WEEKLY MEDIA REVIEW No.

168: 17 FEBRUARY TO 24 FEBRUARY 2017

www.rhula.net

Managing Editor: Nigel Morgan

Renamo delegate in peace negotiations, José Manteigas, says truce could be permanent (pages 46-47).

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POINTERS:

POLITICS and the ECONOMY:

Cleaning-up the $2-billion toxic debt:

(For background see ‘Pointers’: Rhula Weekly 167: 10-17 February 2017).
As suggested in the last edition, the preferred option for government is likely to be to roll all the
loans into one (giving the banks and other debt-holders a good ‘hair-cut’ on the way), construct
a repayment schedule the government can reasonably meet, and deliver a debt-to GDP ratio
acceptable for the IMF to resume budgetary support. If it can be negotiated ‘behind closed doors’,
and then swiftly driven through the National Assembly by the Frelimo majority, it offers the least
politically damaging outcome for the government. The sticking point is likely to be the investors to
whom the banks sold-on the loans. All interested parties await the Kroll audit report due by 31
March.
One of the most sensitive issues facing President Filipe Nyusi is how to handle the political fall-
out from the Kroll report (financed by the Swedish government) if, as expected, it proves to be a
damning indictment of senior political figures and intelligence officials in the administration
headed his predecessor Armando Guebuza. The option of prosecuting and possibly jailing those
responsible for signing-off the ‘predatory loans’ could prove to be a political nightmare for Nyusi
as he heads towards key party stepping stones to re-election for a second term - the Party
Congress in September (2017) and the Central Committee meeting in February/ March (2018).
He must also be acutely aware that the alternative (not prosecuting the major culprits) will presnt
a ‘golden gift’ to opposition parties (particularly Renamo) in the run-up to municipal elections in
October 2018, followed by presidential, national assembly and provincial assembly elections in
November 2019.

 Lagarde model for misconduct could be useful for secret debt (Page 15): There is an
international case study that provides a potentially useful precedent for the Mozambique
government. Christine Lagarde, the current MD of the IMF, was found guilty in a Paris
court (19 December 2016) of “negligence with public money” in approving an improper
€400-million pay-out to a controversial French businessman. During the trial, it was
asserted by the public prosecutor (no less) that Lagarde’s actions fell into the category of
‘politics and not criminality’. Lagarde has always maintained that she did nothing wrong
and only acted “in the public interest”. (A similar line of defence was used by former
finance minister Manual Chang during the National Assembly Commission of Inquiry - see
Rhula 167 Page 18). The Paris court ruled that, although clearly a serious crime had been
committed relating to a very large amount of money, Largarde should not be punished and
that the conviction would not constitute a criminal record. Within hours of the court’s
decision, the IMF Executive Board convened a special meeting which gave Legarde its full
support. The IMF’s stamp of approval for a judicial ruling that convicts, but does not
punish, a senior international figure for serious financial misconduct (and even allows the
convicted individual to retain their high status) provides an interesting precedent for the
Mozambique government to consider. The IMF Executive Board and prominent IMF and
G14 members (like France) can hardly object; it would blatant hypocrisy to do so.

Macro-economic indicators:

 Mozambique’s economy should recover slightly in 2017 - EIU (Pages 15-16):

According to the Economist Intelligence2 Unit (IEU), Mozambique’s economy should
recover slightly in 2017 with growth of 4.2%, after recording the lowest growth in 16 years
in 2016 (3.6%).
 The EIU says that greater economic growth this year will be driven by principally by the
mineral resources sector. Domestic fiscal austerity will continue, as will difficulties in
obtaining foreign currency. High inflation that will help reduce domestic demand. Financial
volatility and political risk will lead to a further drop in investment. Growth for 2018-2021 is
forecast to be an average of 5.1%.
 Investments in Mozambique: President Nyusi reiterates facilitation (Pages 16-17):
Acknowledging that “we have a lot of work to do”, President Nyusi confirms his
government’s determination to stimulate the diversification of the economy and attract
more investment, in order to create more jobs and improve family incomes. He advocates
greater industrialisation, structural transformation and increased competitiveness, coupled
with an improved political and economic environment. He sees tourism as a key area for
boosting the country’s development, because of its cross-sectoral nature and its potential
for other economic and social activities that create employment.
 French confidence still high in Mozambique (Pages 17-19): The French Ambassador,
Bruno Clerc, promoting French business investment in Mozambique, says that: “We’re
starting to see a few positive signs” and that he felt somewhat “reassured” by recent
measures taken by the Mozambican authorities to curb the current financial crisis that has
been stifling the country for almost two years. (An indication that France is considering the
proposal outlined Page 1 above?).
 Portuguese investments in Mozambique drop by €154-millon (Pages 19-20): Bank of
Portugal says that, in addition to the fall in the oil price, the “uncertain future” of the
Mozambique economy is a factor.

Financial Services:

 How Moza Banco is boosting financial inclusion in Mozambique (Pages 23-25):

While acknowledging the “significant downward risks” in the economy in the short-term,
Moza Banco projects growth to reach 6.9% by 2018. It outlines it roll-out strategy for retail
services to the currently unbanked. Only 20% of the population are currently included in
the formal banking sector.

Oil & Gas:

 The Minister and ENH boss in overdrive for LNG quest (Pages 25-26): Energy
Minister, Leticia Klemens, and ENH head, Omar Mithá, are upping the pressure on the
major players in the Rovuma Basin gas play to get a move. There is reference to Galp’s
“excellent relations” with the government.
 Disagreement between ENI and Anadarko over “marine concession” (Page 26): The
government still hasn’t approved the coastal zone where tankers will transfer the liquefied
gas from the Rovuma Basin fields for processing. The government says it is ready to sign
a decree creating the zone, but is prevented from doing so by the operators (Anadarko
area 1 and ENI area 4), who have failed to reach an agreement between themselves on
their respective parts in the process. Anadarko, which needs a decision, is allegedly
accusing ENI, which has no pressing need for the zone, of holding up the agreement.
 Anadarko “tried to deceive Mozambique's Tax Authority” (Pages 26-28): Due to
alleged incompetence, the government risks being unable to collect taxes of
approximately US$7.5-million from the first investments made by Anadarko in Area 1 and
ENI in Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin. The Administrative Tribunal (which audits the state
accounts) alleges, however, that Anadarko tried to deceive the Tax Authority in respect of
“amounts related to the costs incurred and income obtained” by deferring presentation of
the relevant data. (A good example of the ‘tax minefield’ faced by foreign investors in
Mozambique). 3
  Sasol resumes activities after cyclone Dineo (Page 28): Response measures activated
to protect both personnel and assets proved successful.

Mining:

 Vale’s coal production up but still failed 2016 target (Pages 28-29): Despite the
increase over 2015, 2016 coal production fell short of the target of 10-million tons due to a
delay in the start-up of the Moatize II project plant in August 2016 and a shortage of
explosives. In December 2016, logistical operations reached a historical monthly high,
with a volume of 1,097,000 tons transported and a shipped volume of 1,071,000 tons.

 Mozal aluminium production 2% up, operating costs 12% down (Page 29): Mozal
gains from devaluation of the metical and rise in the aluminium price.

 Mustang Resources gets ready to pounce on ruby license (Page 29). Trading halt on
ASX pending outcome of a majority interest in ruby license and possible capital raising.
Valuation 60% higher than last traded price.

 Triton Minerals confirms premium graphite grades at Ancuabe (Page 29): Triton
Minerals confirms premium grades of graphite from testing metallurgical samples taken
from its Ancuabe Project in Mozambique. Scoping study expected to be complete by end-
March.

 Mozambique launches operation against illegal miners & More than 600 people
removed from Namanhumbir mine (Pages 31-32): An ongoing battle against thousands
of illegal miners in the Montepuez district of Capo Delgado Province. The Namanhumbir
concession, covering 33,600 hectares, holds an estimated 40% of the world’s rubies. It is
operated by Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), a partnership between the British company
Gemfields (with a 75% stake), and the Mozambican company Mwiriti. Ever since the
deposit was discovered in 2009, illegal miners have descended on Montepuez, not only
from other parts of Mozambique, but from the rest of Africa. See also Rhula Weekly 167
Page 69).

Energy:

 Mozambique convenes finance meeting for 400MW Sasol power plant (Pages 32-33):
Energy Minister, Leticia Klemens, meets with international finance institutions and to
decide the way forward on the Temane 400 MW gas-fired plant, a 49:51 joint venture
between SASOL and EdM. The project includes a high-tension transmission line to link
the plant to the southern electricity grid in Mozambique.

 EdM promises to pay HCB debt this year (Pages 33-34): EdM Board of Directors
Chairman, Mateus Magal says that US$50-million EdM owes to HCB will be settled this
year. In February 2016, the chairman allegedly told an MDM delegation visiting EdM that
the company was in fact bankrupt, and had not closed only because it was the monopoly
supplier of electricity to the population.

Transport & Construction:

 Airport for Xai-Xai will cost US$60-million (Pages 35-36): Government only waiting for
Exim Bank of China to start work on new airport.
4
Agriculture & Fishing:

 Genetically modified maize tested in Chókwè (Pages 39-40): Trial of maize imported
from the US to identify a strain suited to Mozambican agro-ecological conditions that can
tolerate drought and resist insect pests.
 Cabo Delgado surpasses cashew nut production targets (Page 40): Mozambique
hopes to recover its former position as one of the largest producers of cashew nuts in the
world.
 Mozambique achieves record Boer and Uloco bean production (Page 40): Opening of
the largest bean processing factory in the country, in Nacala-Porto.
 Sofala to get new sugar factory (Page 40): New organic plant at Chemba to be
complete by July, capable of producing 50 tons/day.

Tourism:

 Macaneta braces up to become regional benchmark tourism destination (Pages 40-

42): Construction of the bridge over the Incomáti River, connecting Marracuene to the
beaches of Macaneta, will boost tourist development, providing list of challenges are
overcome.
 Mozambique to start issuing dual-entry tourist visas on arrival (Page 42):
Government announces imminent cancellation of the current requirement to obtain a visa
from a Mozambican embassy/ consulate in country of origin before travelling, which is
both complicated and time consuming, and discourages tourists from visiting
Mozambique.

POLITICS:

Bilateral negotiations continue behind-closed-doors between two slimmed down working groups,
appointed directly by President Nyusi and Renamo leader Alfonso Dhlakama. One is focussed on
decentralisation and the other military issues. Diplomatic sources are largely positive about how
negotiations are progressing. The media is struggling to obtain reliable information on what has
already been agreed, and specific issues that are holding back final agreement between the
parties. Relevant articles:

 Italy offers its support to Mozambique for the decentralisation process (Page 45-46):
Italian Ambassador, Marco Contecelli, notes that his country is currently hosting a visit of
National Assembly MP’s for an exchange of experiences on decentralisation. “This is a
fundamental aspect of the peace process and we want to confirm our willingness to
support it”.

Renamo says truce could be final - Deutsche Welle (Pages 46-47): José Manteigas, head of the
Renamo delegation in the peace talks, says that: “as far as president Dhlakama and Renamo is
concerned, in principle, the truce must remain in place”. He adds: “We as Renamo and president
Dhlakama believe that, in fact, the truce may be indefinite, as long as the counterpart
[President Nyusi and Frelimo] collaborates to that end”. However, he criticises the government for
the slow progress in discussions of technical aspects needed to achieve a definitive peace
agreement. It is a positive sign that the ceasefire in force, which ends on 4 March, has been in
place without major violations. In the conflict regions in central Mozambique, activities and the
movement of people and goods are slowly getting back to normal. In the central provinces,
Renamo is urging internally displaced people to return to their homes and get on with their lives.
In parallel, Renamo is resuming its activities as a political party. It has begun the process of
reorganising its party machine, with an eye to 5the municipal (October 2018) and national elections
(November 2019). For Example, Renamo reopens headquarters in Manica – one of its
electoral strongholds (Pages 47-48).
Meanwhile the second-largest opposition party, the MDM, is experiencing internal problems that
are undermining its credibility (Pages 50-51).

SECURITY:

While there may not be ‘major violations’, there are still incidents being reported that pose a
threat to peaceful coexistence between Frelimo and Renamo. For example:

 Renamo headquarters burned and members detained elsewhere (Page 53): An

incident in Manica Province – one of the heartlands of Renamo.

Human rights abuses by both sides in 2016 are cited:

 Amnesty International Annual Report criticizes impunity of FDS and Renamo (Page
53)

CRIME:

Diplomatic discourtesy adds further suspicion to the case of kidnapped Portuguese businessman.

 Maputo’s silence on Portuguese abduction causes unrest in Lisbon (Pages 56-57):

Direct links between kidnapping gangs and the police have been identified for years.
Policemen have been prosecuted, but it’s always the small fry. It is alleged that the most
plausible explanation for the lack of co-operation in the case of the Portuguese citizen
(who has been missing for over seven months), is that Maputo wants to protect someone
at the top of their own hierarchy, in the police or in the administration itself.

6
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 ........................................................................................................ 11

ECONOMY & BUSINESS ............................................................................................. 14

GRAPH 1: MOZAMBIQUE CURRENCY EVALUATION......................................... 14

Macro-economy: ...................................................................................................... 15
Lagarde model for misconduct could be useful for secret debt .................................. 15
Mozambique’s economy should recover slightly in 2017, EIU says ........................... 15
Amelia Nakhare says economic crisis is no excuse for non-compliance with tax
targets ........................................................................................................................ 16
Investments in Mozambique: President Nyusi reiterates facilitation ........................... 16
French confidence still high in Mozambique .............................................................. 17
Portuguese investments in Mozambique drop by €154-million .................................. 19
Mauritius the investment platform of choice for Mozambique .................................... 20
Increased opportunities available in Portugal-Macau-Portuguese Countries co-
operation .................................................................................................................... 21

Financial Services:................................................................................................... 23
How Moza Banco is boosting financial inclusion in Mozambique ............................... 23

Oil & Gas:.................................................................................................................. 25

The Minister and ENH boss in overdrive for LNG quest............................................. 25
Disagreement between ENI and Anadarko over “marine concession” ....................... 26
Anadarko “tried to deceive Mozambique's Tax Authority” .......................................... 26
Sasol resumes activities after cyclone Dineo ............................................................. 28

Mining: ...................................................................................................................... 28
Vale’s coal production up but still failed 2016 target .................................................. 28

7
Mozal aluminium production 2% up, operating costs 12% down ............................... 29
Mustang Resources gets ready to pounce on ruby license ........................................ 29
Triton Minerals confirms premium graphite grades at Ancuabe ................................. 29
Savannah Resources reduces FY loss after productive 2016 .................................... 30
Government of Zambézia to regularise mining activities ............................................ 30
Mozambique launches operation against illegal miners ............................................. 31
More than 600 people removed from Namanhumbir mine ......................................... 32

Energy:...................................................................................................................... 32
Mozambique convenes finance meeting for 400MW Sasol power plant .................... 32
EdM promises to pay HCB debt this year .................................................................. 33
A power play for miners in the country’s north ........................................................... 34
Transport, Construction & Development Projects: ..................................................... 35
INGC assigns business to the company linked to the Minister of Transport .............. 35
Airport for Xai-Xai will cost US$60-million .................................................................. 35
World Bank pays for work on rural roads in Mozambique .......................................... 36
Government winds up Beira Public Transport Company............................................ 36
City of Quelimane removes bridge that caused boat sinking ..................................... 37
Poor quality in construction works: one of the causes of Dineo destruction – Prime
Minister ...................................................................................................................... 37
Construction of alternative bridge in Maxixe-Inhambane ........................................... 38
Japan to fund library construction in Quelimane ........................................................ 38

Agriculture & Fishing: ............................................................................................. 38

President Nyusi launches integrated rural development project ................................ 38
Genetically modified maize tested in Chókwè ............................................................ 39
Cabo Delgado surpasses cashew nut production targets .......................................... 40
Mozambique achieves record Boer and Uloco bean production ................................ 40
Sofala to get new sugar factory .................................................................................. 40

Tourism:.................................................................................................................... 40
Macaneta braces up to become regional benchmark tourism destination.................. 40
Mozambique to start issuing dual-entry tourist visas on arrival .................................. 42

8
 Other: ........................................................................................................................ 42
Barloworld Equipment, Caterpillar launch free training programme in Mozambique .. 42
Real estate in Mozambique a safe haven investment in times of crisis – Prime Yeld
Consultancy ............................................................................................................... 43
Mozambique television in financial difficulties ............................................................ 44

POLITICS...................................................................................................................... 45
Italy offers its support to Mozambique for the decentralisation process ..................... 45
Renamo says truce could be final .............................................................................. 46
Frelimo urges Mozambicans to unite for peace ......................................................... 47
Renamo reopens headquarters in Manica ................................................................. 47
MDM will hold congress in Nampula .......................................................................... 48
Rift widening between mayor of Nampula and MDM ................................................. 49
Analysts warn that internal problems may compromise the MDM .............................. 50
President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic visits Mozambique ................... 51
President Nyusi on two-day visit to Tete Province ..................................................... 52
Government approves Gaming and Gambling Law regulations ................................. 52

SECURITY .................................................................................................................... 53
Renamo headquarters burned and members detained elsewhere ............................ 53
Amnesty International Annual Report criticizes impunity of FDS and Renamo .......... 54

CRIME........................................................................................................................... 55
GRAPH 2: Incidents by Month ................................................................................ 55
GRAPH 3: Injuries/Fatalities by Month ................................................................... 55
Maputo’s silence on Portuguese abduction causes unrest in Lisbon ......................... 56
Witch doctors in Malawi are hiring ‘hit men’ to murder albinos for organ trafficking
purposes .................................................................................................................... 57
Twelve arrested for murder and organ trafficking in Tete ........................................... 60

9
 Activist Graça Machel says lack of reporting protects perpetrators of domestic
violence ...................................................................................................................... 60
Lawyers want tougher measures against domestic violence in Mozambique ............ 61
Four arrested in Inhambane for looting during cyclone Dineo .................................... 62
Woman arrested for burning son with hot water in Manica ........................................ 62
Nine jailed for illegal mining in Manica ....................................................................... 63
Man arrested on charges of robbing apartments in Maputo blames it on ‘drunkenness’
................................................................................................................................... 63
Woman kills husband with broken dish ...................................................................... 64
PRM officer arrested in Matola ................................................................................... 64
Nampula police officer arrested for involvement in criminal activities ........................ 64
Mozambican jails: always space for one more, despite overcrowding ....................... 64
Two community leaders murdered in Tsangano ........................................................ 65
Officer shoots teenager dead at Tete police station ................................................... 65
Armed robbery outside BCI bank in Quelimane ......................................................... 66
Radio station employee arrested for theft of copper cables in Zambézia ................... 66

HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND NGO’S ......................................... 66

Thousands trapped along Mozambique, Zimbabwe border ....................................... 66
Tanzanian deportee dies at regional hospital............................................................. 67
Tanzanian deportees are safe ................................................................................... 67
US$8-million needed to repair cyclone damage ......................................................... 68
Prime Minister discusses cyclone damage with provincial government ..................... 69
Cyclone Dineo victims in Manica call for government support ................................... 70
Government promises post-cyclone resource mobilisation ........................................ 71
Partners promise post-cyclone assistance ................................................................. 71
Umbelúzi water levels rise, but restrictions to continue in Maputo, Matola and Boane
................................................................................................................................... 72
The 70 more boreholes needed to relieve water shortage in Maputo, Matola, Boane 72
President Nyusi concerned at erosion in Nacala ........................................................ 73
Five primary schools closed due to military conflict reopen in Manica ....................... 74

10
 Ten schools reopen in Gorongosa ............................................................................. 74

HEALTH........................................................................................................................ 75
The number of cholera cases rises from 216 to 321 in one week – MISAU ............... 75
More on the cholera outbreak in Nampula ................................................................. 76
Ministry of Health concerned about the increased number of diabetes cases ........... 76
Nampula bakeries warned over hygiene .................................................................... 77
Inspectors close another Maputo restaurant .............................................................. 78
Mozambique to start putting seals on tobacco products ............................................ 78

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

Gorongosa National Park establishes partnership with Community Owned Lands Co-
operative .................................................................................................................... 79
Illegal logging continues in Zambézia ........................................................................ 80
Advances claimed in sustainable forest management in Mozambique ...................... 81
Zimbabwe to donate 2,000 animals to Mozambique .................................................. 82
Ivory seized in Cambodia is from elephants slaughtered in Mozambique .................. 83
Possible decline in rhino poaching in South Africa ..................................................... 84
We can sell rhino horn, says Minister Molewa ........................................................... 85
South Africa opens the door to the sale of wildlife parts ............................................ 86

BUSINESS INDEX

AfDB .................................................................................................................. 20, 32, 34

Agro Indústria ................................................................................................................ 16
Anadarko ............................................................................................................. 3, 25, 26
Baker Young Stockbrokers............................................................................................ 29
Banco de Moçambique.................................................................................................. 23
Banco de Portugal ......................................................................................................... 19
Barloworld Equipment ............................................................................................. 42, 43
BCI ................................................................................................................................ 66

11
Bengala Minas .............................................................................................................. 34
Bureau Veritas .............................................................................................................. 18
Caterpillar ................................................................................................................ 42, 43
CNPC ............................................................................................................................ 25
Coal Min Mozambique................................................................................................... 34
DHL ............................................................................................................................... 19
EdM ..................................................................................................................... 4, 32, 33
EDP ............................................................................................................................... 22
EIU .......................................................................................................................... 15, 17
ENH..................................................................................................................... 3, 25, 32
ENI ................................................................................................................ 3, 25, 26, 46
Eskom ..................................................................................................................... 29, 32
Estradas do Zambeze ................................................................................................... 34
Exim Bank of China ....................................................................................................... 35
Export Processing Group .............................................................................................. 16
Galp............................................................................................................................... 25
Gems Informatica .......................................................................................................... 34
Grupo Mesquita, SA ...................................................................................................... 35
HCB............................................................................................................... 4, 29, 32, 33
IMF .......................................................................................................................... 14, 15
Kenmare Resources...................................................................................................... 15
KfW ......................................................................................................................... 32, 34
KPMG............................................................................................................................ 23
LAM ............................................................................................................................... 14
Martifer Amal ................................................................................................................. 16
Mazars .......................................................................................................................... 19
Mespar, Limitada ........................................................................................................... 35
Motraco ......................................................................................................................... 29
Moza Banco .................................................................................................. 3, 22, 23, 24
Mozal Aluminium ..................................................................................................... 28, 29
Mustang Resources .................................................................................................. 4, 29
Nacala Plaza Business Design Hotel ............................................................................ 16
Pernod Ricard ......................................................................................................... 18, 19
Prime Yield .................................................................................................................... 43
REN............................................................................................................................... 22
Rio Tinto ........................................................................................................................ 30

12
Sasol ....................................................................................................... 4, 27, 28, 32, 33
Savannah Resources .................................................................................................... 30
Shell .............................................................................................................................. 25
Sobe .............................................................................................................................. 34
Société Générale .................................................................................................... 18, 19
South32 ......................................................................................................................... 29
Standard & Poor’s ......................................................................................................... 17
Syrah Resources ........................................................................................................... 34
TCM ........................................................................................................................ 34, 35
TPB ............................................................................................................................... 36
Triton Minerals .......................................................................................................... 4, 29
Vale ........................................................................................................................... 4, 28
Waste Environmental and Power .................................................................................. 34
World Bank...................................................................................... 22, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39

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 Return to Contents Page

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Mozambique Exchange Rate and Fuel Prices: 24 February 2017

Mozambique Metical (MZN) Exchange Rate Mozambique Fuel Prices

Currency Buy Sell Fuel Type Price Per Litre
Euro (EUR) 74,02 74,23 Petrol 50.02MT
U.S. Dollar (USD) 70,06 70,26 Diesel 45.83MT
S.A. Rand (ZAR) 5,43 5,44

GRAPH 1: MOZAMBIQUE CURRENCY EVALUATION

14

Macro-economy:
Lagarde model for misconduct could
be useful for secret debt
The former financial director of Linhas
Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM), Jeremias
Tchamo, was convicted last month of
awarding 25 contracts worth over MT5.3-
million (US$$177,000) to his brother’s
construction company.
But his sentence of two years in jail was
suspended. This triggered an angry report
by the Centre of Public Integrity (Centro
de Integridade Publica, CIP) this week
calling for a change in the law to prevent
this.
However, this seems to be the
international standard, confirmed by the
case of Christine Lagarde, managing
director of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), who was found guilty on 19
December 2016 of “negligence with public
money” in approving an improper €400-
million payout when she was the French
finance minister.
Although clearly a serious crime relating
to a very large amount of money, the
court decided that Lagarde should not be
punished and that the conviction would
not constitute a criminal record. Within
hours of the court’s decision, the IMF
Executive Board convened a special
meeting which gave Lagarde its full
support.
Now that it has the IMF stamp of
approval, this system of convicting but not
punishing senior people for financial
misconduct could be very important for
dealing with Mozambique’s US$2-billion
secret debt.
15
Return to Contents Page
There is pressure for former ministers and
senior officials to be held accountable for
their role in agreeing and guaranteeing
the US$2-billion secret loans – politically,
from the aid donors, and, perhaps more
importantly, to back up Mozambique in
refusing to pay some or all of the debt.
The Lagarde model makes this easier,
because senior people can be found guilty
without being punished, and they can
even retain their high status.
Source: Mozambique News Reports &
Clippings
Mozambique’s economy should
recover slightly in 2017, EIU says
Mozambique’s economy should recover
slightly in 2017 with growth of 4.2%, after
recording the lowest growth in 16 years in
2016, with a rate of 3.6%, according to a
February report from the Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU).
The EIU analysts said the greater
economic growth this year will be driven
by exploration of mineral resources, such
as coal, which is expected to register a
substantial increase due to increased
prices, increased demand from Indian
companies and the efforts of the
companies themselves in 2015-16 to
improve efficiency.
The production of titanium oxide will also
increase, with, for example, Kenmare
Resources exploring heavy sands
deposits in Moma (Nampula Province),
seeking the economic benefits of rising
prices on international markets.
In strictly domestic terms fiscal austerity
will continue, along with difficulties in
obtaining foreign currency and high
inflation that will help reduce domestic
demand. The EIU also noted that financial

volatility and political risk will drive a
further drop in investment. While 2017
should be the year in which
Mozambique’s economy will resume
higher growth, the growth that the EIU
expects from 2018 to 2021, with an
average of 5.1% in real terms, will be far
below the average of 7.3% recorded
during the decade of 2005-15.
The EIU analysts said that fiscal austerity
will continue to limit the development of
construction and service companies
focused on public works, but there may be
some investment by companies operating
in both these sectors. The gradual
expansion of cash crops will be the basis
of the growth of the agricultural sector,
despite being held back by the fact that it
is based on small farms.
The EIU also expects that by 2021 – the
last year covered in this document – there
will be great development in projects of
exploration of natural gas deposits in the
Rovuma Basin, “given the technical
complexity of such projects and the fact
that the international credit market is
relatively limited”.
Source: MacauHub
Amelia Nakhare says economic crisis
is no excuse for non-compliance with
tax targets
The head of the Mozambican Tax
Authority (Autoridade Tributária de
Moçambique, AT), Amélia Nakhare,
recently said that the current economic
crisis facing the country should not be an
excuse for failing to meet the targets set
out for this year with regard to revenue
collection.
Nakhare, who was speaking over the
course of the weekend 18 to 19 February
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in Moamba district (Maputo Province),
said that: “This year we have a much
greater challenge than we had last year
and under similar conditions. The
Mozambican economy still has some
weaknesses, despite the resilience it is
showing to the various shocks … but no
one forgives the tax collectors …
Demand. We do not have the space to
say: ‘Well, it's time to rest’”.
Source: Folha de Maputo
Investments in Mozambique: President
Nyusi reiterates facilitation
President Filipe Nyusi recently reiterated
the government’s willingness to comply
with the facilitation and implementation of
investments in the domestic and foreign
private sectors in order to create more
jobs for nationals and improve their
families’ income.
The President was speaking on Saturday
18 February, in the port city of Nacala
(Nampula Province), where he
inaugurated three major industrial and
tourism enterprises, namely the
metalworking company Martifer Amal,
Agro Indústria and Nacala Plaza Business
Design Hotel.
At Martifer, the President learned that the
new factory’s capacity is much greater
than the current one, as it expands its
markets.
“Broaden your activity more”, he urged,
expressing satisfaction that the company
could now construct metal bridges and
various other parts that are currently
being manufactured in the cities of
Maputo and Beira. “Now they can also
assist our oil and hydrocarbon
companies”, President Nyusi said.

At the Export Processing Group (ETG),
President Nyusi congratulated the
managers once again for their investment.
“More than just the opening of an
industrial unit, we have witnessed the
expansion of the business activity of the
Export Trading Group, thus boosting the
industrial fabric of Mozambique. This type
of investment happens when investors
assess the situation and conclude that the
political and economic environment is
favourable to host medium and large
projects, which means that the
government is working to attract more
investment”, President Nyusi said.
He said that the event sits well with the
government’s Five Year Plan for 2015-19
which considers industry as a determining
factor in the structural transformation and
increased competitiveness of the national
economy and also responds to the
national development strategy 2015-35,
which considers industrialisation a way for
the country to achieve prosperity,
competitiveness, sustainability and well-
being.
At the Nacala Plaza Business Design
Hotel, a four-star hotel resort, the
President explained that the government
had chosen tourism as one of four
strategic areas with a view to boosting the
country’s development on account of its
cross-sectoral nature and its potential for
other economic and social activities.
For President Nyusi, the government had
decided to invest in tourism because it
believed that it was an activity with the
potential to stimulate the diversification of
the national economy and, in fact, the
sector has in recent years played a role
that was, according to the President, the
result of increasing investments by private
individuals and the public.
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“We have a lot of work to do. The vision is
that, in 2025, Mozambique will become
the best tourist destination in the region,
famous for its excellent beaches and
other attractions, sensational ecotourism
products and fascinating culture,
translating into a fast-growing, integrated
and sustained tourist industry”, President
Nyusi said.
Source: Jornal Notícias
French confidence still high in
Mozambique
“We’re starting to see a few positive
signs”, French Ambassador to
Mozambique, Bruno Clerc, noted at a
cocktail dinner held on Thursday 16
February at the Résidence de France and
organised by the European Business Club
(EBC) in Maputo. The diplomat said that
he felt somewhat “reassured” by recent
measures taken by the Mozambican
authorities to curb the current economic
and financial crisis that has been stifling
the country for almost two years.
Mozambique’s economic growth slowed
to 3.3% in 2016 (a 15-year low) after
growing more than 6.5% the previous
year. The metical has lost more than
140% of its value against the dollar since
October 2014. The government said last
month that it would unable to honour its
commitments to repay bondholders
following a scandal over undisclosed
debts of more than US$2-billion not
approved by the National Assembly.
Last December, the central bank of
Mozambique decided to increase its main
benchmark interest rates by 150 basis
points to 9.75%, in order to offer the
metical some support. It also introduced a
new interest rate for the interbank money
market, with effect from 15 April, called

the monetary policy rate. “It is still too
early to appreciate the impact that those
measures will have on the Mozambican
economy in 2017”, Ambassador Clerc
said in an exclusive interview with Club of
Mozambique. “However, we are confident
that 2018 will show some tangible signs of
recovery”.
In its most recent forecasts, the EIU
expects significant private investments in
the construction and services sectors from
2018 on, while mega gas projects in the
northern part of the country are expected
to start next year. Economists anticipate
that Mozambique will grow at an average
rate of 5.1% between 2018 and 2021, a
number still below the 7.5% recorded
between 2005 and 2015.
After having maintained its Selective
Default (SD) rating on Mozambique’s
currency, Standard & Poor’s Global
Ratings explains that the development of
large coal and natural gas fields will be
key for medium-term economic growth.
“Much of the rail track to new coal
deposits has been laid (previously a key
constraint to exports), which should
support higher coal production over 2017-
20, provided international prices do not
fall steeply”, the rating agency wrote in a
recent report.
However, French interests in Mozambique
go beyond the mere commodity sector.
Testing, inspection and certification
specialist Bureau Veritas has a strong
presence in Mozambique – in seven
locations, according to the Mining Review,
while Seagram’s gin, Havana Club rum
and Chivas Regal Scotch producer
Pernod Ricard established itself here in
2015, the same year the multinational
banking and financial services company
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Société Générale opened an office in
Maputo.
France-Mozambique Business Club’s
(FBC) General Manager, Audrey Gortana
Vallet, notes that about 100 French
companies and subsidiaries are currently
operating in Mozambique, employing a
significant number of employees. “Around
10,000”, Vallet says.
“These companies operate in the
transport, logistics, energy, construction,
services, electrical equipment and primary
sectors”, the FBC chairperson adds.
The FBC was founded in 2015 and offers
various services to French companies
already established in Mozambique as
well as to those eager to expand into this
southern African market. It was recently
appointed to the rotating presidency of the
EBC for 2017, and Vallet will now
succeed the Club’s president and Swiss
investor, Adrian Frey, as chairman of the
EBC.
There is still plenty of room left for French
companies, as the French presence in
Mozambique remains very low compared,
for example, to Portugal’s. “There are only
743 French citizens living in
Mozambique”, confirms Yanis Bouchard
Pereira, economic co-operation officer at
the Club Export Reunion and member of
the French-Mozambique Club, who also
attended the cocktail dinner.
Asked what the main benefits that French
businesses could offer Mozambique were,
Ambassador Clerc stressed technological
transfer. “Offering professional and
technical training for local employees,
thus promoting the emergence of new
skills, is at the core of French investment
philosophy”, he said.

While this may translate into higher prices
for the services and goods provided by
those companies such an approach is far
more beneficial for the country in the long
term. A training programme in the field of
labour inspection in the mining sector,
which will provide increased safety for
Mozambican workers, is currently taking
place with French assistance.
Launched in 2015, the EBC is a joint
initiative of the European business
chambers to promote business and
investments in Mozambique. Its members
consist of business clubs and economic
and trade offices from various embassies,
including Switzerland, Italy, Germany,
Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Portugal and
the United Kingdom.
Representing about 600 European
companies, the EBC aims to extend the
local business network, not only with the
objective of helping those intent on
establishing their own businesses, but
also with that of partnering with existing
local operators. The mutual interactions of
its members form a communication
platform through which they can develop
collective responses to various
challenges.
The platform is also the main
communication medium between EBC
representatives and the Mozambican
government. The FBC’s new chairman will
address the task of organising all the EBC
held during her mandate.
“While it is true that members may be
competitors, the EBC allows them to join
forces on common projects, where each is
complementary to the other”, the French
diplomat explains. “As such, the Club
creates a win-win situation for all
participants”.
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The cocktail dinner was sponsored by
international audit and consulting group
Mazars, the global logistical leader DHL,
Société Générale and Pernod Ricard
among others.
All participants at the event contributed to
a fundraising programme in support of two
charity projects: the ‘Wamina Girl” project,
which helps young Mozambican girls in
the management of their menstrual cycle,
and non-governmental organization
ASAS’s Alulamile Orphanage project,
which finances the construction of
bathrooms and toilets.
Source: Club of Mozambique/Levi Muthemba
Portuguese investments in
Mozambique drop by €154-million
According to data from the Banco de
Portugal, Portugal’s investment in
Mozambique fell by €154-million last year
(2016).
The slowdown was caused by the fall in
the price of oil and the difficulties of
establishing and expanding Portuguese
investments in Mozambique. For the
same reasons, foreign investors also cut
their investments last year in Angola by
10%, equivalent to €409-million.
The uncertain future of these two African
economies is also pointed out as one of
the reasons for the retraction of
Portuguese investment.
Despite these divestments, Portugal’s
total foreign investment increased by
1.7% last year. The Netherlands, Brazil
and Spain were the major destinations for
Portuguese investments.
According to data released in 2016 by the
Investment Promotion Centre (Centro de
Promoção de Investimentos, CPI),

Portuguese investment in Mozambique
totalled €83.2-million in 2015. At the time,
Portugal was considered the fourth largest
foreign investor in Mozambique.
Portugal’s was not the only investments to
register a decline in Mozambique in 2016.
During the course of last year, several
factors contributed to the slowdown of
investments on the part of several other
countries, namely the fall in the price of
coal and oil, which delayed investments in
the extractive industry.
After the volume of investments fell from
about US$7-billion in 2014 to about
US$1.3-billion in 2015, the CPI predicted
a recovery to US$4.5-billion.
Source: O País
Mauritius the investment platform of
choice for Mozambique
Mozambique is an indispensable part of
Mauritius’s global strategy to promote
economic development and growth in
Africa, and the reason behind the
Mauritius-based Board of Investment and
Financial Services Promotion Agency’s
(BoIF) B2B workshop for about 30
Mauritius businesses held on Thursday 23
February in Maputo, which showcased
Mauritius as a privileged investment
partner and financial and investment
platform for foreign multinationals looking
to start or expand activities in
Mozambique.
“We may have somewhat neglected the
importance of bilateral agreements”,
Gérard Sanspeur, chairman of the BoIF,
admits. While confirming Mauritius’s
commitment to regional integration, he
emphasised the need to foster more
bilateral relations in order to enhance
investment and service delivery.
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Mauritius has completed nearly 50
bilateral double taxation avoidance
agreements, 20 of them with African
countries. The country has formalised
more than 40 bilateral agreements (23 in
Africa) relating to the promotion and
protection of investments and reached 30
Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with
African countries out of a total of 40
globally.
Since its independence in 1968, Mauritius
has experienced a sustainable economic
transformation from mono-crop
agricultural to a well-diversified economy,
to the extent that, thanks to its education
and professional training policies, the
country is now gradually attaining “high-
income country” status.
“However, expertise alone is not enough”,
Sanspeur warns. “We also need the
natural resources in which continental
Africa is so rich, and which reinforce the
need for these bilateral trade
agreements”. With investors possibly
reluctant to register their companies in
Africa, Mauritius stands out as an ideal
jurisdiction to raise capital for projects in
Africa.
Its Africa Centre of Excellence showcases
and facilitates investments in Africa
through business intelligence and
networking. For its part, the Mauritius
Africa Fund enjoys government seed
capital of MUR500-million (US$14-million)
as equity financing for viable projects in
Africa, while the Enhanced Government-
to-Government programme enables the
setting up of special economic zones in
several African countries.
“Mozambique is a key ally of Mauritius in
the region,” High Commissioner of
Mauritius in Mozambique Jean-Pierre
Jhammun insists, recommending his

country, where the financial services
sector accounts for about 20% of the
economy, as a partner of choice for
raising capital. Whether it be private
equity, venture capital or equity funds on
the Mauritius Stock Exchange, financing
for Mozambican projects comes in highly
diversified forms.
One other critical component of
Mauritius’s strategy in Africa is private
sector involvement. According to the
African Development Bank (AfDB), over
60 private companies are already
investing in 25 countries across Africa. In
2014, the government of Mauritius,
through the publicly owned Regional
Development Corporation, has leased
about 2,456 hectares of land in
Mozambique for the development of food
security and renewable energy investment
projects.
Though Mozambique’s energy potential
attracts most of the attention, Mauritius is
ideally placed to serve as a springboard
for development in other sectors,
including technology-based and biotech
agriculture, maritime business,
manufacturing and high-tech medical
services and products.
Regarding the latter, the Mauritius
healthcare sector has been transformed
into an integrated model underpinned by
modern medical facilities, to the extent
that, in 2015, more than 16,000 foreign
patients travelled to Mauritius for both
inpatient and outpatient procedures. “The
sector is now shifting gears towards the
export of its services and is positioning
itself as a medical tourism platform for
Africa”, the BoIF chairman explained.
Source: Club of Mozambique/Levy-Sergio
Mutemba
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Increased opportunities available in
Portugal-Macau-Portuguese Countries
co-operation
The two- or three-way relationship
between China and the Portuguese-
speaking countries was in focus on 21
February at an international conference
held in Lisbon where Macau’s role as a
contact platform was a central theme.
The conference, titled ‘Macau, A Bridge in
The China-Portuguese-Speaking
Countries Economic Relationship’, for
which the MacauHub news agency was
media partner, is aimed at enhancing the
role of Forum Macau, which is considered
by a number of players in relations
between China, Portugal and Portuguese-
speaking countries as an opportunity for
businesses, particularly to fund projects.
The event also has a partnership with
Portugal’s Investment and Foreign Trade
Agency (AICEP), whose most recent
edition of Portugal Global magazine
focuses on Macau, with an interview with
General Garcia Leandro, current
president of the Jorge Alvares
Foundation, and former governor of
Macau, who says that the Asian city can
“have a privileged role for companies that
do not directly enter the Chinese market”.
This, he says, is thanks to “all the
initiatives that Forum Macau has
developed, allowing meetings between
Chinese entrepreneurs and those from
Portuguese-speaking countries” which
“have opened up possibilities for two- or
three-way relations between companies
from various countries that on their own
would have no chance of success”.
“This capacity of Macau should be taken
to the maximum. China itself, as seen last
October at the Ministerial Conference (of
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Forum Macau), clearly showed the
purpose of giving Macau a greater role in
this area by proposing 18 concrete
measures that will build the capacity of
the Forum, even as a financial co-
operation platform focused on Macau”,
added Leandro.
“Some PALOP (Portuguese-speaking
African countries) and Timor-Leste have
felt greater need to get the most out of
Forum Macau’s resources, for the
opportunities created there, and through
the training sessions offered at its training
centre and higher education institutions”,
he said.
The President of AICEP, Miguel
Frasquilho, also challenges Portuguese
entrepreneurs to “look with interest at the
possibilities that Forum Macau opens up
in terms of three-way co-operation, that is,
to support investment and development
projects between Portuguese-speaking
companies and countries”.
The ‘Macau, A Bridge in The China-
Portuguese-Speaking Countries
Economic Relationship’, conference took
place at the Institute of Social and Political
Sciences (ISCSP) in Lisbon, and was
attended by the Portuguese President,
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the
Chinese Ambassador to Portugal, Cai
Run.
The event was also attended by
managers of Portuguese companies with
Chinese investors, such as António
Mexia, CEO of the Energias de Portugal
(EDP) group and João Faria Conceição,
executive director of the national grid
Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), and
businesses with developing relations with
China such as Duarte Lynce de Faria, the
director of the port of Sines.
Source: MacauHub

Also in an interview with Portugal Global

magazine, Whu Zhiwei, chief executive of
Companhia de Desenvolvimento Cidade
Moderna (Modern City Development –
Macau) and of Tin Min Jade says, “the
internationalisation of Portuguese
companies is very important for China, for
Macau and for Portugal”, and that “many
Chinese companies have come to realise
the potential of the Portuguese-speaking
country markets. Portugal is decidedly a
new potential and privileged partner for
the Chinese government and companies”.

“This internationalisation is necessary to

get interaction and co-operation between
different countries. The increasing
existence of internationalised companies
between China and Portugal will extend
the scope, scale and success of co-
operation”, said Zhiwei.

22

Financial Services:
How Moza Banco is boosting financial
inclusion in Mozambique
Last year, World Bank projections placed
the economic growth of Mozambique at
3.6%, with “significant downward risks”.
The Bank cites Mozambique’s adverse
short-term prospects, but projects growth
to reach 6.9% by 2018.
Marco Abalroado, head of Digital,
Channels and Self-banking at Moza
Banco explains how Mozambique’s
economy impacts its banking system: “If
you look at the [Mozambican] banking
system nowadays, from a products
perspective it’s probably not that complex,
in terms of the effects that you see in
many markets in Europe. In that sense,
that’s plenty of opportunity to develop new
products and solutions adapted to the
country and to an economy that’s also
developing”.
Moza Banco is a nine-year old
Mozambican commercial bank with a
market share of 7.5%. Abalroado tells us
about the shortcomings of the
Mozambican banking market. “The
majority of the Mozambique population is
not yet bancarised”, he says. “So
approximately only around 20% of the
people are formally financially included”.
This is where Moza Banco comes in.
Moza Banco started as a boutique bank –
it was targeted at a private group of
affluent clients. In 2010, KPMG included
in its 100 largest companies in
Mozambique report. More accolades
followed, for instance The Banker ranked
Moza Banco as Africa’s fifth fastest
growing bank, in terms of assets. Moza
Banco was commercially and critically
successful. Despite this, it decided to
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change strategy. “We moved our strategy
by the end of 2013 to be a fully-fledged
retail bank. So, what we’re trying to
achieve as a bank is how to reach the
population. How can we start financial
inclusion?” Abalroado explains. To
achieve this goal, Moza Banco has
partnered with the Banco de
Moçambique, the government
International Co-operation Companies like
GIZ and NGO’s. Together, they’ve been
“trying to develop new products, products
that can bring the majority of the
population to the bank”.
Inclusion:
When he started working with Moza
Banco in 2011, Abalroado noticed that
Mozambique had a well-developed
banking system with advanced technology
and mobile phone application. He
explains that his main objective wasn’t to
improve on these areas. “What we’re
trying to achieve as a bank revolves
around how to reach the population. How
can we start financial inclusion?”
Abalroado says. “So, we’ve launched
quite a few projects to facilitate this”.
Moza Banco’s most cogent project is its
agent banking project. A banking agent is
a retail/postal outlet that processes
clients’ transactions on behalf of a bank.
Countries such as Mexico, Pakistan,
Kenya and Brazil have all built
experimental banking agent networks.
During his financial services career,
Abalroado worked in Brazil, a country with
one of the largest agent networks in the
world. In 2013, Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation conducted a study on financial
inclusion in Brazil – 70% of respondents
regularly paid at least one bill through
agents.

Abalroado comments: “If we look at
similar countries, for example Brazil, who
bank the majority their population through
agent banking, I do think that agent
banking and mobile are solutions to
approaching the majority of the
Mozambican population.
“In Mozambique, we have around 600
branches overall, and you have to bear in
mind that this is a huge country with 2,500
kilometres from the north to south and
1,000 from east to west. Six hundred
branches is literally nothing, if you
compare it to the benchmarks that you
have in surrounding countries like South
Africa. In order to have the country
covered, we would need around 3,000
branches. And realistically that’s not going
to happen”.
Abalroado stresses that Moza Banco
wants to service rural and peripheral
areas of Mozambique, along with urban
sectors. He strongly believes that a large
network of banking agents is the key to
such financial inclusion. Moza Banco is
currently launching its agent banking
project in Mozambique. When in fruition,
customers will be able to process top ups,
transfers, deposits and pay for services
there. “The first steps will be for the
majority of the population to approach to
the bank, where you can receive
remittances from people that live in the
big city. You can send money, you can do
some of your utility payments”, Abalroado
says.
“Also, you can start your own account and
do your own payments. This will be
extremely important because the majority
of the population are still afraid of entering
a bank – they think it’s only for a certain
type of people”. Moza Banco is bringing
the bank to neighbourhoods, with staff
who are already known to customers –
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people that they are familiar with.
“Another big project where we’ve worked,
especially on the peripheral areas of the
city, was on the informal market”,
Abalroado continues. Moza Banco has
created container branches (“it’s literally a
container”) in markets, complete with
bank tellers and ATMs. “Cities like
Maputo, Nampula, Beira … the big cities
in Mozambique have big markets around
it, where the majority of people buy their
day-to-day stuff.
It’s also where some of the shops buy
their products. There are markets that
move probably millions of dollars a day,
100% cash. So how can we enter there?
We cannot open a branch inside of the
market”. Container banks were Moza
Banco’s solution. According to Abalroado,
the majority of the population (that
probably save their money under their
mattress and pay for everything in cash)
are slowly starting to open accounts via
these container banks.
Expansion:
Other Moza Banco initiatives include
developing business credit products with
local communities, launching USSD
banking applications and partnering with
the government to enable online payment
to the state. Clearly, Moza Banco plans to
continuously expand its reach. “When I
arrived in Mozambique we had 50 people
and two branches. We’re now around 800
and we have 59 branches”, Abalroado
says. “As you can imagine it’s quite
difficult to make a bank grow this fast in
four, five years. You have to struggle with
lots of things, from communications, to
training staff 2000 kilometres away from
you”.
Abalroado puts the bank’s resilience down
to both human capital and technological

innovation. “We’ve hired brilliant staff …
fortunately the majority of the junior staff
that we hired in the beginning are now
seniors and taking projects and
departments into their hands”, Abalroado
says. “Our shareholders, from day one,
accepted that the way forward is
technology. We are the most innovative
southern African bank for the African
Banker Magazine for two years in a row,
alongside with the Best Online Platform.
We received several Visa awards for
innovation for products that we were
launching”.
Where can Moza Banco go from here?
Abalroado elaborates: “We’re in a
recapitalisation process now and
hopefully that will give us the boost to
continue our history and become one of
the most relevant banks in the country”.
Moza Banco also hopes to consolidate its
position as a retail bank and, of course,
further increase financial inclusion. “We
owe that to the country, to try to facilitate
the process of bancarisation”, Abalroado
concludes.
Source: African Business Review
Oil & Gas:
The Minister and ENH boss in
overdrive for LNG quest
With ENI yet to announce its investment
decision concerning the Coral field, the
authorities are stepping up talks with
investors to move ahead faster with gas
projects. The style has changed and so
has the pace. To eclipse her predecessor,
Pedro Couto, Mozambique’s new Mines
and Energy Minister, Leticia da Silva
Deusina Klemens, is intent on moving
quickly. She is moving constantly between
meetings and seminars in hopes of
hurdling obstacles standing in the way of
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ENI’s projects on block-4 and Anadarko
on block-1.
Three weeks ago (7 to 9 February) she
turned up in Scotland to take part in the
Subsea Expo 2017 conference and met
with service companies looking to find
work on developing fields in the Rovuma
Basin. She also met with officials from
Shell in London that week. The Angola-
Dutch major signed a contract with
Mozambique’s Instituto Nacional de
Petroleo (INP) in late January that
involves buying over 300-million
cu.m./day of gas from Blocks 1 and 4.
Shell will transform the gas into oil
products and supply a power plant
generating between 50-80 megawatts
(MW).
Africa Energy Intelligence understands
that while the Mozambique Minister was
in Britain, the head of state-owned ENH,
Omar Mithá, found himself in Lisbon to
seek funding for gas projects. ENI
believed ENH had already put together
the cash required to pay for its share of
work on Block-4 – it holds a 10% stake –
where the inauguration of the FLNG on
the Coral field reportedly imminent.
However, it appears that ENH doesn’t
have all the money needed for its share.
China’s CNPC, also a partner on the
concession, was approached to offer a
loan to the government. When he was in
Lisbon, Mithá reportedly also met with
officials from Portugal’s Galp that equally
owns 10% of Block-4. Galp has excellent
relations with Mozambique. One of its
directors since 2012 is Mozambique’s
former and powerful finance minister,
Abdul Magid Osman. He is very close to
most of the old guard of the ruling Frelimo
Party.
Source: Africa Energy Intelligence

Disagreement between ENI and
Anadarko over “marine concession”
While the issue has been under
discussion for nearly two years,
Mozambique’s government still hasn’t
approved the marine concession that the
two operators on Block 1 and 4, Anadarko
and ENI, and the state-owned Empresa
Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) are
to share in Cabo Delgado Province. The
marine concession is the area where
methane tankers will put in to transfer
liquefied gas from the future trains to be
supplied by Blocks 1 and 4.
However, the government, which seems
ready to sign a decree creating the zone,
has been prevented from doing so by the
operators who have failed to reach an
agreement between themselves on their
respective parts in the process. According
to sources in Maputo, ENI, which has no
pressing need for the zone to be set up –
its FLNG on Coral won’t require
infrastructure on land – is holding up an
agreement, to the irritation of Anadarko,
which needs a decision.
Source: Africa Energy Intelligence
Anadarko “tried to deceive
Mozambique's Tax Authority”
Due to alleged incompetence, the
government of President Filipe Nyusi risks
being unable to collect taxes of
approximately US$7.5-million from the
first investments made by Anadarko
Moçambique Area 1 Lda., and ENI East
Africa in the Rovuma Basin. It is asserted
that the US multinational allegedly tried to
deceive the Tax Authority in submitting
“the Model 22 without filling any amounts
related to the costs incurred and income
obtained”, as well as choosing “to defer
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the presentation of these costs for the
year in which production began”.
According to the Administrative Tribunal
(which audits the state accounts), the
audit report of Anadarko Moçambique
Area 1 Lda, (carried out by the Tax
Authority of Mozambique) “shows that as
of 12/29/2015, in relation to this
concessionaire, the Tax Authority did not
have the necessary information on the
total costs incurred so far, since the
company submitted Model 22 without
filling any amounts related to costs
incurred and revenues obtained and
chose to defer the presentation of these
costs to the company in the year in which
production commenced”.
The report compiled by the Administrative
Tribunal on the General State Account
(Conta Geral do Estado, CGE) of 2015
adds that, in the face of this attempt to
evade the tax authorities, the
Mozambican Tax Authority urged the US
multinational to substantiate tax models in
order to “present the value of costs and
income in the respective financial years in
which they were generated, regardless of
the period of recovery” – since the
procedure adopted by the concessionaire
“hinders the control of the amounts by the
Tax Administration”.
The report on the 2015 CGE also states
that following an audit carried out by the
Tax Authority on Anadarko in respect of
financial years 2010, 2011 and 2012,
“non-fiscally recognized costs, amounting
to MT1,718,221, were calculated, which
were added to the taxable amount.
Accordingly, for the fiscal year of 2010,
MT204,920 were added to the accounts
for the financial year 2011, amounting to
MT276,767, and finally to 2012,
MT1,236,534”.

“It should be noted that these amounts
had been considered costs by the
Anadarko concessionaire, but not by the
Mozambican Tax Authority, which
indicates the need to take a decision as
soon as possible on the recoverable costs
hitherto reported”, warns the
Administrative Tribunal. In addition, it was
reported that there was a “lack of
communication” between the National
Petroleum Institute and the Tax Authority,
which should constantly co-ordinate with
one another.
The government risks losing out on taxes
of about US$7.5-million.
In addition to the abovementioned
irregularities, the investigation carried out
by the National Petroleum Institute “found
that at the closing date of the 2015
economic year, the recoverable operating
costs reported by the concessionaires
Anadarko Moçambique, Area 1 Lda, and
ENI Est Africa amounted to
US$7,492,038”.
Having said that, in its analysis of the
CGE of President Nyusi’s first year of
office (2015), the Administrative Tribunal
warned the government that non-
certification, within the period established
by law (three years), from Rovuma Basin
Areas 1 to 4, these costs will become
“effective and fully deductible”.
Moreover, this observation was repeated
in the last year of Armando Guebuza’s
term: “The government has not yet issued
any certification of compliance with the
operating costs of the projects (Anadarko
and ENI), in the amount of
US$6,378,181.5, whose term
contractually envisaged is three years”,
warned the Administrative Tribunal in its
report on the 2014 CGE.
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At the time, the National Petroleum
Institute claimed “insufficient technical and
human resources” as the reason for the
non-issue of any certification of
compliance of operating costs for the
Anadarko and ENI projects. However, in
its report on the 2014 CGE, the
Administrative Tribunal drew attention to
the fact that “in relation to the Anadarko
agreement, which according to Annex C,
a), the government may audit the
accounts and other records of each
calendar year, within three years from the
end of the calendar year in question”.
“The notification of any objections to the
concessionaire’s accounts for any
calendar year shall be submitted to the
concessionaire three years after the end
of that calendar year, after which the
objections expire. Annex C (c) of the
same contract, for its part, states that if
the government does not carry out an
audit with respect to a given calendar year
or does so but does not express any
objections within three years, this will be
evaluated as true and correct, except for
cases of non-compliance with procedures,
fraud and malicious conduct”, explained
the Administrative Tribunal, which noted
that, since then the government did
nothing due to a lack of qualified human
resources, incompetence or purposely to
benefit the concessionaire or in a bid to
withdraw dividends through other non-
transparent channels.
It should be noted that apart from the
“social responsibility” activities that
investors are undertaking in Mozambique
(which is welcome), the people of
Mozambique would not need donations if
those who exploit our resources pay their
taxes.
Source: @Verdade

Sasol resumes activities after cyclone
Dineo
The production of natural gas by South
African petrochemical company Sasol in
the southern province of Inhambane has
resumed, the company not having
suffered much from cyclone Dineo which
battered 12 districts of the territory on
Wednesday 15 February.
According to press office Alex Anderson,
the Temane region experienced strong
winds and heavy rains, but the company
implemented response measures to
protect both its personnel and assets.
Currently, efforts are being made to
resume extractive activity in search of
new sources of gas and oil in the
Production Sharing Agreement area, but it
has had to be temporarily suspended.
Sasol is the main source of natural gas for
consumers in South Africa and
Mozambique. It extracts the gas from
existing reservoirs in Temane and pumps
it to a plant in South Africa.
Sasol will publish the results for 2016’s
second half on 27 February.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Mining:
Vale’s coal production up but still
failed 2016 target
Vale Moçambique extracted about 5.5-
million metric tons of coal from its Moatize
mine (Tete Province) in 2016, after having
produced five-million metric tons in 2015.
The increase in production resulted from
an improvement of the Moatize I project
and the start of a new one called Moatize
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II, the mining company explains. Of the
2016 production, about 3.5-million tons is
metallurgical coal and two-million tons is
thermal coal.
In the last three months of 2016, coal
production reached 1.6-million tons, but
fell 9.7% short of the figure reached in the
third quarter of the same year due to a
shortage of explosives.
Despite the increase over 2015, 2016 coal
production fell short of the target of 10-
million tons due to a delay in the start-up
of the Moatize II project plant in August
2016 and a shortage of explosives,
according to information on the
company’s website.
“The supply of explosives has been
restored and the performance of
operations has continuously improved
since, with production of 0.6-million tons
in December 2016 and a monthly record
of 0.8-million in January 2017”, the site
relates.
The volume of coal transported by the
company’s trains in the Sena-Beira and
Nacala logistics corridors reached 8.8-
million tons in 2016, 113% more than the
4.1-million tons transported in 2015.
Coal carried in 2016 totalled 8.7-million
tons, 36% more than the 5-million tons
carried in 2015, as a result of
improvements in the Nacala Corridor.
“In December 2016, our logistical
operations in Mozambique reached
historical highs, with a volume of
1,097,000 tons transported and a shipped
volume of 1,071,000 tons”, a document
summarising Vale Moçambique’s activity
in 2016 says.
Source: O País/MacauHub

Mozal aluminium production 2% up,
operating costs 12% down
Saleable production from Mozal
Aluminium increased by 2% to 136,000 t
in the six months to 31 December, with an
11% increase in sales reflecting the timing
of shipments between periods.
Operating unit costs decreased by 12% to
US$1,448/t in the first half of the 2017
financial year, reflecting stronger sales
and lower raw materials prices.
A total of 39 Mozal pots were relined in
the period at US$193,000 a pot,
compared with 69 pots at US$212,000 a
pot in the corresponding period of the
previous financial year.
A total of 106 pots are now scheduled to
be relined in this financial year.
Mozal Aluminium uses hydroelectric
power generated by Hidroeléctrica de
Cahora Bassa (HCB), which delivers
power into the South African grid to
Eskom, with Mozal sourcing the power
through the Mozambique transmission
company, Motraco.
“We get some protection in terms of the
cost of the Hillside business when the
LME price goes down and foreign
exchange doesn’t work in our favour. So,
it provides a bit of a natural hedge,
whereas we don’t get that same benefit at
Mozal. But likewise, as the exchange
goes the other way and we actually see
aluminium prices increase, we get more
out of Mozal than we do out of Hillside”,
South32 Chief Executive Officer, Graham
Kerr, said in response to Mining Weekly
Online.
Source: Mining Weekly Online
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Mustang Resources gets ready to
pounce on ruby license
Mustang Resources has been granted a
trading halt by the ASX, pending details in
relation to the acquisition of a majority
interest in a ruby license in Mozambique,
and a possible capital raising.
Earlier in the week Mustang received a
Buy Recommendation and 16 US cents
target price from Baker Young
Stockbrokers.
The valuation is circa 60% higher than the
last traded price.
The halt will remain in place until the
opening of trade on Tuesday 28 February
2017, or earlier if an announcement is
made to the market.
Source: ProActive Investors
Triton Minerals confirms premium
graphite grades at Ancuabe
Triton Minerals has confirmed premium
grades of graphite from testing
metallurgical samples taken from its
Ancuabe Project in Mozambique.
The samples were selected from diamond
drill cores from Triton’s 2016 exploration
drilling campaign at the T12 and T16
deposits.
The testing has confirmed coarse, high-
purity graphite flake concentrates with a
purity of between 97.5 and 99.2%.
Importantly, Ancuabe’s flake size
distribution is about 56% large flake
graphite and 30% jumbo flake graphite.
The larger size differentiates Triton from
many of its peers with predominantly
medium or small flakes size deposits.

These results demonstrate the potential
for the company to meet the key criteria
required to produce a premium product
suitable for the expandable graphite and
lithium-ion battery markets.
In addition, there is scope to optimise
further through a coarser initial grind to
preserve large to jumbo flakes, since the
current results are based on non-
optimised process testwork.
Triton has now commenced the Ancuabe
Scoping Study that is expected to be
completed by the end of March 2017.
The company is focused on fast tracking
the development studies for Ancuabe to
enable an early investment decision.
Triton’s share price has increased by 28%
since the start of 2017, last trading at
0.082 US cents.
Source: ProActive Investors
Savannah Resources reduces FY loss
after productive 2016
Savannah Resources has almost halved
its full-year pre-tax loss to £1.8-million,
from a loss of £3.1-million, after a
productive 12-month period that had
enabled it to start 2017 with three
projects, each at exciting stages of
development.
“We have secured and amalgamated our
individual projects in Mozambique into a
globally significant ilmenite project at a
time of rising prices, increased demand
and declining inventories”, said Chief
Executive David Archer.
This was thanks to the Consortium
Agreement that Savannah had entered
into with Rio Tinto regarding the Mutamba
Project.
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“The project appears to be amenable to
dry mining which should provide a faster,
lower-cost and flexible route to
production”, said Archer in a statement.
In parallel, Savannah continued to make
solid progress towards copper production
in Oman from the Mahab and Maqail
deposits.
“In the meantime, we look forward to
providing updates on the lithium potential
of the newest additions to our portfolio in
Finland”.
This would provide longer-term potential
to Savannah’s core heavy mineral sands
and copper projects where it expected to
see significant milestones being achieved
throughout 2017.
Source: Digital Look
Government of Zambézia to regularise
mining activities
The government of Zambézia Province
announced the intention to regularise the
extraction of mineral resources in the
districts of Gilé, Morrumbala, Alto
Molocué, Mulevala, Mocuba, Milange and
Maganja da Costa.
The decision was announced on
Wednesday 15 February on the side-lines
of the third ordinary session of the
provincial government. The measure is
essentially aimed at reducing the loss of
lives of artisanal miners.
João Nhabeça, a spokesperson for the
provincial government in Zambézia, said
that the measure is intended to ensure
than mining is environmentally friendly
and legal, while guaranteeing the safety
for all citizens. He stressed that the
government’s objective “is to allow these

citizens to form associations and to
become legal miners”, he said.
Data shows that currently, 11 mining
associations and 5,000 people are
involved in mineral extraction at a
provincial level, and the government
stresses that people are essentially
dependent on these activities as a source
of income.
Nhabeça recommended that several
entities strengthen the monitoring process
in order to avoid loss of lives resulting
from the unsecured exploitation of mineral
resources.
Source: Jornal Txopela
Mozambique launches operation
against illegal miners
The ongoing operation against illegal
mining and prospecting began on 9
February in Montepuez district (Cabo
Delgado Province) and is to expand to
more mining areas. Of the 3,000 people
identified, more than half were foreign,
with 1,500 illegal immigrants being sent
back to Tanzania.
According to Abdul Chaguro, head of the
department of the province’s Natural
Resources and Environment Protection
Police, the operation “will extend to other
mining areas in Cabo Delgado Province”.
“From police analysis, it is apparent that
areas where illegal mining takes place
have more violent crime, often involving
firearms. This operation aimed at
removing everyone from the ‘garimpo’
(illegal mining) areas”, Chaguro
explained.
The operation, run by a multi-sectoral
force from several police departments,
was flagged well in advance.
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“The operation was preceded by warnings
from district administrations and local
authorities calling on people carrying out
these activities to leave on their own
initiative”, Chaguro said, adding that
“many foreigners did so”.
Chaguro repeated the call: those mining
illegally in these areas must leave
“voluntarily”, and anyone who wants to
pursue mining activity must do so legally,
with a license from the competent
authority.
Despite the warning, by Monday 20
February, 3,220 people had been
removed, split between nationals and
foreigners. “The people who were
removed were linked directly to illegal
mining or lending for the purposes of
illegal mining”, Chaguro noted.
Among those identified, more than half
(1,634) were nationals. Of the foreigners,
who were being repatriated, the majority
(1,561) came from Tanzania, alongside
some from Gambia, Senegal, Thailand
and Mali.
Tanzania says it is monitoring the
situation. Aziz Mlima, permanent
secretary at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, said that authorities in Tanzania
were working with Mozambique.
“The main responsibility of the Tanzanian
government, through its embassy in
Maputo, is to ensure that the interests of
law-abiding Tanzanians, even if non-
complaint, are safeguarded. Officials
there will liaise with the Mozambique
government to ensure that Tanzanians
are safe, and organise logistics for their
return”, he said.
Source: Deutsche Welle

More than 600 people removed from
Namanhumbir mine
At least 536 Mozambicans and 95 non-
nationals were removed from the
Namanhumbir mine last week in the
Montepuez district (Cabo Delgado
Province) for their involvement in illegal
mining activities. The region is well-known
for frequent landslides, resulting in
multiple deaths of informal miners.
According to the PRM, the foreign
nationals (from Tanzania, Somalia,
Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Malawi,
Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, Burundi, and
the Congo) illegally entered the country,
and have since been deported back to
their countries of origin.
The operation to remove the illegal miners
involved a team consisting of the PRM,
the FADM, and the National Migration and
Customs Service. Fourteen vehicles that
were used in the illegal mining activities
were confiscated during the operation.
Namanhumbir is considered to be a rich
gemstone deposit.
Source: @Verdade
Energy:
Mozambique convenes finance
meeting for 400MW Sasol power plant
On 23 and 24 February, Mozambique’s
Energy Minister, Leticia da Silva Deusina
Klemens, convened a meeting between
the country’s energy authorities and
international finance institutions to decide
the way forward for a proposed 400MW
gas-fired power plant in Inhambane
Province (known as the Temane 400 MW
Project).
The meeting discussed the proposals for
the power plant to be built at Temane as a
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49:51 joint venture between Sasol and
Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM), the
national electricity utility. The plant will be
fed gas from Sasol’s PSA project, which
the company started drilling last year.
As well as EdM and Sasol, the meeting
was attended by the World Bank, and the
AfDB, the Norwegian Embassy in
Mozambique, German state development
bank KfW, French development agency
AFD, and the Japanese International Co-
operation agency (JICA). It also featured
“strategic partners” HCB, which is
currently Mozambique’s biggest
generation company; national oil company
ENH; and petroleum regulator INP.
The meeting sought to discuss the
development of the initiative, evaluated
possible financing, analysed the final
design of the project, noted risk areas for
possible mitigation strategies and define
an action plan for the structuring until
funding is closed.
As well as the power plant itself, the
project includes a high tension
transmission line to link the plant to the
southern electricity grid in Mozambique,
which is currently mainly supplied by two
gas-fired power plants at Ressano Garcia
on the South African border, and by
power from Cahora Bassa which is
repurchased from South African utility
Eskom at a significant loss to
Mozambique.
If built, the new line from Temane could
form part of the planned ‘backbone’
transmission project to link Cahora Bassa
in Tete with the south of the country –
which would be an important step in
making further generation mega-projects
viable in Tete, including the proposed
Mphanda Nkua hydro plant.

President Filipe Nyusi visited the Ministry
of Energy on 15 February and heard
Minister Klemens list a number of projects
that she wants to get off the ground by the
end of 2019 – including Mphanda Nkua,
but not Temane.
She mentioned gas-fired projects
including a planned 100MW plant at
Maputo, and a 40MW plant at Kuvaninga
– both of which will use gas from Sasol’s
fields in Temane.
According to EdM’s statement on
Wednesday 22 February, the 400MW
Temane plant will play a “determining role
in security of supply of electricity in the
country, and the consolidation of its export
in the region”.
Source: Zitamar News/EdM
EdM promises to pay HCB debt this
year
The accumulated debt of more than
US$50-million that public electricity
company EdM owes the state-owned
HCB will be settled this year, according to
EdM Board of Directors Chairman,
Mateus Magal.
The companies met this week to discuss
the matter and found a strategy that would
allow EdM to liquidate old debt. Magala
has not disclosed details of the discussion
between the parties, but says he will
announce the payment strategy soon.
“We are confident that by the end of this
year a large part of this debt will be
liquidated”, Magal promised. Including its
debt to HCB, EdM owes its suppliers
more than US$800-million, but is unable
to pay the debt because it bought energy
at 10 cents and sold at eight cents.
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On the visit of the Mozambican
Democratic Movement (MDM) to EdM in
February 2016, the chairman declared
that the public company was in fact
bankrupt, and had not closed only
because it was the monopoly supplier of
electricity to the population.
The EdM chairman explained that, at the
moment, in the countries of southern
Africa, electricity is sold on average for
12.5 US cents per kilowatt and EdM sells
for only 7.5 US cents per kilowatt. “Our
price is very low. This entails costs that
certainly do not contribute to the
necessary investments. I think that in the
near future, say by 2018, if we can reach
12.5 cents per kilowatt, we will be at a
level that reflects costs”, he said.
The country needs about US$10-billion to
invest in energy transmission lines if, by
2030, the entire population is to have
access to electricity. An urgent increase in
the electricity tariff is needed to raise
funds for the necessary investments.
Currently, the demand for electricity
consumption in the country is 900MW. Of
this, EdM buys about 750MW from the
HCB, and the rest from outside the
country.
“With 150-200MW more, we could meet
immediate needs. But we are not just
looking at the immediate future: our goal
is 2030. So, any immediate goal would be
insufficient to meet the long-term
universal need”, Magal said.
As a solution, the country will have a new
power station in Temane (Inhambane
Province) from 2021 on, which will
produce 400MW of energy from natural
gas. In addition, a transmission line will be
built to Maputo.

The power plant and the electricity
transmission line are expected to cost
US$1.2-billion; however, such funds do
not yet exist.
With this in mind, EdM and HCB met
South African oil company Sasol and
international partners on Thursday to
define a financial structure for the project.
The 400MW that will be produced in
Inhambane and transmitted to Maputo
represent almost half the country’s current
electricity consumption. The Minister of
Mineral Resources and Energy, Leticia da
Silva Deusina Klemens, this week made
public the names of those heading up the
two projects.
“The transmission line is a public
partnership between HCB and EdM, and
the power plant will be public-private,
involving Sasol and EdM and other
partners who might be interested in
getting involved in the project”, she said.
Magala said the power line would be
ready six months before the power
station, in order to make the plant viable.
He said that the project will significantly
increase EdM’s revenues.
“With what we have today we can bill
about half a million dollars, which means
that by adding 400MW, we can raise our
revenue to the level of US$1-billion or
more”, he explained.
The AfDB has indicated its willingness to
fund the project, but still wants to see if it
is profitable before making a final
decision.
“How much we can invest will depend on
the income that this project can bring, in
but we are interested in participating in
the financing”, AfDB representative in
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Mozambique, Joseph Ribeiro said. In
addition to the AfDB, the World Bank,
Norway, the German bank KfW, as well
as Japanese and French agencies JICA
and AFD are on the list of potential
funders. At the moment, the economic
and environmental studies of the two
projects are finished and the financial
package is closed.
Source: O País
A power play for miners in the
country’s north
Several mining companies operating in
northern Mozambique have banded
together to set up a firm in Nampula to
generate electricity under the name of
Waste Environmental and Power.
The new firm will be run by Fernando
Zambo Bengala who heads the firm Sobe
that holds stakes in the two mining
companies, Bengala Minas and Coal Min
Mozambique. The mining concerns hold
several licences in the provinces of
Zambézia, Cabo Delgado and Tete.
The new power company’s chief,
Bengala, also sits on the board of the firm
Estradas do Zambeze, which owns the
franchise for the main highway in
Zambézia Province. His partners in Waste
Environment and Power include Guinean
national Abou Makassa.
He is a partner in Gems Informatica
(information technology and mines)
alongside a relative of President Filipe
Nyusi, Jenito Elidio Jacinto Nyusi, and
Armenio Cuambe, a mining engineer who
has worked since July for Syrah
Resources, an Australian company that is
to inaugurate the world’s biggest graphite
mine in 2017 in Mozambique.
Source: Africa Energy Intelligence

Transport, Construction &
Development Projects:
INGC assigns business to the
company linked to the Minister of
Transport
The National Institute of Disaster
Management (Instituto Nacional de
Gestão de Calamidades, INGC) revealed,
via an announcement of 17 February
published in Jornal Notícias, that it was
contracting, by direct agreement, four
companies to provide transportation and
cargo services. In the list of contractors,
stands out Transportes Carlos Mesquita,
Limitada (TCM), a company linked to the
current Minister of Transport and
Communications.
According to the eighth Bulletin of the
Republic (Boletim da República número
oito) of 21 February 2007, Minister Carlos
Alberto Fortes Mesquita is one of the nine
shareholders of the company TCM, based
in Beira (Sofala Province), with a capital
of MT2,100,000.
The company was also involved in a
contract with the state valued at MT20-
million, to provide transportation and
cargo service in the downtown area.
In the meantime, the Director-General of
INGC sees no problem in contracting a
company linked to a member of the
Council of Ministers, provided that it fulfils
the requirements. Osvaldo Machatine said
that all companies that responded to
INGC’s invitation met the stipulated
requirements.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Centre for
Public Integrity (Centro de Integridade
Pública, CIP) questions as to whether the
direct agreement was made in favour of a
company linked to a member of the
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government. Jurist Rodrigo Rocha
considers that it is important to verify if the
company TCM has any experience
working with the state, since having the
Minister as a director cannot, by itself, be
considered a violation of the law of public
probity.
José Caldeira sees it differently. The jurist
recognises that some managers with
business interests delegate their functions
whenever they take office in the
government. However, Caldeira points out
that the law establishes measures to
avoid the situation whereby the Minister,
although not directly connected to the
company, has indirect benefits.
In March of 2015, Minister Mesquita and
three other shareholders of the Mesquita
family ceded their shares in TCM to
Grupo Mesquita, SA. Four other
shareholders also transferred their shares
to a company called Mespar, Limitada.
With the transfer of quotas, the company
Transportes Carlos Mesquita became the
shareholders of Grupo Mesquita and the
company Mespar, and the group is the
majority shareholder. Thus, the current
Minister of Transport and
Communications became one of the
owners of Grupo Mesquita, which, in turn,
owns the company Transportes Carlos
Mesquita, Lda.
Source: O País
Airport for Xai-Xai will cost US$60-
million
The government estimates that it will cost
US$60-million to build a brand-new airport
to serve, Xai-Xai (Gaza Province). Xai-Xai
is the only provincial capital that has no
airport. The projected site for the new
airport is outside the city, in Chonguene

district. According to a report in Diario de
Mocambique, on Friday 17 February,
Transport Minister Carlos Mesquita visited
the site, which covers an area of about
4,000 hectares.
Minister Mesquita said that the viability
study, including the environmental impact
study, has already been undertaken. The
government is now waiting for the Exim
Bank of China to disburse the money to
start work on the airport.
“The Mozambican government has
already undertaken all the steps inherent
to the viability study”, he said. “All the
households affected by the project will be
resettled – but it is important to note that
there are few people living in the area.
What we do have is a large number of
graves, and these must be removed to
another place, in work which will involve
the respective families and the local
traditional authorities”.
Minister Mesquita claimed that the airport
“is a necessity and a dream for Gaza, and
we hope that it will stimulate tourism in the
province”.
There are plans to build a new dam on the
Limpopo River, and to exploit titanium
bearing heavy mineral sands in the Gaza
district of Chibuto.
“For these activities we need an airport to
facilitate the movement of people involved
in the projects”, said Minister Mesquita.
“Gaza has tourist potential in its beaches
and parks, and these factors demand that
the government provide highly competitive
and attractive services in all areas,
including aviation”.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Diario de Mocambique
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World Bank pays for work on rural
roads in Mozambique
The World Bank will give US$150-million
to Mozambique for the construction and/or
reconstruction of roads in rural areas of
the provinces of Nampula and Zambézia.
According to the World Bank
representative in Mozambique, Mark
Lundell, the poor state of the roads is
identified as one of the major constraints
on the placement of agricultural products
in other parts of the country.
Lundell told broadcaster Rádio
Moçambique that the project for
construction and/or reconstruction of
roads can be extended to other districts in
the provinces that neighbour Nampula
and Zambézia.
Lundell, speaking on the side-lines of the
launch of the “Sustenta” project for
integrated management of agriculture and
natural resources, stressed the World
Bank’s support to Mozambique in terms of
rural development.
Budgeted at US$224-million, financed by
the World Bank, the “Sustenta” project is
intended to encourage agricultural
production of small farmers, and is
estimated to benefit over 700,000 people.
Source: MacauHub/Rádio Moçambique
Government winds up Beira Public
Transport Company
On Tuesday 21 February, at the fifth
session of the Council of Ministers
(Cabinet), the government announced the
abolition of the publicly-owned Beira Bus
Company (TPB), in a move intended to
transfer responsibility for passenger
transport in Beira and the nearby town of

Dondo (Sofala Province) to the municipal
councils.
Management of the staff, finances and
assets of TPB will now pass into the
hands of the Beira and Dondo
municipalities.
Speaking to reporters after the weekly
Cabinet meeting, the government
spokesperson, the Deputy Minister of
Culture and Tourism, Ana Comoana, said
the measure is part of the government’s
decentralisation policy.
The resources currently owned by TPB
will be shared between the two
municipalities, she said, each of which
must create its own routes within its own
area of jurisdiction. The municipal bus
company that will be set up in Beira,
however, will be allowed to operate routes
not only inside the city, but in adjacent
areas.
The nuts and bolts of deciding exactly
which resources go to Beira and which to
Dondo will be decided jointly by the
Ministries of Economy and Finance, and
of Transport, said Deputy Minister
Comoane.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Rádio Moçambique
City of Quelimane removes bridge that
caused boat sinking
The city of Quelimane (Zambézia
Province) has decided to remove the
derelict bridge which a local ferry struck
before sinking, police told Lusa on Friday
17 February.
Zambézia Province police spokesperson,
Miguel Cândido, said that the work began
on Wednesday and should be completed
within 90 days.
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“It’s a metal structure less than a
kilometre long built over the river about 20
years ago which corroded over time until it
collapsed two years ago during the
floods”, Candido said.
On Monday 13 February, the municipality
of Quelimane decreed a three-day period
of mourning for the five who died and the
12 still missing following the sinking on
Saturday 11 February, of a boat carrying
passengers from one side of the Chicapa
River to the other.
According to Quelimane municipality, 10
people survived the incident.
Source: Lusa
Poor quality in construction works:
one of the causes of Dineo destruction
– Prime Minister
Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do
Rosário recently said that the poor
construction quality was one of the main
causes behind the extent of damage to
public infrastructure in Inhambane
Province by tropical cyclone Dineo.
“The big problem is the quality of the
works. Construction projects in our
country have to take into account that
there will always be cyclones”, Prime
Minister Rosário told reporters after a visit
to projects destroyed by the weather last
week.
Responsible entities should intensify
supervision, he said, to verify that work
meets security and maintenance
requirements. “The budget that is planned
for construction is not used, because the
contractors prefer to keep the money”, the
Prime Minister alleged.
Source: VOA Português

Construction of alternative bridge in
Maxixe-Inhambane
The construction of an alternative bridge
to provide for the movement of people
and goods was launched on Sunday 19
February in the bay that separates the
cities of Inhambane and Maxixe.
The floating dock was ripped from the
bridge in Maxixe and dragged by the force
of cyclone Dineo. Currently the movement
of people across the bay is provisional.
Source: Rádio Moçambique/Folha de Maputo
Japan to fund library construction in
Quelimane
The government of Japan is to donate
US$82,000 for the construction of two
neighbourhood libraries in the city of
Quelimane (Zambézia Province).
An agreement will be signed on Tuesday
28 February by the Ambassador of Japan,
Akira Mizutani, and the Mayor of
Quelimane, Manuel de Araújo.
“The project will be implemented by
Progetto Mozambico Onlus and the
amount donated is US$82,200”, the
Japanese embassy press release says.
Japan hopes the construction of the
libraries will provide opportunities for
students in the suburbs, and young
readers especially, to improve their
academic knowledge through reading,
especially in the light of the near-absence
and high cost of books, the note reads.
Libraries in Mozambique are typically
found in city centres, so the construction
of these libraries will help citizens avoid a
long journey.
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This will be the 100th community project
undertaken by the Japanese government
in Mozambique since 2000. It has recently
pledged to provide US$83,000 to improve
the provision of drinking water and
sanitation in the village of Mavago (Niassa
Province).
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Jornal Txopela
Agriculture & Fishing:
President Nyusi launches integrated
rural development project
On Friday 17 February, President Filipe
Nyusi declared that “Sustenta” (Sustain”),
the government’s integrated agriculture
and natural resource project, is
unequivocal proof that rural development
is at the centre of the government’s
activity.
Speaking in Ribaue district (Nampula
Province), at the official launch of
“Sustenta”, President Nyusi stressed that
his government is committed to creating
equal opportunities for all Mozambicans.
Budgeted at the equivalent of US$224-
million, “Sustenta” is financed by the
World Bank.
“Our common dream of gradually creating
equal opportunities for all Mozambicans is
becoming a reality”, said the President.
“We are placing the rural areas as the
starting point and the destination for the
development of all of Mozambique”.
He stressed that change produces results
which are only consolidated over time.
“Today we are facing a change in the way
we look at rural development, introducing
an integrated model which brings together

peasant farmers, the private sector and
the banks”, said President Nyusi.
“Starting from the rural areas we want to
produce commercial farmers for
Mozambique – those who are going to
develop our country. We want to create a
middle class based on the countryside”,
he added.
President Nyusi said “Sustenta” does not
replace existing programmes such as the
District Development Fund (FDD), or the
National Agricultural Development
Programme (ProAgri). “Sustenta” was
being created “to strengthen the will to
speed up rural development”.
One of the specificities of the new project
is the access to financial services that will
be granted to peasant farmers, small
scale emerging commercial farmers and
small and medium agricultural companies.
President Nyusi said that access to
finance is a fundamental factor for
development. “Naturally the criteria will be
well established and strictly applied”, he
promised.
The World Bank Director for Mozambique,
Mark Lundell, said the Bank has followed
the experiences of other countries who
have managed to improve the living
conditions of the rural population through
good management of natural resources.
The dream of reducing rural poverty and
improving the environment can only be
achieved by the government adopting a
coherent and long term strategy, he
added.
“This transformation cannot be achieved
from one day to the next”, said Lundell.
“But counties such as Brazil and China
show that it is possible”.
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“Sustenta” will have a direct impact on the
lives of over 125,000 rural households
(over 700,000 people) who rely on
agriculture for their livelihoods. “It’s still
not very much, but we have to start
somewhere”, said President Nyusi.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Genetically modified maize tested in
Chókwè
The Mozambican authorities are testing
genetically modified maize in the Chókwè
Agricultural Station (Gaza Province). The
purpose is to identify a strain of maize,
suited to Mozambican agro-ecological
conditions that can tolerate drought and
resist insect pests.
The first sowing of this trial maize,
imported from the United States, took
place in Chókwè on Saturday 18
February, in the experimental field run by
the Mozambican Agricultural Research
Institute (Instituto de Investigação Agrária
de Moçambique, IIAM). It forms part of the
programme WEMA (Water Efficient Maize
for Africa).
WEMA involves researchers from the
IIAM, Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and
Uganda. The Chókwè experimental field
was established recently by the IIAM
specifically for trials of Genetically
Modified Organisms (GMOs).
Maize has been chosen for the initial
research, and results are expected within
three years. Saturday’s sowing, occurring
during the rainy season, was focused on a
strain of the crop that will be resistant to
insects. Drought tolerant strains will be
planted during the cool, dry season when,
in much of Gaza, there is virtually no
rainfall at all.

The IIAM researcher in WEMA, Pedro
Fato, said immediately after the Saturday
sowing that, if the trial brings positive
results, that will be good news for
Mozambican farmers.
“This will be added value for our farmers
who are greatly in need of new
technologies for production and
productivity, to keep up with the new
dynamic imposed by climate change”,
added Fato. These technologies should
cope with drought and insect pests “which
have had such a negative impact on crops
in Africa, and particularly in Mozambique”.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Diario de Moçambique
Cabo Delgado surpasses cashew nut
production targets
Cabo Delgado has surpassed its
commercial cashew nut targets, selling
more than 21,000 tons against the 16,000
established for the 2016-17 season.
Better co-ordination between stakeholders
in the process and the average price
obtaining contributed to the achievement.
Mozambique hopes to recover its former
position as one of the largest producers of
cashew nuts in the world.
Source: TVM
Mozambique achieves record Boer and
Uloco bean production
Mozambique harvested 220,000 tons of
Boer and Uloco beans in the last
agricultural season, record numbers for
these varieties in the country. The
achievement was announced at the
opening by President Filipe Nyusi of the
largest bean processing factory in the
country, in Nacala-Porto.
Source: TVM
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Sofala to get new sugar factory
Sofala Province is to get a new organic
sugar factory this year. The plant,
currently under construction in the district
of Chemba, will be completed by next July
and will be capable of producing 50 tons
of sugar per day, destined mainly for
export.
Speaking after a recent visit to the site,
Chemba Administrator, João Geral
Patrício, said that the completion of the
project would improve the business
environment in the district, with
communities participating in the
production of sugarcane, the main raw
ingredient in the production of organic
sugar.
Source: Rádio Moçambique
Tourism:
Macaneta braces up to become
regional benchmark tourism
destination
The Minister of Culture and Tourism, Silva
Dunduru, recently stressed the need to
develop the Macaneta locality as a major
national tourist destination. The
construction of the bridge over the
Incomáti River connecting Marracuene
village to the beaches of Macaneta has
given new impetus to the process of
development of the Macaneta township
(Maputo Province). New tourist
developments are opening every day.
In order to oversee development, the
Association of Economic Agents of
Marracuene organised a seminar last
Friday in Macaneta to discuss the Plan of
Development and Sustainable and
Harmonious Management of Macaneta’s
Tourist Destination.

Minister Dunduru; the District
Administrator of Marracuene, Avelino
Muchine; the President of the Association
of Economic Agents of Marracuene, João
Das Neves; representative of MITADER,
Lizy Matos; the secretary general of the
Union of Hotels and Tourism Industry,
Luis Macuácua; along with state officials,
businesspeople, community leaders and
other stakeholders attended the seminar.
Speaking at the opening of the seminar,
Minister Dunduru stressed the need to
invest in tourism as an engine of the
country’s economic development
fundamental in promoting the country’s
sustainable development and the well-
being of its communities.
In turn, das Neves said that the
Municipality of Macaneta offered
enormous opportunities for tourism
development that, if well-used, would
contribute to the socio-economic growth
and improvement of the living conditions
of communities, but that speedy and good
planning was essential.
“The district of Marracuene in general,
and in particular the beaches of
Macaneta, have the potential to become
one of the most attractive tourist spots in
the region, provided that correct plans are
implemented right away”, das Neves said.
Das Neves stressed the need to harness
and exploit existing resources in the
locality in a harmonious and concerted
way for the good of local communities and
entrepreneurs.
Despite the optimism, there were
challenges to be overcome, namely the
absence of an urban development plan for
the site, the need to define a public beach
and create basic infrastructure, the need
to improve access roads and the quality of
electricity supply, address poor
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distribution of drinking water and better
organise the informal market.
In another development, the President of
the Association of Economic Agents
(AGEM), stated that there is an urgent
need to plan the development of
Macaneta and the type of business done
there, along with who will do it and how, in
order to avoid overloads in certain areas
that may conflict with sustainable and
harmonious development.
Das Neves added that if care was not
taken to properly manage the number
visitors, there was a risk of damaging the
very environment that currently attracts so
many visitors, sending the future of
Macaneta off down a dark and winding
road. As an example, das Neves
explained that there is no defined public
beach for bathers and no public
bathroom, although Macaneta is visited
every weekend by thousands of people.
Suzana Cardoso, director of District
Services for Economic Activities,
explained that the Macaneta has six
neighbourhoods, five schools, a health
centre and a police station. It has
infrastructure built mostly with a
combination of local and conventional
material, and boasts 198 tourist rooms,
455 beds, six campsites and other tourist
attractions.
At the end of the seminar, District
Administrator Avelino Muthxini highlighted
the importance of the event, reaffirming
the government’s commitment to the
sustainable development of Macaneta
and its continuing willingness to work with
economic stakeholders and local
communities.
Source: Rádio Moçambique

Mozambique to start issuing dual-entry
tourist visas on arrival
On Tuesday 21 February, the
Mozambican government approved new
rules allowing foreign tourists to get dual-
entry visas on arrival to the country,
regardless of their country of origin. The
new decree also lowers the threshold to
qualify for an investment visa. Until now,
visitors whose country of origin contains a
Mozambican embassy or consulate have
had to get a visa there before travelling to
Mozambique – a process that can be
complicated and time consuming,
discouraging tourists from visiting
Mozambique.
Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister, Ana
Comoana told journalists after the
meeting of the Council of Ministers on
Tuesday 21 February, that the rule
change will “encourage the entry of
tourists into the country” and “stimulate
investment in the tourism sector”.
Deputy Minister Comoana did not specify
how much the visa will cost, nor how long
it will be valid for, but she did say it would
allow two entries into the country –
meaning visitors will be able to visit
neighbouring counties such as South
Africa, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, and
return to Mozambique without needing a
new visa.
The decree also cuts the investment
threshold for investment visas by 99%,
from US$50-million to US$500,000.
Deputy Minister Comoana said the lower
threshold should result in “a greater
number of investors” coming to
Mozambique.
According to a spokesperson from the
Tourism Ministry, speaking on Friday 24
February, Mozambique’s border posts
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could start issuing visas to all tourist on
arrival by mid-March 2017. Zitamar view:
The new rules will be welcomed with a
sign of relief by Mozambique’s tourism
sector, which has listened to the
government describing tourism as a ‘pillar
of development’ while doing nothing to
promote its growth.
One sub-plot to this latest development
could be the government wants to ensure
that the valuable foreign exchange that
visitors spend on visas actually enters the
country rather than being used by its
embassies abroad. But whatever the
motivation, the move is certainly positive
for development of the tourism sector.
Source: Zitamar News
Other:
Barloworld Equipment, Caterpillar
launch free training programme in
Mozambique
Barloworld Equipment and Caterpillar
recently launched ‘Technicians for Africa’,
a free foundation training programme, in
Tete Province. “We know there is
undiscovered talent out there, so we
particularly aim to facilitate entry to
technical training and careers for
disadvantaged students, school leavers
and job seekers. We are delighted that
this initiative in Mozambique has already
attracted 650 participants”, says Vasco
Santos, chief operating officer of
Barloworld Equipment, Mozambique.
The Technicians for Africa programme
gives free online training at foundational
level in both Portuguese and English. All
participants who successfully complete
the free programme receive a SAQA-
approved foundational certification as Cat
Certified Technicians.

E-learning programme:
Anyone with access to a smartphone,
tablet or desktop computer can take part
in the training, which consists of 18 one-
hour modules. This e-learning programme
is also available at onsite workstations in
the company’s drop-in facility, the
Barloworld Equipment Container
Computer Lab.
“We believe this is an opportunity for
would-be technicians to learn from the
best and come out armed with a
foundational qualification that will help
them start a sustainable career”, says
Santos. “This year Barloworld Equipment
celebrates 90 years of partnership with
Caterpillar. For us, Technicians for Africa
is a pledge to the futures of our
companies and even more importantly to
the future of our continent”.
The Technicians for Africa programme is
designed to cover topics such as the
basics of safety and the fundamentals of
engines and of electrical and hydraulic
systems.
Reaching remote rural areas:
“We have worked with the Mozambican
Instituto do Emprego e Formacão
Profissional (INEFP) to create a
programme that reaches potential talent
even in remote rural areas and that aligns
with the objectives of the Mozambican
Strategic Education Plan”, says Santos.
“As part of that, we particularly hope that
young women will be enthusiastic
participants in the Technicians for Africa
programme”.
Barloworld Equipment and Caterpillar
believe that the programme will acts as a
portal to productive and empowering
careers, with greater job security for
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participants. “We also hope that some
Technicians for Africa graduates will enjoy
the opportunity of participating in
Barloworld Equipment’s apprentice
programme, ultimately joining us in our
mission to deliver innovative solutions for
exceptional performance through our
people”, says Santos.
Source: BizzCommunity
Real estate in Mozambique a safe-
haven investment in times of crisis –
Prime Yeld Consultancy
On Thursday 23 February, Prime Yield
said that the real estate sector in
Mozambique was seen as a safe haven
for investors, “despite the slowdown in
[economic] activity and falling prices and
rents”. In a report on real estate activity in
Mozambique last year, the analysts write
that “despite the slowdown in activity and
falling of prices and rentals, real estate
continues to be seen as a refuge
investment”.
The real estate industry “is a class of
assets that tends to be approached as an
investment refuge whenever the financial
sectors are more unstable or with more
turbulence”, Prime Yield’s Director in
Mozambique, Catarina Esteves, said.
The consultant notes that “although
market activity is generally stagnant,
initially with decreases in revenues and at
a later stage in sales figures, there is a lot
of available supply and there is motivated
demand to buy and apply capital”.
“Those with available capital have an
opportune time to create or expend their
real estate portfolio in Mozambique”,
Esteves says.
Source: Lusa

Mozambique television in financial
difficulties
Mozambique’s publicly owned television
station, TVM, is facing difficulties in
paying its staff this month, because the
Ministry of Economy and Finance has
slashed the subsidy from the State
Budget on which it depends. Savana has
obtained a copy of the communication
from the Ministry, dated 17 January,
informing TVM that the subsidy is being
cut by 60%. The paper notes that it was
the subsidy, and not TVM’s own revenue
(from sources such as advertising), which
sustained the payment of wages.
An internal communication from the TVM
management to the company’s staff,
dated 20 February, admitted that the cut
to the subsidy “has a negative impact on
the payment of wages on the usual dates,
and weakens our finances in complying
with the obligations of the company”.
Normally wages at TVM are paid by the
20th of each month. But the management
statement, announcing the financial
difficulties, said the February wages
would be paid “on a date to be
announced”.
The management said the situation arose
because of the economic difficulties facing
Mozambique, and the measures to restrict
expenditure which the government is
applying across the board. The TVM
leadership is now trying to persuade the
government to increase the subsidy to
plug this gap. The Chairperson of the
TVM board, Jaime Cuambe, told Savana
there was no cause for alarm. “This
problem is not exclusive to TVM”, he said.
“Restrictive measures are taking place
throughout the country. So - there’s
nothing abnormal about what happened”.
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Indeed, Cuambe argued there was no real
delay at all in the February wages –
merely a “perception of delay”, since TVM
is not obliged to pay wages by the 20th.
“The date stipulated for paying wages is
the 25th”, he said, “but when the company
has the revenue, naturally it pays in
advance, hoping that the state will comply
with its part”. Cuambe admitted that the
drastic cut in the subsidy is a challenge,
since TVM is now obliged to seek
alternative sources of revenue. TVM
would have to be “creative and
aggressive”, he said, “creating other
mechanisms to bring in revenue”.
According to Savana, TVM has a monthly
wage bill of MT23-million (about
US$334,000, at current exchange rates),
but this month only MT11-million was
available. Worse still, the banks no longer
accept requests from TVM for advances
to pay wages, on the grounds that the
company is already in debt.
According to the reports from the
Administrative Tribunal (the body that
checks the legality of public expenditure)
the state subsidy for TVM rose from
MT134.5-million in 2010, to MT286.8-
million in 2013, and MT354.9-million in
2014. It fell slightly in 2015 to MT338.1-
million, and the figure for 2016 is not yet
available.
TVM has been expanding in order to
cover the entire country, and now
operates two channels. It has a total work
force of around 600. It is also operating in
a fiercely competitive market, where
several privately-owned stations compete
with TVM for audience share, and clearly
eat into the volume of advertising it can
expect to receive.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Savana

POLITICS
Italy offers its support to Mozambique
for the decentralisation process
The Italian government has expressed
readiness to support Mozambique in
political and administrative
decentralisation, as a process vital to the
maintenance of peace in the country.
Speaking to journalists after a meeting
with Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do
Rosário, the Italian Ambassador to
Mozambique, Marco Contecelli, noted that
his country was currently hosting a visit by
MPs of the Mozambican National
Assembly for an exchange of experiences
on decentralisation in Italy.
“At the moment, there is a delegation of
MPs from the Mozambican parliament
visiting Italy to exchange experiences on
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the subject of decentralisation”,
Ambassador Contecelli said.
The commitment to decentralisation, the
diplomat continued, was an important step
towards the promotion and maintenance
of peace in Mozambique.
“This is a fundamental aspect of the
peace process and we want to confirm our
willingness to support it”, he said.
Decentralisation is one of the main points
of the negotiations between the
government and Renamo.
Renamo’s demand to create autonomous
provinces in regions where it claims
victory in the general elections of 2014
was one of the causes of the military
conflict that affected the country recently

and was brought to a close by the truces
declared by the two parties at the end of
last year.
In addition to supporting the
decentralisation process, the Italian
Ambassador expressed his country’s
willingness to step up co-operation with
Mozambique in economic, trade and
development aid.
“Italy is one of the main investors in
Mozambique. We are committed in the
economic sphere, not only in gas and
energy, but also in agriculture, tourism
and infrastructures. On these issues, we
want to consolidate our commitment”,
Ambassador Conticelli said.
Italian ENI leads a consortium that will
produce natural gas in one of the largest
concessions in Mozambique, in the
Rovuma Basin in the north of the country.
Source: Lusa
Renamo says truce could be final
Renamo says that as far as it is
concerned, the current truce could last
“forever”. The party’s mobilisation for the
return of those internally displaced by war
is seen by analysts as another positive
sign in the peace process.
The ceasefire in force, which ends on 4
March, has been in place without major
violations. This is the second truce period
(lasting 60 days), after a shorter one (a
week long), was implemented during the
holiday festive season.
The truce came after direct telephone
contact between the President Filipe
Nyusi and the Renamo leader, Afonso
Dhlakama. In the conflict regions in
central Mozambique, activities and the
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movement of people and goods are slowly
getting back to normal.
Will the truce we see today last? José
Manteigas, head of the Renamo
delegation in the peace talks, says that
“as far as president Dhlakama and
Renamo is concerned, in principle, the
truce must remain in place”.
But Manteigas scolds the government for
the slow progress in discussions of
technical aspects. “Despite the slow pace
on the part of the President of the
Republic in the appointment of experts, as
per the understanding between the two
presidents, we as Renamo and president
Dhlakama believe that, in fact, the truce
may be indefinite, as long as the
counterpart [President Nyusi and Frelimo]
collaborates to that end”.
Good signs:
This set of facts, as well as the willingness
shown by the antagonists to press forward
with the peace process, are interpreted by
political analyst Adelson Rafael as good
signs regarding a definitive peace
agreement.
He believes that “although it has not been
made public, [this is] the beginning of an
agreement, largely because of the
openness that is being shown”.
Rafael notes that, despite the good signs,
there is still work to be done.
“Now we have to transform this. When I
talk about the end of the truce, I do not
think there is an explicit need for the
government or the president of Renamo to
go public and announce an expansion of
the process. I think it will be decided that
once and for all there is understanding
that there will be no more military action”.

But the analyst still has doubts: “I have
doubts about the model used to announce
this – whether it will be done by the
President of the Republic or the leader of
Renamo”.
In parallel, Renamo is resuming its
activities as a political party. In the central
provinces, the party is urging internally
displaced people to return to their homes
and get on with their lives.
Maneitagas recalls that “Renamo
members, sympathisers and staff were
being persecuted, kidnapped and
murdered, and for some time now cadres
have not been allowed to engage in
political activity. That is why these moves
are being made, urging members to have
the courage to return to normal life,
because it is only from a political
perspective that Renamo will remain
active in their lives”.
Renamo already keeping an eye on the
elections:
But there are other ambitions in this
arena. “It is also time to start preparing a
whole lot of activities for the next
elections”, Manteigas says.
The freedom of Renamo members to
resume their political activities is also
considered by Rafael as part of
agreements reached behind the scenes
between the government and Renamo. In
his view, it is another positive sign that
peace can be indefinite.
“Taking into account the openness shown
by the various institutions and organs of
the state, Renamo’s actions indicate that
there are many understandings beyond
what has been shared, because in
operational terms Renamo has begun the
process of reorganising its party machine,
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with the consent of provincial
governments”. The analyst concludes that
a new phase with regard to relations
between the government and Renamo
has begun. “Although it is not explicit, it
indicates that there was a directive to
receive Renamo delegations and to
initiate a new process in the coexistence
between Renamo and the government”.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Frelimo urges Mozambicans to unite
for peace
Frelimo delegates in Sofala Province have
urged Mozambicans to unite in the
struggle for the consolidation of effective
peace and national development,
regardless of party colour. The appeal
was made in the city of Beira by Eneas
Comiche, a member of the Frelimo
political commission, at the end of the
eighth ordinary session of the provincial
committee.
Comiche called on Mozambicans to be
“more patriotic … We must prioritise
attitudes that can lead the country to
reach an effective peace. Only united and
cohesive will we be able to overcome the
challenges of consolidating national unity,
peace and development in our country”,
he said. Source: O País
Renamo reopens headquarters in
Manica
The Renamo representatives in Manica
Province have resumed political activities
and reopened the party’s headquarters
(which were closed/destroyed during the
politico-military conflict).
The reopening of the headquarters and
the resumption of normal political activities
results from the understanding reached

between Renamo leader, Afonso
Dhlakama, and the President of the
Republic, Filipe Nyusi with regard to the
60-day truce.
Sofrimento Matequenha, Renamo
provincial delegate in Manica, said that:
“Renamo’s political activities here in the
province of Manica have resumed, after
meetings with the governor and the
provincial police commander”.
According to Matequenha, the reopening
of the Manica headquarters began earlier
this month (February).
Since 6 February, offices have been
reopened and party flags hoisted at
Gondola, Manica, Chimoio, Macate,
Vanduzi and Báruè (central) and
Mossurize (southern) districts, and in
Guro, Macossa and Tambara in the north
– districts hit by the political-military crisis.
“In Gondola the headquarters is located in
the woods, and we raised the flag. I went
to Mossurize, although the headquarters
was destroyed, and we raised the flag
there too. In Báruè, the delegate has still
not come out of hiding, but we raised the
flag there, as we did in all the places we
went to”, Matequenha said. Meetings had
been attended by hundreds of members,
he added.
Matequenha acknowledged that fear
persists among party cadres, although an
agreement had been reached with
government and police authorities to end
the persecution of party members.
“Fear still persists among leaders,
because of the problems which occurred
(kidnappings and executions), but it is not
as bad anymore, because of the
agreement with the police”, Matequenha
said, adding that the agreement reached
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stipulates that the police will intervene
urgently “where ever there are problems
involving Renamo members”. According
to the official, the population has already
begun to leave the woods. “Sometimes I
meet 400 or 200 people. Even in Manica,
the delegate herself only left her hiding
place on the day of the meeting”, he said.
Mozambique is currently enjoying the last
few days of a 60-day truce decreed by
Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama in
January to give room for peace talks
between the government and his party.
The truce ends on 4 March.
Although concrete advances have not yet
been announced, working groups to
prepare for the new phase of the dialogue
on decentralisation and military matters
were announced this month.
Source: SAPO24/Lusa
MDM will hold congress in Nampula
The MDM, the country’s second largest
opposition party, has decided that its
second congress will be held on 5-8
December in the northern city of Nampula.
At the end of a meeting in Nampula of the
MDM Political Commission on Monday 20
February, the party’s leader, Daviz
Simango, said that the Commission had
decided to modernise the method for
keeping track of party membership, so
that there will be reliable records of the
human resources available to serve the
MDM.
Mayor Simango said the meeting also
assessed the political and economic
situation of the country, and argued that
lasting peace and national reconciliation,
without wars and warlike rhetoric, must be
supported by all Mozambicans,

particularly politicians and government
members. “The country needs investment
and reforms so as to prevent economic
and political conflicts”, he added. “It is
thus important to explain clearly the public
debts that were incurred with state
guarantees, to improve the business
environment and to guarantee equity on
the development agenda”.
Mayor Simango called for amendments to
the Mozambican Constitution in order to
reduce the powers of the head of state, to
guarantee “effective decentralisation” and
the direct election of provincial governors,
and to ensure administrative freedom of
courts and magistrates. Throughout the
two-day meeting, one member of the
Political Commission, the Mayor of
Nampula, Mahamudo Amurane, did not
appear, and offered no explanation for his
apparent boycott.
Asked about this, Mayor Simango replied
“I was not personally informed about the
reasons for his absence, and so I have no
comment to make”. Mayor Amurane
recently publicly claimed that unspecified
members of the MDM are trying to remove
him because of his drive against
corruption in Nampula Municipal Council.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Rift widening between mayor of
Nampula and MDM
The rift between the Mayor of the northern
city of Nampula, Mahamudo Amurane,
and his political party, the MDM, appears
to be widening, reports Mediafax.
Although a meeting of the MDM Political
Commission, of which he is a member,
was under way in Nampula this week,
Mayor Amurane did not show up on the
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first day of the meeting, on Sunday 19
February, and did not even send his
apologies.
Mayor Amurane’s anger concerns alleged
involvement of MDM members in corrupt
practices. Earlier this month he accused
unnamed figures in the MDM of
attempting to denigrate him “because I will
not do deals with corruption”.
Mayor Amurane worked with the Nampula
branch of the Central Office for the Fight
against Corruption (Gabinete Central do
Combate à Corrupção, GCCC) to root out
corruption in the Nampula Municipal
Council. Seven people were arrested
including the city councillor for finance,
and four others went into hiding.
Relatives of those arrested, claiming to be
MDM members, alleged that Mayor
Amurane was using municipal council
money to buy a house in Portugal – an
accusation that Mayor Amurane had no
difficulty in disproving.
The spokesperson for the MDM
parliamentary group, Fernando
Bismarque, confirmed to Mediafax that
Mayor Amurane had missed the first day
of the Political Commission meeting. He
found his absence strange, since the
meeting had been scheduled months in
advance. The meeting is discussing the
agenda for the MDM’s second congress,
due to be held in December.
Statements by another parliamentarian,
and a senior MDM member, Geraldo de
Carvalho, were considerably harsher. He
told reporters that Mayor Amurane was
behaving “childishly” and had shown
disrespect to the party.
Mayor Amurane failed to show for the
second day of the Commission meeting,

and did not attend the reception for the
party’s leader, Daviz Simango, when he
arrived in Nampula, nor did he did not join
an MDM march through the streets of the
city.
Mayor Amurane received an invitation to
meet with Mayor Simango, but he did not
reply. He was certainly in Nampula, and
when a reporter from O País contacted
him, he said he had “nothing to explain”
about his absence from the MDM
meeting.
The meeting was intended to prepare the
MDM’s Second Congress, due to be held
in December. Also on the agenda were
the municipal elections due in late 2018.
The MDM currently controls four of the
country’s 51 municipalities (Nampula,
Beira, Quelimane and Gurue).
At the last local elections, in 2013, the
MDM benefitted from a boycott by
Renamo. Those elections were thus a
straight fight between the ruling Frelimo
Party and the MDM. But this time,
Renamo has pledged to stand candidates,
which may make it difficult for the MDM to
hold onto its gains.
The Political Commission also appointed
one of the MDM’s most prominent
parliamentary deputies, Venancio
Mondlane, as the spokesperson for the
December Congress.
There is now some speculation that Mayor
Amurane might run for a second term as
Mayor as an independent, or that he will
switch his allegiance from the MDM for
another party, perhaps the rebel
movement Renamo.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Mediafax/O País
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Analysts warn that internal problems
may compromise the MDM
The absence of Mayor Mahamudo
Amurane at this week’s Political
Commission, held in Nampula, was the
subject of discussion on Tuesday 21
February, on STV’s Linha Aberta.
Commentators Egídio Vaz and Adelino
Buque argued that the decision of the
Mayor leaves no doubt that the MDM is
experiencing a crisis due to difficulties it
faces in solving internal problems.
“The communications that were made
after Amurane’s pronouncements
revealed to me the lack of structure in
interventions on the issues affecting the
party. And, to do so, paying for error by
mistake, is not going anywhere”, said
Buque.
For his part, Vaz understands that there
are several issues in the MDM. “These
grave accusations are summarised in one:
the MDM is doing what it can to criticise,
and this is very serious”, he said. MDM
deputy Silvério Ronguane, who also
joined the panel, tried to counter the idea
advanced by other panellists, adding that
Daviz Simango will provide the necessary
clarification soon.
“The presence of our party is very strong
in Nampula and cannot be reduced to the
figure of a person. It is not by chance that
our II Congresso will be held there. And
any analysis on this subject should be
done with great caution and, in due
course, the clarifications will come”,
Ronguane said. Analysts advise the party
to resolve the matter internally, otherwise
it will call into question its results in the
municipal elections.
Source: O País

President of the Sahrawi Arab
Democratic Republic visits
Mozambique
On Wednesday 22 February, President
Filipe Nyusi received his counterpart from
the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic,
Brahim Ghali, at the start of his official
visit to Mozambique.
President Ghali arrived in Maputo on
Tuesday evening for a three-day official
visit to the country, during which legal
instruments for bilateral co-operation were
signed and visits to economic enterprises
conducted.
President Ghali’s visit to Mozambique
comes in response to an invitation
extended by President Nyusi and aims to
deepen the historical relations of
friendship, solidarity and political-
diplomatic co-operation between the two
governments, as well as to strengthen co-
operation within the ambit of the African
Union (AU).
A statement from the presidency states
that during his visit, the President of the
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was
accompanied by his Minister for Foreign
Affairs and other members of his
government.
On Wednesday 22 February,
Mozambique and the SADR signed a
MoU in Maputo on political consultations
between the two countries in the context
of the AU.
The MoU was signed at the end of official
talks between President Filipe Nyusi, and
President Gali.
The SADR is a former Spanish colony,
whose independence was declared by its
liberation movement, the Polisario Front,
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in 1976. Morocco attempted to annex the
territory, in a move which Mozambique’s
first President, Samora Machel,
denounced as “African colonisation”.
Mozambique has always been a strong
supporter of the SADR, and of its right to
sit as a full member of the African Union.
The SADR was admitted to membership
of the AU’s predecessor, the Organisation
of African Unity (OAU) in 1982, and this
led to Morocco walking out of the OAU.
Morocco was re-admitted to the
continental body during an AU summit in
Addis Ababa last month, even though it
still occupies about 75% of the territory of
the SADR.
Mozambican Foreign Minister, Oldemiro
Balói, told reporters that, during their
meeting, President Nyusi and President
Gali discussed the political situation in the
SADR in the African and international
context. “After the admission of Morocco
to the African Union at the Addis Ababa
summit, there has been an evolution in
the relations between the SADR and
Morocco”, he said. “The question is to see
whether or not Morocco will honour its
commitments without conditions”.
The SADR, he pointed out, wanted
guarantees that it will regain those parts of
its territory currently occupied by Morocco,
and that a climate of peace will reign in
the region.
Morocco’s membership of the AU,
Minister Balói stressed, must mean full
respect for the sovereignty of the SADR,
in the light of the African Union charter,
which advocates respect for borders and
outlaws the use of force to occupy the
territory of another member state.

The SADR Foreign Minister, Mohamed
Salem Salek, said that Moroccan
membership of the AU should lead to an
end to the violation of human rights by
Morocco in occupied Sahrawi territory.
“Mozambique has always been in the
vanguard in peace processes in Africa”,
sad Minister Salek, “and the AU is
interested in seeing the conflict between
Morocco and the SADR solved”.
He warned that Morocco should not
imagine that t could join the AU with the
purpose of destabilising the SADR.
Ending the Moroccan occupation, he said,
“will open space for discussing other
matters in an environment of peace”.
Source: Rádio Moçambique/Agencia de
Informacao de Moçambique
President Nyusi on two-day visit to
Tete Province
On Friday 24 February President Nyusi
commenced a two-day working visit to the
province of Tete, where he opened a
shopping centre and visited a private
chicken production facility. The President
was accompanied by the Minister of
Industry and Commerce, Ernesto Tonela;
the Deputy Ministers of Agriculture and
Food Security, Celma Caetano Meque;
Labour, Employment and Social Security,
Oswaldo Petersburgo; and staff from
other state institutions.
Before leaving for Tete in his capacity as
commander-in-chief of the armed forces,
the President headed the 12th graduation
ceremony of the master’s and licentiate
courses at the Police Academy of
Sciences (ACIPOL) in Maputo.
Source: Rádio Moçambique
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Government approves Gaming and
Gambling Law regulations
The government of Mozambique has
approved the regulation of the Gaming
and Gambling Law which, in addition to
increasing the number of casino licenses
to be granted, reduces the distance
between casinos from five kilometres to
100 metres.
On Tuesday 21 February, the Deputy
Minister of Culture and Tourism, Ana
Comoana, said that the regulation states
that Maputo may have up to four casinos
within a 100-metre radius while the cities
of Beira and Chimoio can have a
maximum of three within that same area.
The cities of Mozambique were classified
under this regulation into three classes –
A, B and C – and Maputo is considered
class A, the city of Beira (Sofala Province)
is considered class B, and cities of
Chimoio (Manica Province) and
Quelimane (Zambézia Province) are
considered class C, which sets the
maximum number of licenses to be
granted.
The Deputy Minister stressed that through
this regulation, the government intends to
concentrate a larger number of casinos in
a small area and gave Macau as an
example of concentration of casinos.
“This concentration allows the player to be
in a casino and, at his discretion, move to
another, either because he is losing or
because the other has better security or
other conditions”, she said.
Source: MacauHub

SECURITY
Renamo headquarters burned and
members detained elsewhere
On Thursday 16 February, the Renamo
headquarters in the village of Machiri in
the administrative post of Dombe,
Sussundenga district (Manica Province),
was set on fire by individuals who
(according to Renamo) were members of
Frelimo.
The action has been condemned Renamo
as it casts a cloud over efforts to maintain
the truce and a climate of peace.
Sofrimento Matequenha, Renamo
delegate in Manica and a deputy MP, said
that the action impedes Renamo’s effort to
co-ordinate with the Defence and Security
Forces for a peaceful coexistence
between Frelimo and Renamo.
“These are the groups that are straining
our co-ordination”, he says. “They have
been ordered to abide by the truce, but
they do not want to obey the orders of
their commander”, Matequenha said,
going on to condemn the detention of
members of his party in Nhamapassa
(Honde administrative post, Báruè
district), and in Púnguè-Sul (Vandúzi
district), in Manica.
“On 15 February, in the village of
Nhampassa, in Báruè, the Community
Police arrested three members of
Renamo and took them to the police
station. The captain received them and
had them imprisoned in the cells. They
were released the next day [16 February]
after I called the provincial police
commander”, Matequenha told Canal de
Moçambique.
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Similarly, Matequenha said that on 17
February, a Renamo member was
arrested in Báruè, before being released
the next day. Speaking on the matter, he
said that “Báruè cannot be an island,
different from other districts in the
province…”
He said that on the ground, efforts aimed
at enhancing co-ordination between the
Provincial Police Commander and the
Renamo political delegate in Manica was
being tarnished.
Manica Police Commander, Armando
Mude, says he has been co-operating with
the Renamo delegate to avoid clashes
between the police and Renamo guerrillas
in the Chito and Mavodze areas (Manica
district), and in Sabenta (in Tambara
district).
“I should like to thank the Renamo
delegate for the co-operation and co-
ordination we have been enjoying in
Manica. When there is a situation that the
police views as requiring intervention, we
inform him, and he calls there.
“In some areas, armed men of Renamo
have been circulating, but instead of
reacting in a violent and coercive way, we
call the delegate and he intervenes, and
the men return to their positions”, Mude
said, refraining from talking about the fire
at Renamo headquarters and the arrest of
the Renamo members.
He preferred rather to speak about the
truce, stating that it was a truce in reality
and that there was a time when it was not
easy to go to areas in the interior due to
Renamo ambushes.
Source: Canal de Moçambique

Amnesty International Annual Report
criticizes impunity of FDS and Renamo
The Amnesty International report on
Mozambique has denounced death
squads, the repression of demonstrations
and inability of the Mozambican police to
solve crimes, and says members of
Mozambique’s Defence and Security
Forces and the opposition Renamo Party
committed human rights abuses, including
killings, torture and other ill-treatment,
without any accountability.
The Amnesty International 2016/17 report
on human rights was released on
Tuesday 21 February, and recalls the
flight of thousands of people into Malawi,
adding that “people expressing dissent or
criticising human rights violations, political
and military instability or the country’s
hidden debts faced attacks and
intimidation”.
The violations included “extrajudicial
executions, torture and other ill-treatment,
arbitrary detention and destruction of
property”, adding that “there continues to
be impunity for such crimes”.
Police incapacity:
The report lists a number of crimes
attributed to members of the Defence and
Security Forces and Renamo, for which
no-one has ever been brought to justice.
Among the cases cited are the murder of
Jeremias Pondeca, a member of the
Renamo mediation group in the peace
agreement process, “by unidentified men
believed to be members of a death squad
composed of security agents. Those
suspected of criminal responsibility for the
attack had not been identified at the end
of the year”. Renamo members and
supporters, according to Amnesty,
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“plundered health facilities and carried out
attacks on roads and police stations,
resulting in a high number of victims
among the civilian population, as well as
attacking the police and armed forces”.
In the human rights organisation’s view,
“the government has failed to investigate
and prosecute crimes against the general
population committed by members and
supporters of Renamo”.
Mass graves:
In May, local and international media and
civil society organisations announced the
discovery of unidentified bodies in a grave
in the Gorongosa region, but an
investigation started in June failed to
identify either the bodies or the suspects.
The organisation cites a United Nations
analysis of human rights in Mozambique,
with the government of President Filipe
Nyusi accepting 180 recommendations
and rejecting 30 of them.
“Among the rejected proposals were
recommendations on ratification of the
International Convention against Forced
Disappearance and the Rome Statute of
the ICC, as well as on freedom of
expression and corporate responsibility”,
Amnesty notes.
Death squads:
That the flight of about 10,000
Mozambicans to Malawi, verified by the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, was
not acknowledged by the Maputo
government is also mentioned in the
report. In the human rights chapter,
Amnesty denounces “intimidation and
attacks on people who express dissenting
or critical opinions, including journalists
and human rights defenders”.
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As an example, the report refers to the
kidnapping of political commentator and
university professor José Jaime Macuane
“by unidentified men believed to be
members of a death squad composed of
security agents”. Amnesty International
also points out that the police threatened
to crack down on a planned
demonstration at the end of April 2016,
while in May “political parties without
parliamentary representation and civil
society organisations called for a peaceful
demonstration to protest against the
country’s hidden debts and political and
military instability”, but the “Maputo City
Council refused to allow the protest”.
Source: VOA Português

CRIME

The following graphs and map relate to the political and security incidents in Mozambique
from 01/01/2016 to 31/12/2016.

GRAPH 2: Incidents by Month

GRAPH 3: Injuries/Fatalities by Month

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

55

Maputo’s silence on Portuguese
abduction causes unrest in Lisbon
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de
Sousa has repeated his enquiries into the
case of the Portuguese citizen who has
been missing for months in Mozambique,
this time in writing, reports Portuguese
newspaper Público. To the disbelief of
many, this has not changed the attitude of
the Mozambican authorities, the same
source adds.
Despite the special relationship between
President de Sousa and Mozambique,
President Filipe Nyusi has not responded
to the enquiries of the Portuguese
President.
For months, Portugal has been asking
Maputo for information about the
Portuguese citizen kidnapped in
Mozambique last summer, but the only
response it has obtained so far has been
silence.
In the face of the long and unusual silence
of the Mozambican authorities, President
de Sousa sent a letter two weeks ago to
President Nyusi to press Maputo and,
once again, to request information about
the missing man, an agricultural
entrepreneur who has worked for years in
Beira (Sofala Province).
To the astonishment of diplomats and
politicians following the case, President
Nyusi has yet to respond to the letter from
the Portuguese head of state – more than
two weeks after it was sent.
At the request of the family of the missing
businessman, the case has been handled
in secrecy and with great discretion. But
after seven months without information,
without answers, with no signs of an
ongoing investigation or even the
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diplomatic courtesy of a response to the
Lisbon requests, there is evidence of
development on the Portuguese side:
what began as discomfort and disillusion
is giving way to disbelief and disquiet.
The Portuguese contacts were made at
the highest level: the office of the Prime
Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the Attorney-General’s Office and the
Belém presidential palace have all made
formal and informal contacts, both in
writing and by telephone, direct and
indirect. The result has been the same
throughout: “Nothing at all,” a source
close to the matter says.
Prime Minister António Costa has spoken
with his Mozambican counterpart, Prime
Minister Agostinho do Rosário, about the
case a few times and, at the end of last
year, even offered the co-operation of the
Portuguese Judicial Police in the
investigation of the mysterious
disappearance. But this proposal also fell
on deaf ears. “There is no sign of life,
there is no body, there is no openness to
investigate”, another source who has
followed the case for months complains.
This silence is not only unusual in
relations between friendly countries; as it
is seen as particular odd since
Mozambique was the destination for
President de Sousa’s first state visit in
May, two months after taking office. In
addition, President Nyusi was one of the
few heads of state that President de
Sousa invited to his investiture. President
de Sousa’s relationship with Mozambique
is special even on a private level. “It was
the best period in the political life” of his
father, Baltazar Rebelo de Sousa,
governor of Mozambique during the
Estado Novo, the President wrote in a
book he published a few years ago.

Contacted on the morning of Friday 17
February, and again on Saturday, the
Mozambican Ambassador to Portugal did
not respond to Público’s request to
comment on the issue. The Portuguese
Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva,
made a brief statement to Publico: “There
are cases in which families prefer that
official exchanges be carried out
discreetly and not publicly. This is one
such case, and I will, of course, respect
that wish. So I have nothing else to say”.
Inside and outside the Ministry, however,
speculation about the reason for
Mozambique’s silence is deepening. One
of the most plausible scenarios is Maputo
wanting to protect someone at the top of
its own hierarchy, in the police or the
administration itself. “In Mozambique,
there are no decisions taken at the
intermediate level”, a person with
extensive knowledge of the country
suggests. “It’s all at the top level”.
The kidnapping of the Portuguese
businessman, at the end of July 2016, is
unusual in a variety of ways and does not
follow the classic pattern. There was initial
contact by the kidnappers but there was
never a request for a ransom (typically,
this happens in the first 48 hours, at most
72 hours after the disappearance of the
victim), and the abduction did not occur in
Maputo, but in Gorongosa (Sofala
Province), where Renamo has its bases.
There have been abductions in
Mozambique for years and direct links
between the kidnappers’ networks and the
Mozambican police have been known for
years. Between 2001 and 2013, there
were more than 60 abductions in the
country, but it was from 2011 that the
problem intensified. At the end of 2013
alone, there were there 30 kidnappings. At
that time, a Maputo court sentenced three
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policemen to 16 years in prison for
involvement in abductions, and shortly
afterwards two more police officers were
arrested on suspicion of the same crime.
“There are police officers in court because
of involvement in the kidnappings, but it’s
always the small fry”, says a Portuguese
businessman. “There are cases where
people are kidnapped by the police and
released by the police and it is clear that it
is all the same people.”
Source: Público
Witch doctors in Malawi are hiring ‘hit
men’ to murder albinos for organ
trafficking purposes
Under the blazing East Africa sun
Chikumbutzo Massina gazes hollow eyed
across the baked and barren ground
where his brother Fletcher once tended
his tomato crop. Any plants that remain
are withered and brown.
“Here is the spot where I discovered
Fletcher’s blood trail”, he says, his voice
devoid of emotion, as he moves further
across the field.
“And here is the ridge where I found what
was left of his mutilated body”.
In a monotone he tells how he found little
more than his brother’s torso: all four
limbs had been chopped off with a
machete, his genitals cut off, his teeth torn
out and all his vital organs – brain, liver,
heart, lungs and kidneys – gone.
For Chikumbutzo, Fletcher’s brutal murder
has barely yet registered. But one gets the
impression from his dazed expression that
he has long known it was only a matter of
time before his brother, an albino, was
killed.

Here in Malawi, where the condition is
more common than almost anywhere in
the world, witch doctors hire ‘hit men’ from
among the impoverished rural
communities to murder then mutilate
albinos so they can use their organs for
‘medicines’ that are sold for exorbitant
prices.
Their bodies are believed to contain
‘healing properties’ and can increase
wealth and influence. As such, it is
common for attacks to increase shortly
before elections in rural areas.
Now, in a new investigative documentary
on BBC2, one British doctor who has
albinism himself, has uncovered the true
extent of this barbaric practice and shone
a spotlight on this shocking trade in
human body parts.
Dr Oscar Duke, an NHS doctor in London,
explores why these terrible crimes are
taking place and who is responsible. He
visited Tanzania’s ‘protectorates’ where
children and young adults with albinism
are housed in squalid conditions and
protected by armed guards.
In a country where more than half the
population believes in witchcraft, potions
containing albino body parts are bought
as charms to win riches or influence. A
single potion, made from the organs and
limbs of albinos, can sell for around
£7,000 in sterling. And this is an
impoverished country, where a land
worker is lucky to earn £72 annually, and
where malnutrition is rife.
In Malawi, where more than 70 albinos
have been attacked, abducted or
murdered in the past two years, the
situation is even more perilous, leading
one UN expert on the subject to warn that
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albinos could eventually become extinct in
East Africa.
Malawi’s problem originated across the
border, in neighbouring Tanzania, which
has one of the highest rates of albinism in
the world.
In the past two years Malawi has seen 65
attacks on albinos, 47 attempted
abductions and a spate of murders
claiming 13 lives. In Tanzania, charities
have recorded 170 attacks on people with
albinism since 2006, of which 70 were
fatal.
Trekking across Tanzania and Malawi, Dr
Duke meets child victims whose limbs
have been mutilated and the families of
those murdered, as well as travelling to a
Malawian prison to meet the man who
admits to killing Fletcher Massina for
money.
Diagnosed with albinism at six weeks, Dr
Duke understands the difficulties it
presents.
The condition is a genetic one in which
people are born without the usual pigment
in their bodies. They are not able to make
normal amounts of melanin, the chemical
that is responsible for eye, skin and hair
colour.
In the western world visual impairment is
its most serious effect, but under the
fierce African sun skin cancer is a major
cause of death. Skin cancer is so
widespread, that only 2% of Tanzanians
with albinism survive beyond the age of
40.
“As a child I found learning to walk more
difficult than other toddlers and I would
often bump into things”, Dr Duke explains.

“There was never any possibility of me
being one of the cool kids at the back of
the class. I had to sit right in the front row
and even then I strained to see the board.
I needed lots of support from teachers and
close friends.
“But the prejudice I encountered is
insignificant compared to what I
discovered in Africa where having
albinism can be a death sentence.
“People like Fletcher suffered horrifically.
So I wanted to speak to one of the seven
men who are now in prison for his
murder”. Inside the country’s notorious
Maula prison Dr Duke confronts Fletcher’s
self-confessed murderer, Herbert Malloy.
Haltingly, Malloy tells how he and his co-
murderers killed then cut up Fletcher. “I
was sent by some people who wanted this
to happen ... they promised us [money] to
share among us. We cut the arms and the
legs … There was a person with us giving
out instructions, what was needed from
the body, the rest was no good. That’s
what we did”.
Acknowledging what he did was ‘wrong’,
Malloy admitted that he believed in
witchcraft, insisting he had been “over
taken by Satan” before realising he had
“done wrong”. He claims the gang was
offered the equivalent of £44.50 for the
murder but were never paid.
Back in Tanzania Dr Duke travelled to a
school in Muanza City, in the north, where
such crimes are more frequent than
elsewhere. There he met 15-year-old
Festo, who was attacked at just seven-
years-old.
To his one remaining hand, surgeons
attached one of his big toes so that he can
hold a pen and pick things up.
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His teacher, Molly, explains what
happened. “‘It was around seven in the
evening and Festo’s mother was in the
kitchen making super.
“A group of men came in and Festo
remembers them having machetes.
Immediately they chopped off one of his
arms, the fingers of his other hand and
knocked out his teeth, which witch doctors
believe are especially valuable. “They tell
people to attack albinos and offer lots of
money”.
In spite of his appalling injuries, which
meant he spent four months in hospital,
Festo has recovered well. As he shows off
his drawings. Molly explains he is one of
the best artists in school – a talent that is
now, of course, difficult for him to develop.
Expressing his shock, Dr Duke is appalled
at the entrenched views that have
whipped up such prejudice. “Witch doctors
are revered by many in the rural
communities. Some spread the belief that
albino body parts can bring luck and
fortune”.
Once back on the road, Dr Duke visited
one of Tanzania’s ‘protectorates’ where
albino youngsters spend their lives in
squalid conditions, behind barbed wire
topped walls. “It is like visiting a prison”,
he says, driving through the gates. Inside
children from as young as three and
young adults sleep in three tier bunks and
have little exercise space.
There is little for them to do but at least
they are safe. At one ‘protectorate’, Dr
Duke meets Charles and his wife Kulwa
whose two sons live there.
“It may seem grim but at least they are
safe”, says Dr Duke. “This couple are one
of the few who visit their children,

although the trip costs them £2 and often
they have to choose between seeing the
boys or eating”.
A lot of parents are ashamed of their
albino children because of the stigma
attached and choose to abandon them.
“One woman I spoke to told me about the
ancient belief that people with albinism
simply ‘disappear’ when they die. Looking
back, she wonders whether bodies have
been stolen for generations”.
Though progress has been slow, East
African authorities have been cracking
down on the brutal crimes. And there are
other signs of hope in rural areas.
Standing Voice, a UK charity, now
provides skin clinics in Tanzania.
They offer free consultations and use
cryo-therapy to freeze of any suspicious,
and possibly cancerous, growths. “I’m
leaving Africa with a different outlook”, Dr
Duke concludes. “After some of the horror
I’ve witnessed here, places like this clinic
give me a tiny glimpse of the changes that
might be possible”.
Source: Daily Mail/Ella O’Neill
Twelve arrested for murder and organ
trafficking in Tete
During the course of the week 10 to 17
February, the Tete PRM arrested 12
individuals for their alleged involvement in
the murder of an unnamed man and the
subsequent trafficking of his organs.
The case occurred last week in the
Taliline area, in the Calómwè region of the
Angónia district (Tete Province), where
the alleged criminals stoned a male victim
to death before cutting off his genitals.
Two of the 12 detainees admitted to their
involvement in the crime, claiming that
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they were hired by another unidentified
man who sold the genitals for witchcraft
purposes. The detainees say that the
alleged mastermind lives in the Dedza
region of neighbouring Malawi.
The Commander of the PRM in Angónia,
João Armindo João, said that the arrests
were possible thanks to the collaboration
of the public.
This is the second case of trafficking in
human organs registered by Tete
authorities this year, the first of which
occurred two weeks ago in Moatize when
two men abandoned a bag containing
human bones. Two suspects were
subsequently arrested in connection with
the case.
Source: Rádio Moçambique/Moçambique
Media Online/Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Activist Graça Machel says lack of
reporting protects perpetrators of
domestic violence
Mozambican social activist Graça Machel
says the failure to report crimes of
domestic violence protects the
perpetrators of this type of crime, and she
condemns the leniency of sentencing
under Mozambican law.
“To hide domestic violence is to let the
aggressor prosper hypocritically as a good
man”, Machel told a press conference
called by her family on Tuesday 21
February after Rofino Licuco was given a
suspended sentence for the assault in
October 2015 of her daughter, Josina
Machel, leaving her blind in one eye.
Machel, the widow of the first
Mozambican president, Samora Machel,
stressed the need for victims of domestic

violence to overcome shame and
denouncing their ill-treatment.
“I am very pleased that my daughter has
overcome the taboo of shame, as she
herself said, because the reason people
do not talk is that they are ashamed”,
Machel said.
The activist, who was Mozambique’s first
education minister after independence in
1975, criticised the levity of the three-year
and four-month suspended sentence
handed down to her daughter’s ex-
boyfriend as an incentive to impunity.
“I am pleased that Mr. Licuco has been
convicted, but I am not satisfied with the
suspension of the sentence, because it
sends the message that it is possible to
subject someone to violence and remain
free”, Machel added.
Machel also said that the fact that the
court had ruled that the suspension of the
sentence would only be lifted if the
defendant did not pay the compensation
ordered reflected an idea that the lives of
the victims had a price.
The Maputo Judicial Court sentenced
Licuco to a suspended 40 months prison
term for the assault on Josina Machel.
Licuco will have to pay MT200-million
(€2.7-million) for non-patrimonial damages
and another MT579,000 in compensation
for property damage.
The court ordered the accused to pay the
compensation to the victim within 30 days,
failing which he would be immediately
taken to jail.
The court ruled that 41-year-old Josina
Machel had lost the ability to see out of
one eye as a result of an assault by
Rofino Licuco her boyfriend at the time.
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The attack occurred on one of the
avenues in the centre of Maputo as they
were leaving a restaurant in October
2015.
Shortly after the Machel case, the
Mozambican political elite was shaken by
the December 2016 killing of Valentina
Guebuza, daughter of former Mozambican
president Armando Guebuza, by her
husband Zófimo Muiuane, at the couple’s
home in Maputo.
The cases of domestic violence related to
two of Mozambique’s most influential
families are seen as mirroring the
frequency of this type of crime in the
country.
Source: Lusa
Lawyers want tougher measures
against domestic violence in
Mozambique
The Human Rights Commission of the
Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) has
called for tougher penalties in cases of
domestic violence.
A statement from the Commission
strongly condemns “the macabre acts of
domestic violence that have been taking
place in our country on an alarming scale,
resulting in loss of life, serious mutilation
of the victims, a negative impact on their
children and other relatives, and the
destruction of families and of the social
fabric”.
The penalties for domestic violence, the
OAM Commission argues, are too light.
Thus, under the current Penal Code, the
longest prison term for a crime of
domestic violence is eight years, and most
offenders receive terms of less than two
years, which are then converted into fines

or community service. Much more serious
penalties are handed down in cases of
crimes against property, where the culprit
is sometimes sentenced to over 12 years
imprisonment, the statement notes.
“This seems to us incoherent”, the
Commission says, “since the lives and the
physical and mental health of citizens
should enjoy greater protection than that
given to property”.
At a time when the most fundamental
rights of citizens, such as the right to life
and to physical integrity, are being
violated, the National Assembly “should
reflect on a just penalty for the crime of
domestic violence, and should not be
afraid to legislate for the good of the
people and the country”, the statement
urged.
The Commission added that the
government should comply fully with its
obligations under the international
conventions ratified by the Mozambican
state, and should work with civil society
organisations “to adopt a joint strategy to
fight against any forms of violence”.
This should involve “public actions to raise
the awareness of society about the
importance of gender equality for the
socio-economic development of the
country”.
The commission also urges the
government to endow the Family Care
Offices of the Mozambican police “with the
capacity to deal with crimes of domestic
violence in such a way that the victims are
treated with dignity and humanity, and the
cases are duly channelled to the courts”.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
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Four arrested in Inhambane for looting
during cyclone Dineo
Four individuals have been detained by
the police in Inhambane Province,
accused of looting during cyclone Dineo
on the night of Wednesday 15 February.
The opportunists were collecting sheets of
zinc torn from roofs and yards. The
individuals also took advantage of the
situation to plunder other valuables.
This opportunism occurred mainly in
Massinga, Maxixe and Inhambane
municipalities, where the zinc sheets were
being sold for MT50. The price of the used
zinc sheets attracted the attention of a
member of the public. He informed the
police who investigated the matter and
arrested the perpetrators.
Source: Rádio Moçambique
Woman arrested for burning son with
hot water in Manica
A woman has been detained by the police
in Chimoio (Manica Province) after she
admitted to submerging her six-year-old
son’s hands in boiling water after he was
allegedly accused of stealing firewood
from his neighbour.
The woman told the police that she is
sorry and justified her actions by stating
that she intended to educate her son
against such behaviour (theft).
According to the detainee, she
immediately regretted her actions and
attempted to give first aid to her son. The
six-year-old boy was hospitalised at the
Provincial Hospital of Chimoio. He
vehemently denies stealing from his
neighbour.
Source: Folha de Maputo

Nine jailed for illegal mining in Manica
During the course of the week 10 to 17
February, the PRM of Manica Province
arrested nine individuals in Báruè district
on charges of illegal mining and drug use
(marijuana).
The illegal mining activities occurred in the
Chicuio area, in the administrative post of
Nhampassa.
The detainees justified their actions by
stating that they engaged in illegal mining
activities in order to survive.
However, the PRM maintain that they are
cracking down on illegal mining in order to
prevent deaths from landslides, as well as
the unrestrained extraction of mineral
resources.
During the arrests, the PRM seized half a
kilogram of marijuana, mining equipment
and an unspecified amount of quarts.
Meanwhile, the PRM of Manica has
voiced concerns over the increase in
cases of cattle theft, especially in
Tambara and Mossurize districts.
However, the police have assured the
media that it is working to put an end to
the problem.
As such, the police recently recovered 14
heads of cattle stolen last week.
Three individuals were arrested in
connection with the theft.
The three detainees are also believed to
have been behind the theft of 36 cattle in
January.
Source: @Verdade
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Man arrested on charges of robbing
apartments in Maputo blames it on
‘drunkenness’
A man accused of involvement in
apartment robberies in the city of Maputo
is being held by the police.
Microwaves, shoes and CDs were among
the objects found in the possession of the
29-year-old, presented by police on
Monday 20 February as a member of a
gang specialising in apartment robberies
in the capital.
The accused admits his involvement and
his ownership of the vehicle used in the
crimes, but justifies the gang’s behaviour
by arguing that they were drunk at the
time that the crimes were committed.
“We went to the apartment and nobody
was home. We went in and took the
things. It was in a flurry of drunkenness.
My friends said ‘You already have
transport, we will get some money’”, the
man explained.
Police said they had been investigating
the gang since 11 February, when they
were implicated in an armed residential
robbery.
“Last Saturday, they went to carry out
another robbery in Malhangalene, but
thanks to information in the police’s
possession, we were able to seize this
man, one of a gang of five”, police
spokesperson Paulo Nazaré explained.
According to Nazaré, the gang specialises
in apartment robberies. Investigations to
secure the detention of the other four
gang members are ongoing.
Source: O País

Woman kills husband with broken dish
A 39-year-old woman is accused of killing
her husband using a broken dish. The
incident occurred in the Ferroviário
neighbourhood (Maputo Province).
According to reports, the couple did not
live together, and the deceased would
often visit his wife with the intention of
spending the night. The motive behind the
murder is not yet known.
Source: @Verdade
PRM officer arrested in Matola
A member of the PRM in Matola (Maputo
Province) was recently arrested in the
neighbourhood of Infulene “A”, accused of
robbery and extortion. According to the
police, the detainee was assigned to the
Police School in Matalane, Marracuene
district.
The detainee conducted most of his illegal
activities in the Ndlavela neighbourhood,
with the help of four accomplices, who
successfully managed to evade arrest and
are being sought by the poice. According
to the PRM, the detainee planted
marijuana on one of his victims and
subsequently threatened to arrest him on
charges of drug possession.
Source: @Verdade
Nampula police officer arrested for
involvement in criminal activities
On 15 February, a gang consisting of four
members was neutralised in Cuamba
(Niassa Province) while attempting to rob
a cigarette van. One of those detained
(identified as Amade João Mucoroja) is a
police officer from Nampula Province.
According to the spokesperson of the
PRM in Nampula, Zacarias Nacute, the
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detainee (suspected of being the
ringleader of the gang) worked for the
police for 13 years, during which time he
held the position of the sector head of the
Miriam Ngabi subunit.
Reports suggest that the gang intercepted
the van in Mandimba, firing live rounds at
the vehicle. The driver managed to
escape and contacted the police, who
were able to arrest the four criminals.
The gun used in the attempted robbery
was identified as the officer’s weapons,
registered in Nampula. The officer now
faces criminal charges in Nampula and in
Niassa, in addition to disciplinary
proceedings.
Source: O País/@Verdade
Mozambican jails: always space for
one more, despite overcrowding
The jails in Nampula Province are
overcrowded to the extent that they risk
violating human rights, says the
Mozambican Human Rights League
(LMDH). But despite the overcrowding,
new prisoners keep arriving.
Tarcisio Abibo, a delegate of the
Mozambican Human Rights League in the
northern region, is concerned about the
situation: “We can see overcrowding at
the Nampula city first station, where all
prisoners from all the city’s stations end
up being taken”.
During the course of the week 3 to 10
February, at least 16 inmates escaped
from Nacala-Porto district jail. So far, only
seven have been recaptured.
Overcrowding and lack of prison guards
facilitated the escape.
Police only concerned with arresting
people:

Zacarias Nacute, spokesperson for the
police in Nampula, says that in cases
such as this prison escape, the role of the
security forces is to “apply and enforce the
law, neutralise the detainees and send
them to the competent bodies”.
But the problem of prison overcrowding
remains unresolved, the League says.
The League often goes to jails to check
whether inmates receive three meals a
day, health care and legal aid. And often,
there are violations of human rights.
“We find situations and immediately draw
up a report communicating what we have
noticed to the relevant parties”, the
League’s Tarcisio Abibo says.
He gives an example: “Once, a prisoner’s
sentence was fulfilled, and he should have
been released immediately. But he wasn’t;
he remained in prison for two or three
months. This is a human rights violation”.
At first, the Mozambican authorities used
to contest the Human Rights League’s
work, but with the constant denunciations,
there have been improvements, the
organisation’s head says.
Source: Deutsche Welle
Two community leaders murdered in
Tsangano
Two village leaders in Tsangano district
(Tete Province) have been killed by
unknown individuals using firearms, iron
bars, machetes and knives. The
community leaders of Chiandame and
N’Pulo were murdered in their homes as
they slept.
In solidarity with the pair, the first
secretary of the Frelimo Party in Tete,
Fernando Bemane, visited one of the
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mourning families on Tuesday 21
February and expressed his horror at this
inhuman behaviour, appealing to the
bereaved family to be vigilant and to all
present to report any suspicious
individuals passing through their
communities.
Source: Rádio Moçambique
Officer shoots teenager dead at Tete
police station
On Friday 17 February, an unnamed
police officer shot a 17-year-old boy dead
in broad daylight at a police station in the
Sansão Mutemba neighbourhood (Tete
Province), causing great concern among
the community.
Emanuel Bonifacio Rupia was shot in the
chest at approximately 16:00hrs on
Friday, the bullet exited through his back,
resulting in rapid blood loss.
After the shooting, PRM personnel from
the station took the body to the Tete
Provincial Hospital, where they told the
authorities there that they had found the
boy abandoned in Nhartanda valley, far
from the actual scene of the murder.
The deceased’s father, Bonifácio Rupia,
told reporters that: “My daughter, who was
at the hospital, was informed by her
colleagues of the name and surname of
the deceased, she looked at the body and
recognised her brother. From there she
began to make telephone calls,
establishing what had happened, despite
the false police statements”, Rupia said.
Rupia also said that, when he confronted
the PRM agents, they changed their story,
claiming that they shot the young man
because he was trying to escape from the
cell where he was being held.

“Even so, these statements do not ring
true, since the bullet entered his chest and
came out of his back, and if he was
fleeing, he would have been hit in the
back”, Rupia added.
Asked why his son had been detained,
Rupia replied: “I do not know for sure, but
they said that the cops found him with a
motorcycle that did not belong to him. The
owner of the motorbike was said to be
going to get the papers, but never
returned. Then suddenly my son was
shot”.
Interviewed by the Diário de Moçambique,
the head of the PRM’s public relations
department in Tete, Deolinda Matsinhe,
said she had opened an inquiry to
investigate the matter.
Source: Diário de Moçambique
Armed robbery outside BCI bank in
Quelimane
At approximately 10:00hrs on Thursday
23 February, a businessman was robbed
of more than MT200,000 (roughly
US$3,000) outside the main BCI bank in
Quelimane (Zambézia Province).
According to the victim, everything
happened in a fraction of a second, when
HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND NGO’S
Thousands trapped along
Mozambique, Zimbabwe border
Some 1,900 Mozambicans are stranded
at the border with Zimbabwe after fleeing
alleged banditry carried out by opposition
forces in their country. Renamo has been
blamed for the terror, which (according to
multiple Zimbabwean publications) has
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three individuals wielding a pistol and an
automatic rifle attacked him, seized the
suitcase containing the money and fled.
The victim was on the way into the bank
to deposit the money.
Zambézia police spokesperson, Miguel
Caetano, told reporters that the PRM is
already in possession of clues that could
lead them to the perpetrator’s.
The victim was able to recall the getaway
car’s licence plate number, as well as
provide a detailed description of the three
perpetrators.
Source: Jornal Txopela
Radio station employee arrested for
theft of copper cables in Zambézia
The PRM recently arrested an official from
Zambézia’s provincial radio station on
charges of copper cable theft.
The detainee, who vehemently denied the
charges, worked for the radio station for
four years.
Radio station employees have stated that
the damages caused by the theft are
incalculable.
Source: Folha de Maputo
continued despite assurances by
government leaders that a truce was
within reach with the opposition party.
United Nations agencies allegedly said
they were mobilising money to move the
displaced persons to safety into
Zimbabwe. “Resource mobilisation efforts
are currently ongoing to resume the
relocation of an estimated 1,900 refugees

who are still camped at the border
between Zimbabwe and Mozambique
after fleeing clashes in Mozambique”, said
a World Food Programme spokesperson.
Meanwhile, 8,696 refugees were assisted
in January at the Tongogara refugee
camp. With Zimbabwe suffering recurrent
drought, additional resources are urgently
needed to support existing and additional
new refugees at the Tongogara refugee
camp, officials said. Renamo has sent
thousands of Mozambicans running for
safety after insurgency perpetrated in
protest to a contentious election amid vote
rigging claims. The banditry has evoked
memories of the civil war that followed
Mozambique's independence from
Portugal in 1975.
Please note: despite assurances from both
Renamo and Frelimo (as well as from
Mozambican and international media houses),
some Zimbabwean newspapers continue to
insist that low-level fighting and Renamo
attacks prevail in Mozambique, regardless of
the lack of evidence supporting such claims.
As far as Rhula Intelligent Solutions is aware
(based on media reports and on the ground
information from strategically placed sources)
the truce remains intact and the reports
coming from Zimbabwe are therefore viewed
as propaganda.
Source: CAJ News Africa
Tanzanian deportee dies at regional
hospital
One of the Tanzanian deportees from
Mozambique died on Monday 20 February
at the Lingula Regional hospital
(Tanzania).
Speaking to reporters, the Mtwara
Regional Police Commander, George
Salala, identified the person as Jackline
Greyson.
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Salala said that Greyson crossed the
Kilambo Border Post while in a critical
condition and was rushed to hospital.
However, Salala said the cause of her
death was yet to be established.
A total of 132 Tanzanians had been
deported from Mozambique in a
crackdown on supposed illegal
immigrants.
Some of those who were deported
complained that their passports were
seized by the Mozambican authorities,
who also ignored the fact that some of
them owned movable and immovable
assets in Mozambique.
According to the Deputy Minister for
Foreign Affairs and International Co-
operation, Suzan Kolimba, Tanzanians
were not the only ones caught up in the
crackdown.
“We have been informed by our
counterparts in Mozambique that the
operation is mainly being conducted in
Montepuez, the second largest city in
Cabo Delgado Province, which is said to
be teeming with illegal immigrants from
various countries. Therefore, Tanzanians
aren’t the only ones being targeted by the
Mozambican authorities”, she was quoted
as saying last week.
Source: The Citizen
Tanzanian deportees are safe
On Thursday 23 February, Tanzanian
Foreign Affairs and East African Co-
operation Minister, Ambassador
Augustine Mahiga, said that the Ministry is
closely monitoring the Tanzanians
deported from Mozambique to ensure that
they are safe.

The Minister insisted that immigration
officials in Mtwara Region were
conducting a rigorous vetting of the travel
documents to ensure non-Tanzanians are
not using the situation to sneak into the
country illegally.
Speaking at a news conference in Dar es
Salaam, Minister Mahiga came out
strongly to deny reports that security
personnel in Mozambique were subjecting
Tanzanian deportees to torture and
excessive use of force.
“In any operation, there are always such
complaints where some security
personnel may occasionally push a
person or do something in the course of
duty … But we have been closely
monitoring, in collaboration with the
Ministry of Home Affairs and Tanzanian
authorities, in Mozambique and found out
that the claims are false”, he explained.
The Minister further allayed fears among
Tanzanians that the operation to flush out
illegal immigrants in Mozambique was
targeting Tanzanians, saying it was a
normal crackdown on illegal immigrants.
He said even Tanzania had previously
conducted similar operations to deport
undocumented immigrants.
The Minister also said that the Southern
African Development Community (SADC)
Foreign Ministers met in Dar es Salaam
this week at the Mwalimu Nyerere
Convention Centre to discuss various
issues in the region.
He hinted that the Foreign Affairs and Co-
operation Minister of Mozambique was
among the 14 foreign ministers who were
expected in the country on Thursday to
attend the crucial meeting.
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Minister Mahiga, who chaired the meeting,
could not say at the time if the ongoing
crackdown on illegal immigrants featured
in the deliberations.
President John Magufuli currently chairs
the SADC, with Minister Mahiga chairing
the Council of Ministers.
Source: Tanzania Daily
US$8-million needed to repair cyclone
damage
Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do
Rosário recently carried out a two-day
working visit to the province of Inhambane
to assess the damage done by cyclone
Dineo which hit the province on
Wednesday and Thursday last week. Data
from Provincial Governor Daniel Chapo
indicates that the death toll from the
cyclone stands at seven, while 51 others
suffered injuries. Approximately 152,000
people were affected by the storm,
particularly in the coastal districts.
The main cause of the seven deaths was
trees blown down on top of homes. Many
of those temporarily displaced have now
returned to their homes. But about 800
people are still accommodated in a centre
opened on the premises of the Pedagogic
University, where they are benefitting from
assistance provided by the country’s relief
agency, the INGC.
According to Governor Chapo, the
province needs at least MT550-million
(approximately US$8-million) to repair the
most seriously affected education and
health facilities. To raise these funds, the
provincial government will rely on its own
resources, those of local civil society
organisations, and those of development
partners, including Ireland and UNICEF.

The cyclone disrupted electricity and
water supplies and communications,
which are being gradually re-established.
But the ferry service between the cities of
Inhambane and Maxixe remains
interrupted. The cyclone destroyed the
jetty on the Maxixe side. Without the ferry,
people who live in one of the two cities but
work or study in the other cannot cross
the narrow finger of sea that separates
them. A provisional jetty has been
installed, and Governor Chapo said the
government is working to re-establish the
full ferry service in the coming week.
According to INGC General Director João
Machatine, the MT550-million mentioned
by the governor is only the start of what
will be needed to restore life in the
province to normal. “The damage in
Inhambane is dramatic, and requires that
funds be made available urgently”, he
said.
Machatine said that, in the more severely
affected districts, the cyclone had blown
the roofs off 70% of the schools, but
because teaching must resume as quickly
as possible, interventions short of full
repairs are urgently needed so that
classes can restart. He added that
difficulties in reaching some of the areas
struck by Dineo means that a complete
picture of the damage is not yet available.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Prime Minister discusses cyclone
damage with provincial government
On Sunday 19 February, Prime Minister
Carlos Agostinho do Rosário met with the
Inhambane provincial government to
discuss the measures required to alleviate
the suffering caused by cyclone Dineo.
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At the opening of an extraordinary session
of the provincial government, Prime
Minister Rosário urged local leaders to
propose solutions which could be
implemented by the central government.
In his capacity as chairperson of the
government’s Emergency Co-ordinating
Council, Prime Minister Rosário praised
the population of Inhambane for the
resilient way they had faced the effects of
the cyclone. He said he had got the
impression that they are picking
themselves up from the impacts of the
storm.
He also praised the role of the provincial
government, the emergency institutions,
the meteorology services and the mass
media for their work in alerting the public
to the approaching cyclone. “We think we
have taken a strong step forward in terms
of prevention”, he said. “Our institutions
were capable of doing what was
essential”.
After the opening session, the meeting
continued behind closed doors. Reporters
learned that the Prime Minster heard from
members of the provincial government
about the urgent measures needed to
rebuild the schools, health units and other
facilities damaged by Dineo, and to
prepare for the second sowings in this
year’s agricultural campaign.
The updated statistics present at the
meeting indicated that around 652,680
people were affected by the cyclone in
Inhambane and Maxixe cities, and in the
districts of Morrumbene, Massinga,
Jangamo, Zavala, Inharrime, Panda,
Vilankulo, Funhalouro, Mabote and
Homoine. The cyclone blew the roofs off a
large number of classrooms, affecting
160,000 pupils and 5,000 teachers. The
torrential rain that inundated farmland

caused the loss of about 29,000 hectares
of crops. The provincial government has
increased its estimate of the sum needed
to repair the cyclone damage to over
MT900-million (about US$13-million at
current exchange rates).
Prime Minister Rosário also visited some
of the damaged buildings, including three
schools wrecked by the cyclone. He
expressed concern at the poor quality of
the building work, which had increased
the vulnerability of these schools to
natural disasters.
The Prime Minister insisted that the
design of public buildings should take
Mozambique’s geographical location into
account, and the fact that it is prone to
tempestuous weather. They should be
constructed to standards which made
them more resilient to floods, storms and
cyclones.
Due care should be taken in selecting the
contractors to build schools and other
public infrastructure, he said, and the
companies that inspect the work of the
contractors.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Cyclone Dineo victims in Manica call
for government support
Cyclone Dineo destroyed at least 300
homes and left 1,500 people homeless in
the central province of Manica.
In some of the districts most affected –
Tambara, Machaze, Gondola,
Sussundenga and Guro – the evacuees
are housed in tents, and by Tuesday 21
February, 60 families had been resettled
in safe areas in the district of Chimoio.
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“I’m here because the rain demolished my
whole house. I have no one to help me
rebuild, so that I may at least have a place
to sleep, so we’ve been put up here”,
Sónia Paulino says.
Paulino and the other displaced persons
are now calling on the government to
“allocate spaces in dignified places that do
not flood”, as well as requesting food
support. “We are asking the government
to allot us spaces where we can live in
peace”, says Tito Ranguisse, a father of
eight.
Insufficient drinking water and sanitation:
Isabel Jorge also saw her house collapse
because of the rain, but the mother of four
complains about conditions where she
and her family were resettled.
“We have food here, but there is no
drinking water and no latrines. For now,
we are using only one bathroom”, she
says.
A spokesperson for the INGC, Cremildo
Quembo, said that authorities would
continue to listen to the needs of people
who have lost everything.
“We have already taken immediate action,
as in the city of Chimoio, where we
managed to provide 11 tents, 880
kilograms of rice and 124 kilograms of
butter beans. We have other food,
construction materials and blankets for
those in need too”, he said.
The weather also damaged 41
classrooms, leaving more than 2,000
students studying under trees in Manica,
and the main roads leading to Mossurize,
Machaze and Tambara districts are still
impassable.
Source: Deutsche Welle

Government promises post-cyclone
resource mobilisation
The Mozambican government will
continue mobilising resources internally to
rebuild the infrastructures destroyed by
cyclone Dineo, Prime Minister Carlos
Agostinho do Rosário pledged on Monday
20 February.
Speaking to reporters at the end of two-
day visit to Inhambane, Prime Minister
Rosário said the government will assess
what is needed in addition to the support
that can be raised internally, and will then
approach international partners.
He stressed that the reconstruction efforts
must first involve the mobilisation of
resources internally (at provincial and
central level), with the involvement of the
business sector and of civil society
organisations, as well as solidarity
campaigns among Mozambicans.
“Right now we are undertaking a survey
so that we are clear about what should be
done immediately, what the province can
undertake with local resources”, said the
Prime Minister.
“We shall assess our central capacity, and
for anything in excess of that capacity, we
shall request assistance from our
international partners. But we are also
relying on internal solidarity, from
companies and from civil society”.
“All efforts will be made to ensure that we
can act in an appropriate manner, since
the damage done is very great”, he
added.
On Monday, Prime Minister Rosário
visited Massinga, Morrumbene and
Maxixe districts, where he toured places
severely damaged by the cyclone,
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including schools, health units, and other
public facilities.
He also left instructions for the provincial
government to ensure minimum
conditions for the resumption of classes in
all schools in the province, to provide
seeds to ensure that farmers can plant
again, and to take measures to avoid
outbreaks of water borne diseases.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Partners promise post-cyclone
assistance
Mozambique’s international co-operation
partners have promised to assist the
country in the emergency response to
cyclone Dineo.
The pledge was given at a meeting in
Maputo on Wednesday 22 February
between the INGC and the co-operation
partners, at which the INGC gave detailed
information on the damage caused by
Dineo.
The resident co-ordinator of the United
Nations, Maria de Castro, said that, after
an event on the scale of Dineo, it is
important to provide comprehensive
information, which makes it possible to
focus support, thus strengthening the
government’s response.
“Today we are promising to channel
resources for tents, for shelter, and for
vegetable oil which is a very important
food input”, said Castro.
She added that teams from UN agencies
are monitoring the situation on the ground
in Inhambane.
The INGC report stressed the need to
provide shelter for those made homeless

by the cyclone, and to provide seeds that
would allow farmers who have lost their
crops to replant.
Castro believed it would be possible to
mobilise resources from the international
humanitarian system to meet these
requirements.
The INGC calculates that it will take
MT420-million (about US$6.1-million) to
repair the damage to health units, schools
and water supply systems.
But when damage to other buildings and
to crops, and the humanitarian assistance
needs are included, the total cost rises to
MT1.13-billion.
The INGC General Director, João
Machatine, thanked the partners for their
support. They had shown themselves
“true friends” of Mozambique, despite the
current unfavourable international
situation.
Machatine added that recently the country
had faced a severe drought. Mobilising
resources to cope with the 2016 drought
had proved a complex task, but co-
ordinate efforts between the government
and its partners meant that so far there
had been no reports of hunger deaths.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Umbelúzi water levels rise, but
restrictions to continue in Maputo,
Matola and Boane
Not even the rains that have fallen in the
past few days have been able to replenish
the water supply in Maputo, Matola and
Boane municipalities.
The Regional Administration of Southern
Waters (ARA-Sul) says that the latest
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rains have increased water levels in the
Umbelúzi River, but the scenario
nevertheless remains critical and
restrictions will continue.
According to ARA-Sul, the water level has
risen by 40%, with the river basin now
holding eight-million cubic meters, enough
for two months’ supply with current
restrictions.
“Despite the rains, the scenario is far from
over, although we have the security of at
least two months”, warns ARA-Sul.
The figures were released during a visit by
the Agriculture, Economy and
Environment Commission of the National
Assembly to the Pequenos Libombos
Dam on Tuesday 21 February.
The aim of the commission’s visit was to
monitor the water scarcity situation,
understand the supply system and
propose amelioration measures. The chair
of the commission believes that the
current situation challenges the
government to look for ways to ensure
sound management of water resources.
Water supply restrictions in Maputo came
into effect on 10 January as a way of
guaranteeing availability over the long
term. It appears that the current crisis is
far from over.
Source: O País
The 70 more boreholes needed to
relieve water shortage in Maputo,
Matola, Boane
The government needs over MT2.8-billion
(approximately US$40.6-million) in order
to open more than 70 boreholes in the
Greater Maputo Metropolitan Area, so as
to relieve the severe water shortages

facing Maputo and Matola cities and
Boane district.
This figure includes the construction of
approximately 70 kilometres of new water
mains.
The Ministry of Public Works has
identified the places where the boreholes
should be drilled. The immediate priorities
are to open six boreholes on the Malanga
and Maxaquene embankments in Maputo,
and to make operational 22 boreholes that
already exist in ten Maputo and Matola
neighbourhoods.
This would make an additional 11,400
cubic metres of water available per day
(which is less than 10% of the quantity of
water currently reaching greater Maputo
every day from the Umbelúzi River). The
work would cost MT43-million, but
currently the government only has MT35-
million available.
In the slightly longer term, the government
hopes to open a further 40 boreholes in
Maputo, Matola and Boane and build 28
kilometres of water main to link them to
the water distribution centres. This would
provide enough water to supply 318,000
people a day. But it would cost a further
MT1.1-billion which the government does
not yet have available.
Since 10 January, water supplies in the
Greater Maputo area have been rationed,
with each urban neighbourhood receiving
water on alternate days.
The reservoir at the Pequenos Libombos
Dam on the Umbelúzi, which provides
water to the pumping and treatment
station downstream, is critically low.
When the water restrictions began, the
reservoir was less than 14% full. There
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has recently been some rainfall in the
Umbelúzi Basin, which has raised the
level of the reservoir to almost 18%.
Water from the dam is being released into
the Umbelúzi at the rate of 1.5 cubic
metres a second, which is around half the
normal discharge rate.
There are only five weeks left before the
end of the 2016/17 rainy season. If it does
not rain heavily in the Umbelúzi Basin by
the end of March, there is a real risk that
the Pequenos Libombos reservoir could
run completely dry.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/O País
President Nyusi concerned at erosion
in Nacala
On Saturday 18 February, President Filipe
Nyusi condemned the reckless human
behaviour leading to severe erosion in the
northern port city of Nacala.
The latest rains in Nacala, striking terrain
that is already degraded, have opened up
more deep ravines, threatening to engulf
parts of the city.
President Nyusi warned that the city and
its deep-water port run the risk of
disappearing if serious measures are not
taken, which must include a ban on
disorderly informal construction. The
erosion means that storm water is
sweeping soil into the port, and the
resulting siltation could even lead to
Nacala losing its status as a deep-water
port.
President Nyusi made this warning at a
meeting with dozens of residents of the
Nacala neighbourhood of Triangulo,
where an immense crater has opened,
which has already led to the deaths of four

children. “Families are living in a critical
situation. The crater is continuing to
expand, and it threatens to swallow up
part of the city”, he said.
He assured his audience that his visit was
not intended to force anybody out of their
homes, but to warn against disorderly
construction in high risk areas.
Nonetheless, he clearly believed that
people ought to leave Triangulo.
He said that an area has been identified
which could accommodate all the
households currently living in Triangulo,
but the local authorities had to ensure
facilities such as electricity and water
supplies were in place before they moved
people there.
The common excuse given by people for
not leaving high risk areas is that the
resettlement areas lack basic social and
economic facilities. The crowd was
receptive to President Nyusi’s message
and people said they are willing to
abandon dangerous areas, as long as
minimum living conditions are established
in the areas where they will be resettled.
Some years ago the Triangulo area was
uninhabited, and there was an explicit ban
on any construction. But local politicians
(whom the President did not name)
overrode the ban, and allowed houses to
be built.
“I came to see this crater, and I am not
pleased”, said the President. “Previously
there were no houses here. Indeed, there
were placards prohibiting any building of
houses. But some politicians mobilised
people to come here”.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
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Five primary schools closed due to
military conflict reopen in Manica
Five primary schools that closed in 2016
due to the ongoing political-military
tension have now reopened. This is
according to Arlindo Ngozo, director of the
District Service of Education, Youth and
Technology of Gondola (Manica
Province), who was speaking on the side-
lines of a meeting with district education
staff.
The Gondola administrator, quoted by O
País, asked teachers to convey to
students the message that peace,
threatened by military confrontations in
recent years, had been restored.
Sixty-eight schools in the districts of
Báruè, Mossurize, Gondola, Macossa,
Manica and Tambara were forced to close
their doors during the past year due to
ongoing political-military tension.
Source: Folha de Maputo/O País
Ten schools reopen in Gorongosa
Ten primary and secondary schools that
had been closed due to politico-military
tension in Gorongosa (Sofala Province)
were reopened for the current school year
and classes are already running normally.
However, the number of reopened
schools remains insufficient when
considering the number of students that
missed out on school last year.
The Gorongosa administration confirms
the reopening of the schools, stating that
life has returned to normal in the village.
Source: O País

HEALTH
The number of cholera cases rises
from 216 to 321 in one week – MISAU
The figures are worrying. In less than a
week, the number of cholera cases in the
country’s health units has increased by
105. According to data presented on
Monday 20 February by the Ministry of
Health, the number of cases rose from
216 last week to 321 on Sunday, although
the number of deaths remains at just one,
at Maputo Central Hospital.
MISAU has detected cases of the so-
called “dirty hand disease” in the cities of
Maputo, Matola and in Nampula Province.
Nampula had the highest number of
registered cases with 205, followed by the
city of Maputo with 75 and Matola with 42.
Monapo and Meconta districts (Nampula
Province) have recorded the highest
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incidence of cases. According to the head
of the MISAU Department of
Epidemiology, Lorna Gujral, the disease is
not related to the lack of water in Maputo,
but to the rainy season and poor
sanitation.
Authorities advise the population to take
all possible precautions, especially in the
rainy season. “At this time, all cases of
cholera are associated with the rainy
season. Besides the rainy season, there
are other environmental factors facilitate
the increase in cases of this disease.
Sanitation has a great influence. In large
cities, for example, sanitation is very poor.
There is accumulation of garbage, with
flies, and in some neighbourhoods large
numbers of people use the same
bathroom”, Gujral said.

The lack of basic hygiene is also directly
associated with the disease. Gurjal drew
attention to the fact that some people do
not wash their hands before meals or after
using the bathroom. Washing food before
cooking and properly preserving
foodstuffs play a crucial role in preventing
outbreaks.
Source: O País
More on the cholera outbreak in
Nampula
An increase in the number of cholera
cases was recorded this month in
Nampula Province, and the provincial
chief doctor, Suleimane Isidoro, admits
that some victims who did not seek
treatment in health units may have died.
Recorded cases of the disease peaked on
14 and 15 February when 23 and 29
people, respectively, were hospitalised in
cholera treatment centres in Monapo and
Meconta districts. Isidoro said that, on
receiving reports of an increased number
of diarrhoea cases, including deaths,
health workers went from house to house
and diagnosed several sufferers with
cholera.
“We decided to undertake searches
because the community was saying that
somebody died of diarrhoea in this or that
house”, he said. “As a result we recorded
an increase in cases of cholera. So we
accept that there could have been deaths
outside of the health units because of this
disease”.
He added that none of the patients taken
to the cholera treatment centres have
died. In recent days, the number of
diagnosed cases has declined. Currently
there are 13 people still in the cholera
treatment centres – 12 in Netia, in
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Monapo district; and one in Namialo, in
Meconta. The health service is waging
campaigns to promote personal and
collective hygiene, and to purify drinking
water before consuming it. Water purifying
agents are being distributed free of charge
in the health units. “There is a relationship
between cholera cases and living
conditions, particularly water supply”, said
Isidoro. “Most of the people in the areas
hit by the cholera outbreak are still taking
their drinking water from traditional wells”.
Diarrhoeal diseases, he added, should not
be seen as a problem to be solved only by
the health sector, since everybody is
called upon to make a contribution to the
promotion of hygiene. Cholera and other
diarrhoeal diseases, Iisidoro said, can be
avoided if basic hygiene measures are
observed, such as washing foodstuffs
before cooking them, and washing one’s
hands before eating, and after using the
latrine.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Ministry of Health concerned about the
increased number of diabetes cases
The Minister of Health, Nazira Abdula, has
expressed concern about the increase in
diabetes cases in the country, estimating
that 7.4% of the population suffers from
this disease. Minister Abdula discussed
the topic of diabetes during the launch of
the project ‘Integrated Approach to
Diabetes Mellitus and Arterial
Hypertension in Primary Care’ on
Thursday 23 February in the city of
Pemba (Cabo Delgado Province).
According to the Minister of Health, “7.4%
of the Mozambican population suffers
from diabetes mellitus, which is a concern
for the nation as there has been a

noticeable increase in the number of
cases from 3.8% in 2005 to 7.4% in
2015”. Citing the study Prevalence of Risk
Factors for Hypertension and Diabetes
(STEPS), conducted in 2015, Minister
Abdula said that in 2015, there was a
prevalence of hypertension, which
affected at the time 39% of the population,
aged between 25 and 64 years. This
translates to an increase in hypertension
cases, which had a prevalence rate of
35% in 2015.
Globally, diabetes has killed five-million
people and blood-borne hypertension kills
around 9.4-million people annually, mostly
in low-income countries, the Health
Minister added. With the implementation
of the project ‘Integrated Approach to
Diabetes Mellitus and Arterial
Hypertension in Primary Health Care’,
Mozambique’s health sector intends to
promote community education for a
healthy lifestyle, improved access to
health care, diagnosis and treatment.
“This project, which also provides for the
training of 510 healthcare professionals,
will be phased in at some health units in
27 districts of three provinces of the
country”, said Minister Abdula. Through
the initiative, the Minister continued,
health centres will be equipped with
equipment such as a blood glucose
meters.
Source: Lusa/SAPO24
Nampula bakeries warned over hygiene
On Saturday 18 February, the National
Inspectorate of Economic Activities
(Instituto de Actividades Económicas,
INAE) warned bakeries and restaurants in
the northern province of Nampula that
they must operate in decent conditions of
hygiene or risk closure.
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INAE general inspector Rita Freitas gave
the warning at a press conference ending
a visit to Nampula during which she had
ordered the closure of the Gulamo bakery
and cake shop, after inspectors had found
poor hygiene in the entire chain of making
and selling bread.
Freitas said that most businesses have
now learnt the importance of collaborating
with INAE, and of observing the
requirements of hygiene and safety at the
workplace.
In general, she continued, businesses had
understood the need for cleanliness and
for good organisation, but there were still
serious problems in restaurants and
bakeries throughout the country.
In the first two months of this year, INAE
ordered the closure of eight
establishments (mostly bakeries) in
Maputo, Beira and Nampula. In all cases,
heavy fines were imposed.
Freitas said the problems in Nampula
were similar to those found in Maputo and
Beira – particularly lack of hygiene in the
workers’ dressing rooms and in the toilets,
as well as in the areas where bread was
baked and sold.
“We are demanding that the owners of the
bakeries show some concern over the
areas that their workers must use – such
as the bathroom, where the workers need
at least a tap to wash their hands, a basin
and a hand drier”, she said.
Freitas also insisted that workers handling
foodstuffs must not have long nails or
beards. She threatened “heavy penalties”
for repeat offenders who disregard the
instructions given by INAE.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique

Inspectors close another Maputo
restaurant
The INAE has ordered the closure of
another Maputo restaurant and pastry
shop, the Marinha. The INAE general
inspector, Mari Freitas, said INAE had
received complaints from clients, including
that they had found dead cockroaches in
the meals they were eating, while live
cockroaches were scurrying around the
tables.
The INAE inspectors found that the
bathrooms in the restaurant were a threat
to public health, and that the
establishment’s baking section worked
under inhuman conditions, without any air
conditioning. “When we arrived, the
workers were all sweating, because there
was no ventilation”, said Freitas.
This year, about a dozen restaurants and
bakeries have been closed in Maputo.
Some have been allowed to re-open after
obeying INAE instructions for improved
cleanliness and hygiene, but others
remain closed. Cited in the independent
daily O País, the head of the
environmental health department, in the
Ministry of Health, Ana Cardoso, criticised
the frequency with which establishments
that sell food disregard basic rules of
hygiene.
“Such establishents should control pests
through fumigation, to avoid the
proliferation of cockroaches”, she said. “If
necessary they must take measures to
eliminate rats. They must have sewage
and garbage treatment systems, because
these are all aspects that could
contaminate foodstuffs and cause health
problems”. Freitas told the paper that
about 90% of the irregularities INAE had
discovered in recent months concern
hygiene and cleanliness. She added that,
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even in four or five star hotels, where
conditions for the public may appear
excellent, the hotel workers are forced to
use bathrooms that are in shocking
condition.
She said that inspections have been
taking place since 2009, but without much
publicity. Freitas has broken with this
pattern, and is making sure that the work
of INAE is covered in the media. There
would now be zero tolerance for poor
hygiene.
“At the end of the day, we are all
consumers”, she said. “Even the
businessman who does not respect rules
of hygiene and cleanliness will want to
buy products in other establishments”.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Mediafax
Mozambique to start putting seals on
tobacco products
From 17 March, the Tax Authority will
prohibit the selling of cigarettes, cigars
and cigarillo in packages which do not
bear an official seal. As from May 2017,
the same compulsory seals will be
imposed on alcoholic beverages.
The measures are part of the tobacco
control convention Mozambique ratified
last year in the context of the World
Health Organization (WHO) Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control
established in 2004, to which
Mozambique is a signatory.
On Friday 17 February, the Tax Authority
and the Mozambican Association of Public
Health held a meeting and discussed
implementation strategies to ensure the
efficiency of the process.
Source: Folha de Maputo/O País

WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Gorongosa National Park establishes
partnership with Community Owned
Lands Co-operative
Gorongosa National Park (PNG) and
Cooperativa para Terras Comunitárias
(CTC-COOP) have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
which aims to promote sustainable
management of land and natural
resources in the PNG buffer zone; involve
rural communities in PNG development of
social, economic and environmental
initiatives; and ensure the conservation
and enhance the biodiversity of existing
land and natural resources.
At the signing of the MoU, Emídio de
Oliveira, executive director of CTC-COOP,
said that: “With the signing of this
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memorandum, we have taken a
pioneering step in the harmonisation of
intentions and resources to maximise
impact and promote social, economic and
social development at community level,
especially in conservation areas.
“We have entered into this venture aware
that we can contribute to maximising
opportunities to promote sustainable
development by raising the awareness of
communities and other stakeholders
about land rights and mechanisms for
integrated management of land and other
natural resources. Among the various
challenges that this partnership presents,
we hope to be able to make our
contribution to the use and application of
natural resources, and not only, in a

responsible way and with benefits for all
stakeholders.”
In response, the Gorongosa National Park
Administrator, Mateus Mutemba,
commented: “The partnership we have
just signed with CTC-COOP will provide
mutual benefits. CTC-COOP is an
organisation with recognised expertise
and competence in the field of land
management promotion and this is a
comprehensive partnership in the sense
that it will enable the various players in the
local development process – government,
communities, private and park – to
maximise the opportunities that
communities can obtain from the
participatory and sustainable exploitation
of natural resources around the country,
particularly in the light of the possibility of
creating community conservation areas
adjacent to the PNG and implementing
the Greater Gorongosa Sustainable
Development Plan. The areas of
Community Conservation stem from
Article 22 of Law 16/2014, the Biodiversity
Conservation Law. This partnership will
also provide training opportunities for
those mentioned above as well as the
sharing of diverse resources, including
human resources, between the two
entities”.
Under the agreement, CTC-COOP and
PNG will co-operate in the implementation
of community organisation projects in the
PNG buffer zone, capacity development of
PNG and district buffer zone technicians
and communities in the sustainable
management of land and other natural
resources, advice to park managers on
community land management and rural
development processes, and funding for
the co-financing of joint projects and
interventions.
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The Gorongosa National Park in
Mozambique’s Sofala Province is in the
process of rehabilitation, with the aim of
ensuring the restoration and protection of
biodiversity and the natural processes of
the conservation area and its buffer zone
and contributing to human development
and poverty alleviation.
Source: O Autarca
Illegal logging continues in Zambézia
Forestry wardens in the central province
of Zambézia have seized five trucks
loaded with 118 cubic metres of wood
from protected species.
According to the head of the inspection
department in the Zambézia Provincial
Forestry and Wildlife Services, Pedro
Benjamin, the documentation presented
by the transporter of this cargo was illegal,
and there are strong suspicions that the
timber was illegally logged in the Gilé
National Reserve.
The months of January to March are the
closed season for forestry, in which
logging and the transport of logs are
forbidden. Yet since the start of January
seven trucks, all laden with timber, have
been intercepted in Alto Molocue.
Mocubela and Nicoadala districts, all of
which border on the Gilé Reserve, where
illegal loggers are known to be operating.
In the Alto Molocue case, the owner of the
truck was fined MT540,000 (about
US$7,800), and the timber was reverted
to the state. The Forestry and Wildlife
Services are still analysing the Mocubela
and Nicoadala seizures.
In the most recent seizures, in Nicoadala,
the trees were definitely logged this year,
and so the timber must be illegal. Jornal

Notícias says it managed to confirm that
these logs are the precious hardwood
umbila, and were indeed extracted from
the Gilé Reserve.
Initially, the logs were being taken to
Mocuba, the second largest urban centre
in Zambézia, but then the route was
changed in order to take them to the Port
of Beira, where the prices were higher.
If the logs were headed for a port, the
intention must have been to export them,
in flagrant violation of the law passed last
year by the National Assembly, which
outlaws all exports of logs of any species.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique/Jornal Notícias
Advances claimed in sustainable forest
management in Mozambique
On Thursday 23 February, the Ministry of
Land, Environment and Rural
Development claimed the country is
making advances in the sustainable
management of its forestry resources,
while recognising the enormous
challenges which still persist in the shape
of illegal logging and uncontrolled bush
fires.
This optimism was expressed by the
National Director of Forests, Xavier
Sacumbuera, speaking in Maputo at a
seminar to present a progress report of
the Project to Establish a Sustainable
Platform of Information of Forestry
Resources, in order to monitor REDD+ in
Mozambique.
REDD+ stands for ‘reducing emissions
from deforestation and forest
degradation’, a mechanism designed
under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change. The first
significant decision on REDD+ was taken
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in 2007 and it is essentially a vehicle to
reward developing countries financially for
their verified efforts to reduce emissions
and enhance removals of greenhouse
gases through forest management.
According to Sacambuera, REDD+ in
Mozambique is being pursued under the
bilateral co-operation between
Mozambique and Japan.
Sustainable management of forest
resources, he said, involves developing a
platform of information about those
resources, allowing proper
measurements, reporting and verification.
The Mozambican REDD+ is financed by
JICA to the sum of US$6-million. Based
on this programme, Mozambique
launched a national forest inventory in
2016.
Checking the information gathered from
this survey with the last inventory, held in
2007, makes it possible to understand the
nature and pace of forest degradation.
The figure for the period 2006-11 showed
that deforestation was costing
Mozambique an annual average of 0.53%
of its forested area (or about 220,000
hectares a year).
The causes of this deforestation include
slash and burn agriculture, charcoal
production, mining development and
illegal logging.
The JICA resident representative,
Katsuyoshi Sudo, said that the activity
under way seeks to ascertain the current
level of forest coverage, and what forestry
resources are used for. This knowledge
will help in the monitoring of deforestation
and forest degradation.

The current estimate is that the total area
of forest in Mozambique is 40.1-million
hectares, which means that 51% of the
country’s total land area is covered with
forest.
Information gathered under the REDD+
programme is intended to help strike a
balance between sustainable economic
development and forest conservation.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique
Zimbabwe to donate 2,000 animals to
Mozambique
The Zimbabwean government is to donate
2,000 animals to Mozambique to restock
the Limpopo National Park (PNL), in the
southern province of Gaza.
The Zimbabwean Minister of Environment,
Water and Climate, Oppah Machinguri,
announced the donation on Friday 24
February at a press conference closing
the sixth Ministerial Meeting of the Greater
Limpopo Transfrontier Park. The
Transfrontier Park consists of the PNL,
the Kruger National Park (in South Africa),
and the Gonarezhou National Park (in
Zimbabwe).
“This donation demonstrates our
commitment to the development of the
Transfrontier Park”, said Minister
Machinguri. Among the animals to be
donated to Mozambique, as from April,
are elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, impalas,
kudos and other species of antelope.
During the meeting, Zimbabwe and South
Africa also promised to provide animals to
restock a second Mozambique
conservation area, the Zinave National
Park (in Inhambane Province), over the
next two years.
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The Mozambican Minister of Land,
Environment and Rural Development,
Celso Correia, described the meeting as
productive, and said the Zimbabwean and
South African delegations recognised and
values the results achieved by
Mozambique in joint operations to fight
against wildlife crime.
Minister Correia claimed there have been
positive results in the battle against
poaching, including a sharp reduction in
the number of poachers from
Mozambique entering the Kruger Park.
“The number of animals is being rebuilt,
although this is a struggle which has to be
waged continually”, he said.
Other joint benefits attained, Minister
Correia added, include training and the
transfer of knowledge, the sharing of
information, logistical support and
assistance on the ground, and the
development of a joint communications
network between the three countries.
The three governments also agreed to
exploit opportunities in renewable
energies, bearing in mind their potential
for supporting sustainable tourism and
community development programmes
within the Limpopo transfrontier
conservation areas.
Regular ministerial meetings are an
outcome of the treaty signed between the
Presidents of the three countries in
December 2002, which set up the
Transfrontier Park. This envisaged the
establishment of a committed formed by
ministers of the environment to discuss
management of the ecosystems of the
conservation areas in the Greater
Limpopo region.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de
Moçambique

Ivory seized in Cambodia is from
elephants slaughtered in Mozambique
The ivory seized in Cambodia on 19
December 2016 not only arrived from the
port of Pemba but was taken from
Mozambican elephants. “We know exactly
where it came from. Now the process has
been handed over to the Attorney-
General’s Office and we expect to hear
something soon”, Carlos Lopes Pereira,
head of the Inspection Department of the
National Administration of Conservation
Areas (ANAC), told @Verdade.
Last December, Cambodian customs
authorities seized 2016’s biggest trophy
haul, comprising of 1,300 kilograms of
ivory, 10 animal skulls, 137 kilograms of
pangolin scales and 82 other wild animal
bones hidden in three containers of logs
shipped from Pemba (Cabo Delgado
Province). Thanks to the government’s
efforts to combat illegal hunting and with
the support of co-operation partners, it
was possible to determine that the ivory
was taken from elephants killed in one of
the conservation areas in Mozambique.
“We know the DNA of our elephants”,
Pereira said in an interview with
@Verdade, explaining that information is
collected regularly and stored in an
international database. When there is a
seizure, authorities can take a sample and
easily verify the source.
ANAC Director of Conservation Services,
Agustinho de Nazaré Mangueze, told
@Verdade that, in the case of
Mozambique, a national cataloguing of
ivory was carried out about a year ago.
“Ivory is warehoused all over the country
from animals that die naturally, or are
killed in the context of conflicts with the
local population, or are seized after illegal
hunting”.
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Mangueze explained that the cataloguing
process included “weighing,
photographing and DNA sampling, all sent
to a specific laboratory where they are
certified and stored”. “There is still a
marking process using indelible ink. We
are trying to be better organised. In the
past we couldn’t even establish whether
the ivory exported illegally from
Mozambique had just passed through
here or originated from our national
reserves”, Mangueze said.
According to Pereira, despite efforts by
various sectors of the Mozambican
government, there is still “a terrible
slaughter in the north”, even though the
numbers of dead elephants have declined
in absolute terms. “Before, there were
about 11,000 elephants, today there are
6,000. When we had 11,000 individuals,
1,500 elephants a year were being killed,
or about seven a day. Now there are
6,000 individuals and about 700 elephants
per year are being killed. So,
proportionately, many are still being
slaughtered. The number has only
decreased because there are fewer
elephants to kill”, Pereira says.
Pereira says that the illegal elephant
hunting is well organised, highlighting, for
example, the packaging of the trophies
found in Cambodia. Not only did it take
hundreds of wooden logs, but no single
person could have done it, as it would
have been necessary to work in a timber
yard to open up the logs and pack the
trophies in wax so that they wouldn’t be
damaged.
(See Shipped from Mozambique – ivory
worth millions uncovered in Cambodia
after bust - page 124, Rhula Weekly
No.162).
Source: @Verdade

Possible decline in rhino poaching in
South Africa
A local NGO, Outraged South African
Citizens Against Poaching (Oscap), has
revealed a possible further decline in the
numbers of rhinos poached in South
Africa for 2016. According to Oscap
founder Allison Thompson, her
organisation’s statistics stand at 1,105 for
2016, and 115 rhino killed for 2017.
The release comes on the back of the
second postponement by the Department
of Environmental Affairs (DEA) of its
report back on the progress of the
implementation of the Integrated Strategic
Management Approach of Rhinoceros,
aka what progress is being made in the
fight against rhino poaching.
“We had to postpone out briefing owing
firstly to the fact the slot we had wanted to
use on Thursday was a cabinet briefing
slot”, DEA spokesperson Albi Modise said
on 19 February.
“The Friday slot we thought could be used
could not work. We are still identifying a
suitable slot which we will communicate
soon”. Modise said the DEA aimed to hold
the briefing this week. A fuming
Thompson said it had been nine months
since Environmental Minister Edna
Molewa’s last briefing in May.
“With the amount of crime and corruption
being reported by IPID of SAPS and
Hawks involvement at OR Tambo
International Airport which is the Ministers
‘choice’ exit port for their proposed rhino
horn export trade I am sure that a press
conference at this time would be a tad
uncomfortable for all concerned, not least
the Minister of State Security David
Mahlobo who is under the spotlight
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following the recent Al-Jazeerah
documentary”, Thompson said.
It was recently revealed by the Hawks the
“nail salon” Mahlobo had been visiting
was under investigation for being a
brothel.
“When the Minister decided to change the
regularity of the stats from monthly to
quarterly she stated that they did not have
the capacity to do monthly stats but it
appears that they sure have capacity
when it comes to drafting regulations for
opening a domestic trade in rhino horn.
Their priorities seem somewhat skewed”,
Thompson added.
“They are proposing that they will have
the capacity to manage a permit system
but are unable to manage adding a few
numbers together for a monthly poaching
update”. The last official number of rhino
poached was 702 rhino nationally
between January and end of August. Also
of concern is the level of elephant
poaching, 36 having been killed for their
ivory in the Kruger National Park by
September last year, the last official
statement revealed.
And while arrests are being made – 414
between January and August and more
than 24 so far this year – and walloping
sentences being handed down – 28 years
for Simon Ngubane according to The
Lowvelder – they seem only to egg people
on.
One organisation feeling the effect was
elephantsalive.org, which reported that
one of its collared elephants, Charlie, was
killed in Mozambique’s Parque Nacional
de Limpopo (Limpopo National Park or
LNP), which shares an open border with
the Kruger.

“There were many tell-tale signs indicating
that elephant poaching was a real
problem in LNP but we never dreamt that
Charlie, our first collared ambassador in
the Park, would be slain on the 19th of
November, just over two months after
collaring him”, the organisations Dr
Michelle Henley wrote in an article on the
website.
“Shortly after Charlie’s death, Pieter
Jansen van Rensburg was arrested for
hunting in LNP which is forbidden in the
Park. Charlie had become yet another
casualty to man’s greed only a couple of
hundred meters from the Kruger border.
He had also become our first collared
elephant to be poached and we were
devastated”.
Four elephant carcasses, including
Charlie’s, were found in the park before
Van Rensburg’s arrest. With poaching
having showed a decline in 2015 to 1,175
from the 2014 all-time high of 1,215 rhino
poached, it only remains for Minister
Molewa to fill in the blank spaces between
September and December last year,
officially.
Source: The Citizen
We can sell rhino horn, says Minister
Molewa
According to the Department of
Environmental Affairs, the time has come
to sell rhino horn. Speaking in a
parliamentary portfolio committee on
Tuesday 21 February, Minister Edna
Molewa said there had been a moratorium
on rhino horn sales since 2009 because
the department needed to “clear its
house”.
But all the orders and regulations were in
place, she said, a lot of work had been
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done and “people are asking why we need
a moratorium”. Those people, clearly, are
rhino farmers and keepers of state
stockpiles.
The backstory to her announcement is
that last year the moratorium was
challenged by private sector rhino
breeders who won on a technicality.
Minister Molewa, took the result on appeal
to the Constitutional Court.
Then, on 8 February – possibly
contemplating losing the case – she
announced new draft regulations to permit
legal internal trade in rhino horn and
setting out conditions favourable for its
export. If passed, each person will be able
to buy, own, sell or export two rhino horns.
The public have 30 days from date of the
gazette to make representations or
objections.
Minister Molewa did not give details of the
“orders and regulations” that would
warrant ending the moratorium. In fact the
draft regulations suggest a need for future
regulation, calling for a limiting of exit
ports to OR Tambo Airport and a raft of
DNA, microchip and document checking
which the DEA has still to put in place.
Speaking after the minister, DEA
biodiversity director Thea Carroll made a
confusing distinction between commercial
trade and trade for personal purposes.
“What we are seeking to regulate in the
proposed regulation is trade for personal
purposes. We have made a distinction
between commercial and non-commercial
trade. And we will ask the importing
country for legal assurance that the horn
will not be used for commercial purposes”.
According to environmentalist Ian Michler,
“there is no realistic way of ensuring that

the two horns per person do not end up
being traded. The follow-up regarding
trophy horns taken to other countries has
been pathetic.
“I don’t think any country, including the
US, has ever systematically followed up
on trophy hunters who have exported
legally-hunted horn out of South Africa to
check that they still have them and have
not sold them on. We should demand that
the Minister present evidence of this
follow-up and not just say that will
happen”.
The DEA presentation failed to answer a
number of pertinent questions:
 Who did the Minister consult in
drawing up the draft regulations
and how did she arrive at a figure
of two horns per person?
 How will an already stretched and
under-funded regulatory and
policing force cope with monitoring
internal trade?
 How will she ensure that the horns
will not enter the illegal
international markets?
 And is this the first step towards
South Africa putting forward a
proposal for full international trade
in rhino horn at the next CITES
conference in 2019?
Much appears to hinge on the
Constitutional Court finding on the
legitimacy of the private challenge to the
moratorium. If it finds against the Minister,
it is probable that the moratorium on rhino
horn sales will be lifted.
If it also finds the moratorium infringed on
the constitutional rights of arrested rhino
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traders, there will be a large number of
people lining up to challenge their
convictions and sue.
Lifting the trade ban would not be good
news for rhinos because there’s a
demonstrable link between the sale of
farmed wildlife and poaching.
It would serve to stimulate almost limitless
Asian markets through the sale of limited
goods which would not take long to bleed
into illegal procurement through poaching.
Source: Independence Online
South Africa opens the door to the sale
of wildlife parts
There’s a thin line between the marketing
of, and the genuine conservation of,
wildlife. In the past few weeks that line
was definitively crossed by the South
African Department of Environmental
Affairs.
Ignoring the findings of environmental
organisations, its contractual compliance
with CITES, a worldwide online petition
and its own strategic plan for rhinos, the
South African DEA is about to open the
door to the commodification of rhino horn.
This follows the permitting of 800 lion
skeletons a year to be exported for fake
tiger-bone wine and regulations for the
hunting of leopards as soon as the
present year-long moratorium is lifted.
There is also an ongoing political spat
concerning the “donation” of ZAR100-
million worth of animals from North West
Province Parks to private individuals. The
result of these moves means a good deal
of money for well-placed individuals in the
wildlife business.
Let’s start with rhinos. Last year, following
the findings of a committee of inquiry into

the feasibility of South Africa trading in
rhino horn, the government announced
that it was not in favour of this trade. Its
position was reinforced at the CITES
CoP17 meeting in Gauteng late last year
where it was clear that a large majority of
member states were against legalising the
trade. The voting was 100 against, 26 in
favour, with 17 abstentions on a proposal
by Swaziland.
Last year the South African ban on rhino
horn trade was challenged by private
sector rhino breeders, who won on a
technicality. The Environment Minister,
Edna Molewa, took the result on appeal to
the Constitutional Court and there it
languished.
Then, on 8 February, the South African
government did a complete about-turn,
announcing new draft regulations to
permit legal internal trade in rhino horn
and setting out conditions favourable for
its export. If passed, each person will be
able to buy, own, sell or export two rhino
horns. The new regulations will render
Minister Molewa’s appeal redundant and
is a total capitulation to the breeders. The
public have 30 days from date of the
gazette to make representations or
objections.
But if it’s a capitulation, it’s been carefully
framed. It brackets both black and white
rhinos, though they have a different
conservation status, and would permit the
sale of two horns per person and their
export by locals or foreigners as long as
the conduit is OR Tambo Airport. It
requires a freight agent and a raft of DNA,
microchip and document checking which
the DEA has no hope of administering. It
will simply open the gate on wholesale
laundering of poached horn by syndicates
well versed in getting greedy officials
onside.
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You would imagine the proposal would be
related to hunting trophies, but though
trophies are passingly mentioned, the
proposal deals almost exclusively with
horn as a commodity in itself and even
discusses horn shavings, which have
nothing to do with trophies.
Minister Molewa seems unsure about how
to explain the swerve to horn trade. She
scheduled a briefing about it in Cape
Town last week, changed it to Gauteng,
then cancelled it altogether.
DEA Biodiversity Director, Thea Carroll,
confused the matter even further. She told
Chris Barron of the Sunday Times that the
department’s decision was that a
commercial trade in rhino horn “will not be
introduced”. But a few questions further
she said the DEA’s position was “to allow
for domestic trade in rhino horn and to
regulate that trade in rhino horn”. Excuse
me?
The public is left with a number of
questions:
 Who did the Minister consult in
drawing up the draft regulations
and how did she arrive at a figure
of two horns per person?
 How will an already stretched and
under-funded regulatory and
policing force cope with monitoring
internal trade?
 How will she ensure that the horns
will not enter the illegal
international markets?
 And is this the first step towards
South Africa putting forward a
proposal for full international trade
in rhino horn at the next CITES
conference in 2019?

According to environmentalist Ian Michler,
“There is no realistic way of ensuring that
the two horns per person do not end up
being traded. The follow-up regarding
trophy horns taken to other countries has
been pathetic.
“I don’t think any country, including the
US, has ever systematically followed up
on trophy hunters who have exported
legally hunted horn out of South Africa to
check that they still have them and have
not sold them on. We should demand that
the Minister present evidence of this
follow-up and not just say that it’s
happened”.
There’s another problem with the
proposal. It includes black rhinos in its
scope, but these are listed as Appendix 1
by CITES so they (or parts of them) may
not be traded internationally. But the DEA
regulations would permit sale of their
horns internally which, realistically, means
exporters are sure to cheat because only
a DNA test can tell the difference.
All this is hot on the heels of another
startling proposal by the DEA: the sale of
lion bones for the manufacture of fake
tiger-bone wine. In a move clearly
supporting the canned lion hunting
industry, the DEA plans to permit the
annual export of 800 skeletons for this
purpose. It’s a lifeline to an increasingly
discredited lion hunting industry that’s
hurting following a US ban on the import
of trophies from the country.
The move has come under fire from a
wide array of local and international
environmental organisations and follows
an ongoing controversy about South
Africa’s lion breeding industry that
promotes cub petting, lion walks, canned
lion hunting and the supply of lion body
parts.
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“The decision is misguided and shameful”,
said Audrey Delsink, Africa’s director of
the Humaine Society International.
“Breeding captive lions is not only cruel
and contrary to the global shift against
captive wildlife, but is a potential threat to
wild lions.”
Pippa Hankinson, the producer of the film
Blood Lions, said the quota appears to
lack the requisite scientific basis and was
arrived at without consideration of proper
welfare or conservation protocols. There
was no formal document to support how
the quota of 800 skeletons was arrived at
or how it would be enforced.
“South Africa [is showing] complete
disregard for the overwhelming response
by key global conservation leaders calling
for the termination of captive lion
breeding”, she said.
According to Michelle Pickover of the
EMS Foundation, there should be a
moratorium on issuing any wildlife export
permits because of the country’s
extremely poor legislative and
enforcement issues.
“The DEA does not know how the lion
industry operates, who the breeders or
bone traders are, how many lions are in
the industry and how many ‘facilities’ there
are.
“They leave this totally up to the industry
itself. So it’s in essence secret and self-
policed. There is also no transparency
and this situation is worsened by massive
corruption”.
For the DEA to think that farmed wildlife
sale has no impact on those truly wild, it
would have to ignore the fact that
stimulating what are almost limitless Asian
markets through the sale of limited goods

soon bleeds into illegal procurement
through poaching.
The leopard issue is more nuanced but
equally worrying. There was celebration
among environmental conservationists
and no doubt grumbling among many
farmers and hunters when the DEA
accepted the negative non-detrimental
finding (meaning it found it detrimental) to
hunt leopards this year. But this was
followed by legislation detailing how, when
and where to hunt them as soon as the
ban is lifted.
It’s worth stepping back from this
legislative flurry and asking what’s going
on here? A government department
tasked with the protection of the
environment appears to be engaged in
assisting wealthy people to sell it bit by bit.
Its reasoning appears to be its
increasingly market-driven interpretation
of sustainability, assisted, no doubt, by an
industry keen to sell its wares. The core of
the problem is an ambiguity in the
definition in the Constitution.
While the Constitution states that citizens
and future generations have the right to
an environment protected from
environmental degradation, it also
promotes the “ecologically sustainable
development and use of natural
resources”.
The former implies sustainable habitat
protection in and of itself, the latter implies
sustainability for human use. With regard
to protection of a natural geographical
area or to a wild species, they are not
compatible.
Sustainable habitat protection recognises
that life is a set of relationships that, over
time, is self-regulating and that these
relationships – in place and over time –
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are what it’s important to sustain as part
or the fabric of life on this planet. This is
the logic of true conservation, of wild
parks left as much as possible to their
own internal logic with minimal human
interference.
Sustainable use is about the maximum
you can crop without collapsing a system,
species or herd. It’s essentially a farming
concept applied to wildlife.
The DEA’s logic on the use of rhinos,
lions, leopards or essentially anything
under its protection is that these species
only matter to the extent that they are
useful to humans.
By this ethic, individual animals have no
moral worth other than in terms of the
money we can gain from their lives and
their death. Sustainability is only about
ensuring there will be species in the future
that we can exploit.
Between legislative direction and eventual
outcome, of course, lies the shadow.
Sustainable use of high-value objects is
soon undermined by a combination of
oversight ineptitude, huge profits and a
sophisticated criminal underworld alert to
any gaps or weaknesses.
Poached rhino horn will soon sidle into
legitimate sales, legitimate trophies will
rematerialise in the East as high-priced
products, lion skeleton quotas will be
overtopped, CITES permits will be forged,
officials will be bribed, leopard skins will
become Shembe cloaks or floor mats in
wealthy pads, and ivory poachers will
benefit from shifty transit systems spiriting
wildlife parts out of the country. All under
the umbrella of sustainable use.
The question we are left with is why our
environmental protection agency has

increasingly shifted over into a market-
enabling one. There are those who would
seek the cause in brown envelopes
passed beneath the table, but I suspect
it’s a genuine belief by the DEA of the
second interpretation of the constitutional
imperative – sustainability for human use.
But if this is so, it needs to think deeply
about who makes money out of rhino
horn, lion skin or leopard pelt sales and
vastly expensive hunts.
It is certainly not “the people” defined in
the Constitution. The biologist Ed Wilson
warned us that “in the end, success or
failure will come down to an ethical
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decision, one on which those now living
will be judged for generations to come”.
That judgement, he added, may not be a
positive one: “We have created a Star
Wars civilisation with Stone Age emotions,
medieval institutions and godlike
technology. We thrash about. We are
terribly confused by the mere fact of our
existence, and a danger to ourselves and
to the rest of life”.
It’s now too late for concerned citizens to
stop the lion bone regulations, but there
are a few days left to object to the sale of
rhino horn. It seems a good call.
Source: Daily Maverick