpopo at Chókwè was 7.5
metres.
In Chókwè, 1,366 hectares of crops were
inundated, and 600 of these are regarded
as lost. In Guijá, 906 hectares are flooded,
and in Chibuto more than 300 hectares
are said to be lost.
Visiting the Limpopo Valley at the
weekend, João Machatine, the general
director of the INGC, said that, when the
waters retreat, it is crucial to take
advantage of the humidity and replant.
“We shall work with our partners to reduce
food aid, and bank on acquiring seeds”,
said Machatine. Chókwè needs 22 tons of
seeds, Guijá 40 tons and Chibuto 10 tons.
Two thirds of these requirements are for
maize seeds and the rest for beans.
Machatine praised the local authorities for
their prompt response to the flooding, but
noted there are still people who ignore
warnings. This was particularly the case
with warning signs placed on roads that
have been cut by flooding.
Some motorists are still trying to drive
through flooded roads. According to the
police in Guijá, one vehicle owned by the
National Roads Administration
(Administração Nacional de Estradas,
ANE) was swept away by the waters
which had cut the Canicado-
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Chicualacuala road (the road which links
Guijá to the northern districts of Gaza).
The driver escaped through a window in
the vehicle and told the police he had not
noticed that the road was cut.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Two hundred people forcibly removed
from Limpopo flooding risk areas
A week ago, the Limpopo was on the
verge of registering depths of more than
eight meters, enough to overflow its
protective dam and cause severe flooding
in the lower parts of the Chókwè, Chibuto
and Guijá districts.
After causing two deaths, flooding crops
and cutting roads, water levels in the
basin have started to fall, but some areas
remain flooded and the residents there
have refused to leave voluntarily. As such,
more than 200 people have been forcibly
removed from the area for their own
safety.
A reduction of water flow has also been
seen in the Save Basin, where floods
destroyed 47 houses and necessitated the
opening of three accommodation centres
in Sofala province’s Machanga district.
Source: O País
Save floods affect 6,000 people in Nova
Mambone
At least 6,000 people have been affected
by the flooding of the Save River in Nova
Mambone, Govuro district (Inhambane
Province). Water levels are falling, but, at
more than 5.5 meters, are still
considerably above alert levels.
Source: TVM

Belavista-Boane road cut by floods
The road link between Belavista and
Boane district (Maputo Province) has
been cut by flood waters from the
Changalane River.
According to Rádio Moçambique, the
situation is also affecting travel in
Changalane in Namaacha and Catuane in
Matutuíne.
According to Matutuíne administrator,
Artur Muandule, quoted by Rádio
Moçambique, the Estada Circular
contractor is on site and looking into the
possibility of restoring normal circulation.
“Circulation on the Belavista-Boane
section is temporarily interrupted by the
flooding of one of the small bridges under
construction in the area of Porto
Henrique”, Muandule said.
Source: Folha de Maputo
Aid agencies in Mozambique call for
support for Cyclone Dineo response
Aid agencies have called on the
international community to assist
communities affected by Cyclone Dineo
following last week’s launch of an appeal
by the United Nations.
The agencies work together as the
COSACA, a consortium of humanitarian
NGOs composed by Concern Worldwide,
Oxfam, Save the Children and CARE
supporting the government of
Mozambique.
The appeal for US$10.2-million will
support 150,000 people with lifesaving
assistance for the next three months.
Cyclone Dineo made landfall on the coast
of Inhambane Province on the night of
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Wednesday 15 February. Dineo brought
heavy rains and winds of more than 160
kilometres an hour.
According to official estimates, Dineo
affected more than 550,000 people,
destroying approximately 33,700 homes
and damaging another 71,000.
An estimated 1,600 classrooms across
Inhambane Province were damaged or
completely destroyed, affecting 5,500
teachers and 160,000 students. Seventy
health centres, including 52 maternal
health clinics, were also damaged, and
389 government offices.
By far Dineo’s greatest affect will be on
communities’ longer term food security.
Southern Africa is experiencing its worst
drought in 35 years.
The cyclone destroyed more than 29,000
hectares of crops including maize, ground
nut, cassava and beans. More than
135,000 cashew and coconut trees were
also lost, an important source of income
for many communities.
Mozambique is one of the world’s most
vulnerable countries to natural disasters
and climate change. Tropical storms and
cyclones are regular occurrences.
Together COSACA and the government of
Mozambique have so far provided
emergency kits containing tarpaulins,
blankets, mosquito nets and household
items, and chlorine tablets for clean water,
tents for maternity services in affected
health centres, and fuel for emergency
water pumping in Inhambane, but more is
needed.
“The main needs right now are shelter,
livelihoods, health and education”, said
CARE Mozambique Country Director,

Marc Nosbach. “We need to provide as
much support as we can so affected
communities can get on with their lives”.
“There’s great need in the world right now,
including here in Mozambique. Resources
are stretched by prolonged drought, El
Niño and now, cyclone Dineo. Investing in
the response now is an investment in
resilience for the future”, said Nosbach.
Source: CARE
Japanese government provides
US$636,000 for drought victims in
Mozambique
The Japanese government is making
available US$636,000 to support
Mozambican government and UNICEF
emergency programmes for vulnerable
families in Mozambique’s drought-stricken
areas.
The amount will help key government
partners and civil society respond
effectively to the specific needs of the
population and contribute to interventions
by the National Humanitarian Team and
the government in response to the El Niño
and La Niña phenomena.
“This generous contribution will help
partners deliver emergency nutrition,
health-care, education and protection to
45,500 people, including women and
children, to meet their most pressing
needs in areas hardest hit by drought or
flood”, UNICEF Representative in
Mozambique, Marcoluigi Corsi, said in a
press release sent by the Japanese
Embassy to Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique.
Corsi said he hoped that planned activities
would improve communities “resilience to
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disasters, as well as communities’
response to future disasters”.
Activities will focus on those areas most
affected by drought and conflict in
provinces prone to floods and cyclones,
including Gaza and Inhambane in the
south of the country, Manica, Sofala, Tete
and Zambézia in the centre and Nampula
in the north.
The Japanese embassy says the offer
comes in response to the devastating
impact of events related to the La Niña
phenomenon, such as the recent floods in
Inhambane, Gaza and Sofala. Japan
believes that there is an urgent need to
strengthen the preparedness and
response capacities in the most disaster-
prone provinces, given that poor
preparedness can lead to exacerbation of
any crisis.
The Japanese government has a history
of supporting humanitarian action in
Mozambique and has been a major
contributor to UNICEF, the Mozambican
government and partners in their efforts to
respond to the growing needs of
vulnerable populations.
“The contribution of the government of
Japan is vital to ensuring that UNICEF
can increase its emergency interventions
in case of drought, floods and cyclones,
and reach the most needy”, the embassy
said.
Partners to this programme are the
government of Mozambique, through the
Ministry of Education and Human
Development and Gender, Child and
Social Action, a key partner in the
implementation of the programme for a
period of 12 months; the INGC, United
Nations agencies, the Mozambique Red

Cross and non-governmental
organisations.
Other important partners in the provinces
are grassroots community organisations
which conduct home visits and provide
guidance on health and nutrition and
psychosocial support to help vulnerable
families cope with the trauma and
challenges of drought, flood and conflict.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Japan donates US$135,000 to support
infrastructure rehabilitation in
Inhambane
The province of Inhambane urgently
needs MT450-million for the restoration of
damages caused by cyclone Dineo. As
such, Japan has donated US$135,000,
which will be channelled towards the
reconstruction of schools, sanitation
facilities and water infrastructure.
Source: O País
The AWF supports Mozambique’s
resilience to climate change and
reducing vulnerability to floods in
Inhambane and Chimoio
The government of Mozambique and the
African Water Facility (AWF) have entered
into a grant agreement for a feasibility
study on Urban Sanitation, Drainage and
Solid Waste Management in Chimoio
(Manica Province) and Inhambane. The
grant agreement was signed on 27
January by the Minister of Economy and
Finance, Adriano Maleiane, and the
Country Manager for the African
Development Bank (AfDB), Joseph M.
Ribeiro.
The project was launched in workshops in
Maputo on 8 March, in Chimoio on 9
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March and another one will be held in
Inhambane on 14 March. This AWF €1.6-
million grant project will contribute towards
improving livelihood conditions and
climate change resilience for the 310,000
citizens of the Municipalities of Chimoio
and Inhambane. This will be achieved by
reducing the risk of flooding and improving
the public health.
Recurring floods:
Mozambique is regularly affected by
severe floods. Recently, the Inhambane
Province’s local population was severely
impacted by the strong winds and flooding
brought about by the tropical storm Dineo.
Such events reinforce the need to mitigate
the impacts of climatic disasters. The
effects are aggravated by a combination
of insufficient storm water drainage, sea
intrusion and old and collapsed sanitation
systems. Further, sanitation coverage is
low in Mozambique. In urban areas only
55-60% of the population has access to
sanitation services. In recent years, this
has been aggravated by declining support
allocated to sanitation services.
Commenting on the project, the AWF
Acting Co-ordinator, Jean-Michel Ossete,
said, “The AWF Development Plan and
Feasibility Study for Urban Sanitation,
Drainage and Solid Waste Management
project will pave the way for investments
aimed at improving climate resilience and
health in the two municipalities. This will
be achieved through improved services in
sanitation, drainage and solid waste
management. Not only will we reduce the
risk of flooding but we will also improve
people’s health. The Development Plan
covering the next 20-25 years will lead to
increased investments in climate change
adaptation, specifically in sanitation,
drainage and solid waste management

infrastructure and services, to the tune of
€30-million by 2020”.
Optimising the project implementation for
better results. The project launching
events in Maputo and Chimoio involved
the main stakeholders of the project,
including representatives from
Mozambique’s National Directorate for
Water and Sanitation, the AWF and the
AfDB, the project’s executing agency,
Chimoio municipal authorities and other
selected ministries. The launch workshops
were organised to ensure an efficient and
smooth implementation of the project.
Source: Relief Web
AECF, AGRA and stakeholders meet
over innovation, sustainable
development in Mozambique
On Tuesday 7 March, social development
stakeholders met in Maputo to discuss
funding and other mechanisms to
leverage low-income families in rural
areas.
Led by the Africa Enterprise Challenge
Fund (AECF), a continental body
supporting rural economic growth
initiatives, the event, which was organised
in partnership with the African Alliance for
the Green Revolution (AGRA), also
addressed the main barriers to small
businesses and organisations that want to
move towards sustainable transformation.
Speaking to the media on Saturday 4
March, AECF programme manager
Boleslaw Stawicki said that the
symposium would yield good results given
the presence of key players, some of
whom are working on the ground.
The AECF focuses on organisations that
seek to bring sustainable economic and
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development solutions to the vulnerable in
rural areas. Stawicki said that grassroots
government figures, such as provincial
governors and other leaders overseeing
various initiatives, were invited to what is
intended to be an inclusive symposium.
Under the motto ‘Investments in
Innovative Companies that Contribute to
Sustainable and Socio-economic
Transformation in Mozambique’, the
meeting reviewed activities financed by
the entity, which has been operating in
Mozambique since 2011.
Working in partnership with the African
Alliance for the Green Revolution, the
AECF is one of the largest rural
development funders in Africa and has
disbursed more than US$250-million in
sustainable transformation initiatives that
contribute to the economy of thousands of
low income families.
“We will have opportunities to interact and
see what funding barriers there are and
how to correct them, because we have to
create the conditions for the poor in rural
areas”, the source explained.
The organisation’s sphere of action is
agriculture and agribusiness, renewable
energies and adaptations to combat
climate change.
The AECF provides catalytic funding in
the form of refundable and non-
reimbursable grants to companies which
would otherwise not have access to
funding. It has been supported by the
governments of Australia, Canada,
Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and
the UK and international financial
institutions such as IFAD and the
Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest.
Source: Diário de Moçambique

World Bank provides US$80-million for
education in Mozambique
The World Bank is committed to financing
education in Mozambique over the course
of the next 10 years, making US$80-
million available annually. The aid
accounts for 20% of the approximately
US$400-million that the World Bank
allocates to the country. The funds are
intended to increase the number of
Mozambicans with a high school diploma
to 70% of the total population.
The information was released on
Wednesday 8 March in Maputo by the
regional director of the World Bank and
representative of that financial institution
in Mozambique, Mark Lundell, during a
visit to the Pedagogical University. Mark
Lundell said that increasing human
resource training will enable the country to
meet other levels of development.
Source: Folha de Maputo
Student grants unpaid for five months:
570 affected at Pedagogical University
Zambézia
A total of 570 students from the
Pedagogical University in Quelimane
(Zambézia Province) have not received
their grants since September 2016.
Amounts of MT2,500 per month should
have been transferred into the students’
accounts for five months now, but so far
nothing has been paid. Unable to obtain
any explanation at university level, the
students demonstrated in front of the
provincial governor’s office.
“We are worried about the money of the
scholarship students that, since
September last year, has not been paid.
We went to the Social Affairs department
of our college and they said they could not
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resolve the issue. That is why we have
come to the governor, to see if he can”,
bursary student Elbi de Jesus says. The
situation is even more embarrassing for
fellow students coming from other districts
and provinces, who say that they live in
rented houses and use the money to pay
rent and buy food and study materials. As
a result, some of them are now without a
place to live, since the owners of the
houses they rent have locked the doors
until the arrears are paid.
Such is the case of Carlitos Deixa. “The
owners of the house where I live locked
the door with my studying material inside,
so I cannot get it to go to college”, he
says. Talking to the governor was not
possible, apparently due to scheduling
conflicts, but an official met three students
to discuss the problem and told them that
everything possible would be done to
resolve the issue.
Following that, O País contacted the
Provincial Director of Economy and
Finance in Zambézia, Graciano Francisco,
who acknowledged that the payments
were late, but said that measures were
being taken to alleviate the situation.
Graciano said that he had arranged with
university management for them to use
their own revenue fund to pay just one
month’s grant, and as soon as the
government transferred funds, it would
subtract the university contribution and
deposit the rest into the students’
accounts. However, David
Mudzenguerere, head of the university’s
social services department, said that while
the university had every desire to mollify
the students, it unfortunately did not have
the money to do so.
Source: O País

Low pre-school attendance levels
worries government and education
partners
Currently, only 5% of the approximately
four-million children aged three to five
years benefit from pre-school education in
the country.
Mozambique’s education authorities say
that the situation may contribute to the
poor learning ability of the children when
they enter primary school.
The information was revealed on Friday 3
March in Maputo at the high-level seminar
organised by the Embassy of Finland in
co-ordination with the Ministry of
Education and Human Development.
According to UNICEF’s Education
Department head in Mozambique, Iris
Utersprot, the government and education
partners should invest in the creation and
expansion of community schools so that
more children benefit from pre-school
education.
Source: O País
People with albinism need “urgent
attention” in Mozambique – UN expert
tells Geneva Human Rights Council
Ikponwosa Ero, a specialist who recently
prepared a report for the UN on people
with albinism, has told Lusa that the
situation in Mozambique “requires urgent
and immediate attention”.
“Similar situations exist in most of sub-
Saharan Africa, but the number of attacks
registered in Mozambique is among the
highest”, she said, adding that “the cycle
of violence, attacks and discrimination
must end”.
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Ero presented her report to the UN
Human Rights Council in Geneva last
week.
It includes the conclusions drawn after a
trip to Mozambique in September of last
year, at which time she said that it was
estimated that more than 100 attacks
against people with albinism had occurred
in Mozambique since 2014.
Official government figures indicate that
about 47 people with albinism were
targeted in 2015. Following the attacks,
the Mozambican government
implemented a series of measures
including an awareness-raising campaign
and the charging of 91 suspects, of whom
eight were convicted.
Ero’s report says these measures “need
to continue, even in a context of economic
and political challenges. In this context,
violent attacks and discrimination against
people with albinism face a real risk of
being ignored”. A “resurgence of attacks”
could occur, the report adds.
“In addition, the economic situation could
encourage people to resort to witchcraft,
including the use of parts of the body of
people with albinism”, she explains.
She advises the Mozambican government
to gather more information on the situation
and proposes to include a question on
albinism in the censuses planned for this
year.
At least 600 people with albinism have
been targeted in 27 countries in the last
six years, according to the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights.
Source: Lusa

HEALTH
Maputo prisoners unable to receive
food from relatives due to cholera
outbreak
For the past two weeks, prisoners in
Maputo city and province have been
unable to receive food from relatives
owing to the cholera outbreak in Maputo
and Nampula.
On 16 February, the Ministry of Health
revealed that the cities of Maputo, Matola
and Nampula were experiencing a cholera
outbreak.
As a result, the National Penitentiary
Service (Serviço Nacional Penitenciário,
SERNAP) has ruled that no outside food
or meals may enter the prison in a bid to
avoid contamination.
“We have blocked the entry of meals
made outside of prisons to prevent the
spread of cholera”, this is because the
disease spreads very easily in crowded
areas such as jails.
“We do not know under what hygienic
conditions the food is prepared before
being brought to the prison”, said
Cremilde Anly, director of Health at
SERNAP.
Source: @Verdade
Assembly passes bill on medicines
On Wednesday 8 March, the National
Assembly unanimously passed the first
reading of a government bill amending a
1998 law on medicines and vaccines.
The bill, the government says, is intended
to guarantee access to medicines,
vaccines and other biological products
“under conditions of equity, so as to
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ensure that essential medicines and
vaccines are available regularly and on
time, in the necessary amounts, in
adequate pharmaceutical form and
dosages, and at prices that citizens can
pay.
The bill also seeks to guarantee the
quality of medicines and vaccines so that
“only legally recognised, safe and
effective products circulate in the country”.
Medicines that are not registered may not
be sold or distributed.
It is also aimed at “the rational use of
medicines”, ensuring that patients “receive
the product appropriate to their condition,
in doses that correspond to their individual
case, for an adequate period of time and
at the lowest cost for the patient and his
community”.
It regulates the industrial production of
pharmaceuticals (something that was
completely missing from the 1998 law),
and will protect brands and patents.
The bill guarantees the right of patients to
receive medical and scientific information
from authorised health professionals, but
outlaws advertising of pharmaceutical
products.
Company sales agents are banned from
offering samples, or any kind of gifts, to
persuade doctors to purchase their goods.
The bill was uncontroversial and was
approved by consensus.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique

Families in Gaza refuse to have houses
sprayed for mosquitoes
Gaza residents accuse teams of asking
for money to spray insecticide. The
spraying campaign ends this week, with a
13,000 of an expected 44,000 houses
sprayed. Many families are refusing to
open the door to teams spraying houses
against the malaria mosquito in Xai-Xai
city (Gaza Province). Henriques Cumbe,
47, is one of them. He accuses
technicians of applying insecticides that
do not kill mosquitoes, unless residents
pay.
“There are certain collaborators who are
not serious, and in other families they will
only dirty the walls and dirty the clothes.
Sometimes they act in bad faith, but when
they negotiate with the owner of the
house, they spray with the medicine that
kills the mosquito. It is this situation we
have in Mozambique: corruption”, he
claims. Cumbe says payments vary
between MT100 and MR200 (between
€1.5 and €2.70).
No complaints:
The people are claiming that state
operatives are becoming like private ones.
Spraying teams have been denied access
primarily in Xai-Xai’s Marien Ngoabi and
Patrice Lumumba neighbourhoods. As
Deutsche Welle Africa learned in late
December, hundreds of people have
refused to have their houses sprayed,
although more than 36,000 cases of
malaria were diagnosed in Gaza Province
in January alone, up 57% compared from
the same period last year.
According to Victor Chivurre, head of the
Department of Public Health at the
Provincial Health Directorate of Gaza, no
one has so far accused the sprayers of
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demanding money. “We do not have any
information on this subject”, Chivurre
says, added that the public should,
however, “report any such cases, because
spraying is free”.
Fears of the population:
Chivurre explains that there has been a
change of insecticide and that people are
refusing to have their homes sprayed
because they believe the new product is
not effective.
“We used to use another insecticide,
which was selective for the Anopheles
mosquito, but today we are using a more
comprehensive insecticide that kills
practically all insects present in the house.
I think that if people are aware of the
effect of this insecticide they would be
more receptive”.
Chivurre says that the sector and
community leaders are trying to persuade
people of the benefits of the process,
especially when set beside the cost of
being treated for malaria.
The spraying campaign has been ongoing
for two months and came to an end on
Friday 10 March.
Source: Deutsche Welle
INAE incinerates rotten fish meant for
hospital patients in Pemba
The INAE in Cabo Delgado Province
incinerated 500 kilograms of rotten horse
mackerel.
The mackerel had been sold to the
Provincial Hospital of Pemba to be served
to the patients during mealtime.
Source: TVM

INAE warns bakers to follow
recommendations
On Thursday 9 March, the General
Inspector of the INAE, Maria Freitas,
warned bakers to co-operate with her
inspectors, and to comply with all the
recommendations made during
inspections. She was speaking in Maputo
during a meeting with owners and
managers of bakeries in the capital,
following a series of inspections during
which INAE ordered the temporary
closure of several restaurants and
bakeries because the filthy conditions
found there posed a clear threat to public
health.
These coercive inspections, Freitas said,
were taking place because INAE had
found that without them commercial
establishments simply ignored the
recommendations left by inspectors.
“There are bakeries represented here
which were visited last year”, she said.
“They were visited again this year, and
nothing had changed. This means that
such a bakery is not interested in
cooperating”.
She insisted that the closures had nothing
to do with how old an establishment was.
No bakery was shut down merely because
it was operating out of an old building.
Freitas stressed that INAE was taking an
aggressive attitude on public health issues
at the request of the Association of
Mozambican Bakers (Associação
Moçambicana de Panificadores,
AMOPAO) itself.
The order to close an establishment was
not automatic, she explained, but was
only given when the threat to public health
was clear. “We visited some bakeries,
which I shall not name, and found they
were full of spiders’ webs. What we said
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was that they should clean the place up”,
Freitas told the meeting. Two weeks later,
the inspectors went back “and everything
was the same”, she continued. “When our
staff returned to one of the bakeries, the
owner said: are you back again? So we
ordered that bakery to be closed”.
The manager of one bakery, Lindo
Mondlane, called for training of bakers, so
that they would be able to obey the
standards. “There is no school that trains
bakers”, he lamented. But the images of
filthy kitchens shown on Mozambican
television channels are matters of basic
hygiene, not of some complicated training
routine.
Ntiaze Amugy, the owner of another
Maputo bakery, attacked the media. He
did not want potential clients to see the
real state of his premises. “Those pictures
damage all our work”, he said. “In a few
minutes the image of our institution is very
badly painted. INAE should not bring the
press on its inspection visits”.
Freitas said she took no pleasure in
seeing film of filthy kitchens either. But
when that was the reality, it had to be
shown.
Meanwhile INAE has allowed the Cristal
restaurant, in central Maputo to reopen,
after its filthy conditions had led to a
closure order last week. But the restaurant
management has decided to close the
Cristal down definitively, because it
regards problems with the sewage system
as a responsibility, not of the restaurant
but of Maputo City Council. The
management had approached the Council
to deal with the problem, but to no avail.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique

Government will not be blackmailed,
will continue to shut down irregular
business premises
The government will continue to shut
down irregular business premises and will
not give in to blackmail, the Minister of
Industry and Commerce Ernesto Tonela
says.
The INAE will continue to shut down
restaurants that do not observe hygiene
measures.
Minister Tonela says that as long as
restaurants pose a threat to public health,
the government will remain relentless and
punish law-breakers.
Source: TVM
INAE tackles sale of food from cars in
Maputo
The sale of food from the boots of cars is
a phenomenon that appeared on the
streets of the country’s capital five years
ago. The activity forms the livelihood of
many families and attracts a significant
number of clients.
Carlota José, for example, has been doing
it for a year and a half, and while she
admits that she has no license, she says
that she is careful how she prepares the
food.
Another entrepreneur who sees no
problem in INAE inspections is Madina
Laká, who also insists that her food is
hygienically prepared.
Nevertheless, the INAE and Municipality
of Maputo last week jointly inspected 30
vehicles selling meals on the street.
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Their conclusion was that minimum
conditions for the activity were not met,
and some notifications were served.
The vendors confirmed receipt of the
notification and say they are willing to
comply with all recommendations.
The City Council is reviewing its position
in order to develop a legal mechanism
regulating the sale of food from vehicles.
Source: O País
Out-of-date products discovered at
supermarket in Sofala
The Sofala government outsourced a
supermarket to provide food for 300
families but most products are out of date.
Authorities have since seize deteriorated
products, some past expiry dates.
The complaint was made by an official in
Governor Maria Helena Taipo’s cabinet,
who twice queried products originating
from the Mutarara Center supermarket.
“I went to buy food worth about MT3,000
(about €40), and when I arrived home and
checked the sell-by dates, I discovered
that most products were expired. When I
went back to the store to ask for a refund,
I discovered that most of the products in
the store were passed their expiry date,
and that the store owner put the products
back in the window as if nothing was
wrong”.
Deutsche Welle Africa tried
unsuccessfully to secure an interview with
the supermarket manager.
At the end of last year, the governor’s
cabinet in Beira mandated the Mutarara
Centre supermarket to make up
Christmas baskets for more than 300
families. The beneficiaries of the parcels

were journalists in Beira and officials of
the provincial governor’s office.
Renowned vendor:
The governor’s office head of accounting,
Alfredo João, told Deutsche Welle Africa
that contracting the Mutarara Centre to
supply food was based on the supplier’s
credibility with the provincial government,
to which it had been providing food for a
long time.
“Mutarara has been awarded a public
tender. We have contracts with Mutarara
because it is a renowned supplier in our
market. The office regularly updates the
contracts”, João says.
But Deutsche Welle Africa learned that no
public tender was launched in December,
WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Mozambique cracks down on illegal
logging
In six Mozambican provinces, Operation
‘Tronco’, a government-sponsored
monitoring campaign, is searching for
illegally logged timber valued at US$300-
million. It has not yet been possible to
identify those responsible for the timber
yards involved, most of whom are of
Chinese origin. Inspectors from the
Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural
Development have left their desks and are
scouring the forests in six central and
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and Mutarara was simply appointed by an
office employee.
In a telephone call, Sofala provincial
government spokesperson Élcio Canda
said that it was a process which any
government sector could do without a
public tender, but Mozambican law
establishes that any acquisition by a state
institution worth more than MT50,000
(equivalent to €660) must be made
through a public tender.
In the face of repeated complaints, an
INAE taskforce recently visited the
supermarket, seizing deteriorated
products, some past their expiry dates.
The company was fined MT7,000, the
equivalent of about €100.
Source: Deutsche Welle
northern provinces searching for the
700,000 cubic meters of wood thought to
be on the contraband route. Since the
start of operation, thousands of cubic
meters of illegal timber has been
confiscated and fines of hundreds of
thousands of meticais imposed.
On Monday 6 March, in Montepuez
District (Cabo Delgado Province), where
more than 100 timber yards operate,
23,000 cubic meters of illegal timber was
seized and fines totalling MT50-million
(around US$750,000) imposed. Amílcar

Pereira, co-ordinator of the operation in
Cabo Delgado, said that the lack of
documents proving legality is common in
shipyards. “We found a lot of unregistered
timber, as well as registered logs where
the official in charge was unable to identify
the respective documents, which is illegal
logging”, Pereira said.
The dominant theme in this operation is
that it is not possible to find those
responsible for the shipyards. “The
documentation does exist, but the bosses
have fled and the documents are falsified.
We even tried to force the locks, but we
didn’t succeed”, a shipyard worker in
Montepuez said.
As a result, the operation has so far failed
to detain any trafficker in illegal timber.
Forestry experts say that the 16/2014
Law, which was revised by the National
Assembly last November, is the reason for
the lack of arrests.
Rite Mabunda of the non-governmental
organization WWF believes that there
should be more research into how to hold
the perpetrators accountable. “In terms of
principle the initiative is good, but it needs
to be better structured and involve key
players and its continuity ensured”,
Mabunda said.
Wood seized in this operation reverts the
state and is auctioned. Most of those who
owned it are now going to export it legally,
which Rene Machoco of Environmental
Justice argues should not happen. “It is
important that when the wood is put on
public auction, those who are directly or
indirectly involved in the process are not
allowed to compete or participate in the
purchase”, she says.
Source: VOA Portuguese
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World Bank approves €44.5-million for
forestry project in Mozambique
The World Bank has approved US$47-
million (€44.5-million) support for the
Mozambican government’s Forest
Investment Project (MozFIP). According to
a press statement released on Tuesday 7
March, the project forms part of efforts to
curb the rapid pace of deforestation in the
country and create new livelihood
opportunities for rural communities
through improved forest and land
management practices in specific areas of
the country.
Mozambique has 40-million hectares of
natural forests, of which almost 27-million
hectares are productive forests,
contributing more than US$300-million
(€284.1-million) to the GDP in recent
years. Despite its enormous potential, the
country’s natural forests are being
destroyed at an annual rate of 0.35% per
annum, representing an annual loss of
nearly 140,000 hectares.
Some of the key results expected from the
intervention include reducing greenhouse
gas emissions from deforestation,
increasing the number of hectares of
protected and restored natural resources,
and improving forest governance.
Increased access to finance for agriculture
and forestry operatives and an increase in
the number of rural households with
access to land certificates are also
anticipated. The project was developed in
collaboration with local and central
government authorities, local
communities, the private sector and civil
society, the statement says. The project
will benefit 163,000 families in Zambézia
and Cabo Delgado provinces.
Source: Lusa

Police seize 16 guns from poachers in
Matutuíne
Police have seized 16 weapons used by
poachers in the Matutuíne district (Maputo
Province), spokesperson Inácio Dina
revealed at the weekly police press
conference.
The seizures were the result of
awareness-raising work in local
communities, “essential for the
identification of criminals” involved in the
poaching of elephants in the Maputo
Special Reserve.
“There was serious work with local
authorities. In the end, this was the result”,
Dina said.
Dina did not specify the number of arrests
made during the operation, but said that
all those who were illegally in possession
of weapons were in police custody.
“The offensive against poachers is
ongoing and we hope everyone will co-
operate with the authorities”, he said,
citing the co-operation of the Matutuíne
community in particular.
Poverty and the growth of the international
market for ivory are cited as the main
causes of poaching, and Mozambique’s
location near countries considered the
centre of the activity has contributed to its
spread here.
The south of the country is home to many
poachers who also cross the border to
poach elephants in South Africa’s
neighbouring Kruger Park.
Official figures indicate that Mozambique
has lost 48% of its elephant population in
the past five years and may be banned
from international trade as a result of lack
of clarity in animal management.
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The rhino population is also under heavy
pressure, and currently almost non-
existent in Mozambique.
The illegal trade extends to Asia, where
elephant tusks and rhinoceros horn are
used in traditional medicine and the
manufacture of ornaments.
Source: Lusa
French support for Mozambican
conservation
On Thursday 9 March, the French
government offered €6-million
(approximately US$6.4-million) to support
Mozambique’s conservation areas and
particularly the protection of elephants.
The project was launched in Maputo on
Thursday at a ceremony chaired by the
Minister of Land, Environment and Rural
Development, Celso Correia.
It will be co-ordinated by the National
Administration of Conservation Areas
(Administracao Nacional de Areas de
Conservacao, ANAC), a specialist
institution under the Environment Ministry.
Poaching has devastated Mozambique’s
elephant herds.
The last elephant census, in 2014,
showed that over the previous five years
the elephant population had fallen by
48%, from just over 20,000 in 2009 to
around 10,300 in 2014.
Half of the French grant, €3-million, will be
spent on strengthening surveillance and
combating poaching in the Niassa
Reserve (in the far north), and in the
Limpopo National Park (bordering on
South Africa’s Kruger Park).

These are the two conservation areas
worst hit by the slaughter of elephants and
rhinos. Indeed, it is now feared that both
African species of rhinoceros may now be
extinct in Mozambique.
A further €1-million will go towards the
institutional strengthening of ANAC’s
protection and monitoring sector.
The final €2-million will be channelled to
the Foundation for the Conservation of
Biodiversity (Biofund) to finance the
conservation areas and increase their
capacity for administrative and financial
management.
Launched in June 2015 by President
Filipe Nyusi, Biofund seeks to mobilise
finance to cover the operational costs of
Mozambique’s 19 conservation areas and
zones of special protection.
The project will last for four years. The
activities to be undertaken over that
period include a new national census of
elephants, monitoring of elephants,
notably through aerial surveillance, legal
assistance for prosecuting environmental
crimes, creating a data base on poaching,
and opening new posts for game
wardens.
In the fight against poaching and ivory
smuggling, ANAC also hopes to improve
its co-operation with the recently created
police unit to protect the environment and
natural resources, with the customs
service, with the institutions of the
administration of justice and with
community leaders.
With this grant, French support for
Mozambique’s conservation since 2005
has risen to €31.5-million.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
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Hong Kong Customs seizes suspected
rhino horns
On Wednesday 8 March, Hong Kong
Customs seized about seven kilograms of
suspected rhino horns at Hong Kong
International Airport. The horns have an
estimated market value of US$1.4-million.
Customs officers intercepted a 21-year-
old male passenger at the airport on
Wednesday. The man arrived in Hong
Kong from Maputo via Addis Ababa
(Ethiopia). During Customs clearance,
about seven kilograms of suspected rhino
horns wrapped in aluminium sheets and
adhesive tape were found inside his
check-in luggage.
The man was subsequently arrested and
the case was handed over to the
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation
Department for follow-up investigation.
Under the Protection of Endangered
Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance,
any person found guilty of importing or
exporting an endangered species without
a licence is liable to a maximum fine of
US$5-million and imprisonment for two
years.
Source: 7th Space Interactive
Tanzania jails notorious elephant
poacher
Tanzania’s most notorious elephant
poacher, nicknamed “The Devil”, has
been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Boniface Matthew Maliango is believed to
have been responsible for killing
thousands of elephants.
He was arrested in Dar es Salaam in
September 2015 after a year-long
manhunt.

His crimes were the focus of a Netflix
documentary film, The Ivory Game,
produced by actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Maliango’s nickname, ‘Shetani’, means
devil in Swahili.
He was sentenced alongside his brothers,
Lucas Mathayo Maliango and Abdallah
Ally Chaoga.
The three were arrested in October 2015
while attempting to smuggle tusks worth
more than US$850,000.
Maliango was accused of supplying ivory
to Chinese citizen Yang Fenglan, known
as the “Ivory Queen”, who is on trial in
Tanzania for trafficking more than 700
elephant tusks worth US$2.5-million.
The 47-year-old Tanzanian citizen was
found guilty of commanding 15 networks
of illegal hunters and ivory traffickers
operating in Tanzania, Burundi, Zambia,
Kenya and Mozambique.
Source: BBC News
South Africa still losing three rhinos a
day – WWF-SA
WWF called on all countries implicated in
the illicit trade in rhino horn to collaborate
and address wildlife trafficking as a
transnational syndicated criminal activity.
It would be premature to regard South
Africa’s statistics for 2016 that show a
continued decline in the number of rhinos
illegally killed in the country over the past
two years, as released by the Department
of Environmental Affairs last Monday, “as
a reversal in the fortunes for SA’s rhino
population”, the World Wide Fund for
Nature in South Africa (WWF-SA) warns.
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The WWF-SA further stated last Monday,
after the statistics were released by the
department, that it was concerning the
poaching figures showed an equivalent of
three rhinos a day were lost to poaching
and smuggling syndicates.
In a statement, the WWF-SA said: “The
reported reduction of nearly 20% in the
number of rhino carcasses found in
Kruger National Park to 662 is to be
applauded in the face of the increased
number of illegal incursions into the
Kruger National Park. However, the
apparent decline in numbers of white
rhinos within the park must be a cause for
concern.
“Furthermore, we note that criminal
syndicates have shifted their focus in
response to these law enforcement
actions, and the impacts of poaching have
swept across South Africa. Key
populations in KwaZulu-Natal, in
particular, faced this impact in 2016, with
161 rhinos killed in that province, an
increase of 38% from the previous year”.
While the WWF-SA was positive about the
“focused efforts” of the South African
Police Service, which showed an increase
in arrests, and the Directorate for Priority
Crime Investigation, which disrupted and
combated wildlife trackers last year, the
independent conservation organisation
said, “the rate of successful prosecutions
still remains to be seen”.
“We call on all countries implicated in the
illicit trade in rhino horn to collaborate and
address wildlife trafficking as a
transnational syndicated criminal activity.
In addition to on-going anti-poaching
efforts at country level, we need to see
tougher law enforcement and
prosecutions of syndicates implicated in
the transnational trafficking and use of

rhino horn, including high level syndicate
members located in source, transit and
market countries, such as Mozambique
and Vietnam”, said WWF-SA.
Dr Jo Shaw, rhino programme manager
for WWF-SA, commented: “A decade has
now passed since the initial upsurge in
poaching in South Africa and huge effort
has been invested in rhino protection yet
the situation is still out of control and the
toll on those working to address the
challenge in the region is also
unsustainably high”.
Shaw said a more holistic approach in
addressing the drivers of wildlife crime
was needed, rather than “military-style
interventions” that provided short-term
wins but came with “longer-term financial
and socio-economic costs”.
END
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“In terms of the draft regulations for
domestic trade in rhino horn, we are
seriously concerned about the challenges
that law enforcement and permitting
officers would face in trying to manage
parallel legal and illegal trade and exports
– especially around linkages to
international wildlife trafficking networks
and will be submitting detailed comments
to the department in this regard”, said
Shaw, adding that corruption hampered
efforts at all levels.
“This year must see greater collaborative
partnerships between conservation and
anti-corruption communities to deepen
understanding of corruption risks and
mitigation strategies”.
Source: The Citizen