Lurdes Mutola

Overwhelming as an athlete on the track, Lurdes Mutola now intends to show herself a different kind of leader, as president of the Mozambican Athletics Federation. After Clarisse Machanguana ran for president of the Mozambican Basketball Federation and lost to Roque Sebastião, now it’s the turn of ‘Golden Girl’ Lurdes Mutola to have a go at the Athletics Federation. Mutola confirmed her candidacy to the Secretary of State for Sports, Carlos Gilberto Mendes, in a meeting held on Monday.

“I know you don’t vote, but I’m here at the State Secretariat to say that I want to run,” the former 800-meter said runner, cited by the newspaper Notícias. “I am, yes, a candidate, and I want to help our athletics.” Mutola’s confirmation brings the number of candidates expressing an interest in occupying Francisco Manheche’s current position to two. The body’s former secretary general, Kamal Badrú, was the first to express his intention and is already on the campaign trail, visiting provincial associations to outline his project.There are only three months left before the elections, a period on which Mutola will want to capitalise, promoting her manifesto.“It will be a period to work on the constitution of the governing team, clear organization of the manifesto and contact with provincial associations to show our intentions so that together we can change things in our country’s athletics,” Mutola said, quoted by Notícias.

Affectionately known as the “A Menina de Ouro” [“The Golden Girl”], Maria de Lurdes Mutola was one of the world’s greatest 800-metre runners, having made history at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.For the first time in five participations, the Mozambican flag was raised. After a third place in the United States of America, Mutola improved even more and the national anthem sounded again in Sydney 2000. Mutola, who was born in the then city of Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, on 27 October 1972, has an impressive curriculum vitae. Specialising in the 800 metres, she has three outdoor and seven indoor world titles, and a total of 14 medals.

But it was at the Atlanta Olympic Games that Mutola became a true legend of Mozambican athletics and sports. When she arrived in Georgia, she was already making waves, having won the world title in Stuttgart 1993 (outdoors), and in Toronto 1993 and Barcelona 1995 (indoors). Living in the United States since 1988, where she began training with ever more determination, Mutola built on her accomplishment to shine in the 1996 Olympic Games. It was her third participation, having finished fifth in the 800 metres in Barcelona 1992 and ninth in the 1500 metres.

Atlanta was the specialisation edition. She concentrated on the 800 meters and won the much-desired medal. She failed to beat Russian champion Svetlana Masterkova, and Cuban Ana Fidelia Quirot, but finished third, with a tenth of a second advantage over Briton Kelly Holmes.Four years later, the euphoria was even greater. At 27, and in one of the best phases of her career, Mutola crossed the line in first position, with a maximum of the season and practically half a second ahead of Stephanie Graf from Austria.Maria de Lurdes Mutola had a bitter goodbye in Athens in 2004. In a season beset with injuries, she came close to retaining her Olympic title and led until the last straight, when she was overtaken by three opponents, finishing in fourth place, eight hundredths of a second too slow for the podium. To this day, Maria Mutola’s medals remain the only ones ever won in Mozambique’s Olympic history.

€990,000

The African Development Bank, with financing from the Italian Technical Cooperation Fund, has provided a €990,000 grant to help smaller agro-processing enterprises boost production and quality control. The project will enable the businesses to better tap into national and regional markets and capitalize on the opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area. The Confederation of Business Associations of Mozambique is the implementing agency. “We are pleased to receive this grant from the African Development Bank and the Italian Technical Cooperation Fund, which will benefit about 300 agro-processing and agribusiness Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) associations in Mozambique, particularly youth and women-led SMEs operating along the development corridors of Nacala-Beira-Pemba-Lichinga,” said Dr. Agostinho Vuma, President of the Confederation of Business Associations of Mozambique, at the ceremony to hand over the grant funding. “The grant is apt to further step up the intense bilateral relations in the agriculture area built through the many projects financed by the Italian cooperation and that it can act as a catalyst to extend it to the private sector where it exists a huge and largely untapped potential,” underlined the Italian Ambassador Dr. Gianni Bardini.

African Development Bank country manager Dr. Pietro Toigo noted that the grant would provide critical support to Mozambique, especially amid the socioeconomic challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are pleased to partner with the CTA and the Government of Italy to support Mozambican SMEs recover from the COVID pandemic and scale up their competitiveness, as part of the African Development Bank’s commitment to help Industrialise Africa and Mozambique,” he said. The project supports the goals of Mozambique’s Country Strategy Paper (2018-2022), which focuses on two strategic pillars: infrastructure investments that enable transformative inclusive growth and job creation, and agricultural transformation and value chain development.The Minister of Industry and Trade, Dr. Carlos Alberto Fortes Mesquita, highlighted the importance of such initiatives and their catalytical role in promoting Mozambique’s agriculture modernisation and the industrialisation of critical sectors of the economy.Recently the Bank approved a $1 million grant to boost local content and the development of initiatives of small and medium enterprises.

Suspended from exchange market

The Bank of Mozambique on Wednesday suspended one of the country’s largest commercial banks, Standard Bank, from all activities on the Interbank Exchange Market. The brief statement from the central bank gave no reason for the suspension but, according to Thursday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Moçambique”, it follows an inspection which gave rise to suspicions that Standard Bank had committed violations of banking rules, presumably concerning the exchange rates it was practising.

“Carta de Moçambique” accuses the governor of the central bank, Rogério Zandamela, of acting precipitately, since the inspection of Standard Bank is not yet complete. Nor has Standard Bank been given an opportunity to defend itself. It is not clear what impact the suspension will have, but it could be serious, since Standard Bank controls some 45 per cent of the exchange market, and holds the greater part of the deposits in foreign currency. The paper says the atmosphere at Standard Bank is calm, and that the bank is declining any responsibility for any damaging effects that the suspension may cause on the market.

Rwanda plans Mozambique help fight rebels

Rwanda plans to deploy troops to help Mozambique fight an insurgency that’s left more than 2,900 people dead and halted Africa’s biggest private investment. “There are plans to deploy, but plans are not finalised yet,” Rwanda Defence Force spokesman Ronald Rwivanga said by phone Thursday. Veronica Macamo, Mozambique’s foreign minister, and armed forces spokesman Omar Saranga didn’t reply to messages seeking comment.

The Southern African Development Community, which doesn’t count Rwanda among its 16 member states, also plans to deploy its standby force to Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province to quell fighting. An Islamic State-linked insurgency prompted a consortium led by TotalEnergies SE to stall a $20 billion liquefied natural gas project in the region. Fighting flared around the town of Palma near the project this week, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi visited his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame in April, around the same time a SADC summit about the insurgency was postponed. The two leaders discussed issues including fighting terrorism, the Rwandan state broadcaster reported at the time. Mozambique has yet to inform SADC of any planned deployment from Rwanda, Stergomena Tax, the bloc’s executive secretary, said by phone. Tax declined to comment on when SADC would send troops, saying only that it would happen soon and “as urgently as possible,” and would comprise soldiers from member countries.

“We are deploying,” she said by phone. “We are going to war.”

By Saul Butera, Matthew Hill, and Borges Nhamirre

World Bank approves $150 million

In order to improve incomes and build social and economic resilience of local communities in selected rural areas of Northern Mozambique, the World Bank approved on Friday, June 18, a $150 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA) in support of the Government of Mozambique’s Northern Mozambique Rural Resilience Project. [You may read, download the Concept Project Information Document  HERE]

“This operation complements our efforts aimed at supporting Mozambique to address some of the key drivers of fragility in rural communities in Northern Mozambique, noted Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank Country Director for Mozambique, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles. “It is my hope that local communities, especially women and youth, be adequately represented in decision-making processes, and benefit from the project’s support proportionately to their involvement in livelihoods activities in targeted areas.”

More specifically, the operation will contribute to improving access to livelihood opportunities for rural community members affected by conflict. To this end, the project will provide support to districts and communities to stabilize internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities’ living conditions; generate livelihoods opportunities in sustainable agriculture and fisheries; invest in local infrastructure to improve economic activity; and promote inclusive and participatory development and decision making for improved social integration. The project will also invest in improved management of natural resources, including forestry, fisheries, biodiversity and soil, and will adopt community-driven and climate-sensitive approaches to improved management of natural resources on which rural livelihoods depend.

“The project will benefit approximately 300 communities (about 619,000 beneficiaries), particularly those most vulnerable to compounded shocks and fragility affecting the region,” said Franka Braun, Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist and the project’s Task Team Leader. It will directly benefit local communities living in the target landscapes, by promoting improved access to livelihood opportunities and healthier ecosystems.” A critical indirect benefit to communities will be the value derived from increased quality of the natural resource base.

“By deliberately adopting a community driven approach, the project is investing in dialogue, participation, consensus building, and good governance, which will ultimately contribute to restoring the social fabric and trust lost through conflicts,” added Ann-Sofie Jespersen, Senior Governance Specialist and the project’s co-task team leader.

“We need to promote climate-smart and socially acceptable solutions across all activities and sectors of intervention – from infrastructure to agriculture, fisheries, and forestry to build resilience and coping mechanisms in preparation of the next set of shocks,” added Giuseppe Fantozzi Senior Agriculture Economist and the project’s co-Task Team Leader.

This operation will be implemented by the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER), Land and Environment (MTA) and Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries (MIMAIP), and it is in line with the country’s priorities outlined in its five-year plan, the Bank’s partnership framework with Mozambique for FY 2017-21, as well as the new conflict-prevention and resilience-building focus of the World Bank activities in Mozambique.

·         The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 76 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.5 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 113 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $21 billion over the last three years, with about 61 percent going to Africa.

€63 million

The German government is disbursing a donation of €63 million to support economic and social development projects in Mozambique, the embassy of the European country in Maputo announced on Thursday. “Of these funds, approximately €33 million will be channelled to the education and technical and vocational education sectors, €15 million to the rehabilitation of municipal infrastructure in the province of Sofala, and €15 million to the energy sector,” a statement from the German embassy in Maputo reads. The amount earmarked for education will be disbursed to the Education Sector Support Fund [FASE], a Mozambican government initiative which has enjoyed German support for years.

“In the energy sector, the funds will be dedicated to the installation of a National Dispatch Centre, which will allow the company Eletricidade de Moçambique to assume full control over the national energy network,” the statement adds.

The agreement for the disbursement was signed on Thursday by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique, Verónica Macamo, and the German Ambassador to Mozambique, Lothar Freischlader. “This financial aid will also contribute to the realization of municipal projects, an area that concerns the government because of the challenges linked to the provision of services in urban areas that are experiencing rapid demographic growth,” Minister Macamo said during the signing ceremony. Information provided by the German embassy in Maputo indicates that, between 2009 and 2020, the European country made around €830 million available to Mozambique to support social and economic development initiatives.

Fall in cement prices was expected

The fall in the price of cement on the Mozambican market was what the government expected, after the Chinese investment in a new factory, Dugongo Cimentos, in the southernmost district of Matutuine, the Minister of Industry and Trade, has told reporters. According to a report in Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, he was replying to questions about a letter from seven cement companies calling on the government to intervene to keep the price of cement high. They accused Dugongo of “unfair competition”, and of violating Mozambican legislation on competition.

Bur Mesqita replied that, with the large amounts of cement currently on the market, a fall in the price was to be expected. “We, as a government, know what we’re doing”, he said. “We have our regulations and we have a responsibility to the business sector and to the Mozambican people. We have been saying, with regard to cement and to other industries, that we have to assess the costs of production in order to arrive at adequate profit margins and a reliable final price”. Despite the rage of some of Dugongo’s competitors, the fact of the matter was that the economy was reacting to the supply of cement with a reduction in prices. “Unlike the other companies, Dugongo uses Mozambican raw materials”, Mesquita added, “and it also sells to its competitors”. (Dugongo is the only company in Mozambique that makes clinker, which is essential for cement production, and so the other companies must either buy clinker from Dugongo or import it). “We must analyse matters calmly, and we shall soon have conclusions”, said Mesquita. “But certainly, if the people are satisfied, we shall analyse carefully”.

According to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”, Dugongo cement is sold for between 220 and 255 meticais (between 3.5 and 4.1 US dollars) for a 50 kilo sack, while the price for cement from its competitors is between 260 and 280 meticais. Before the Dugongo factory began production, a 50 kilo sack of cement could cost as much as 720 meticais. Not surprisingly, public opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of Dugongo and opposed to any attempts by its competitors to impose high prices.

 

Silence surrounding

The Mozambican Association of Women in Legal Careers (AMMCJ) on Monday accused the police of “contempt of Mozambicans” for not giving information about the case of candidate officers allegedly impregnated by instructors during training.

The AMMCJ’s executive director, Eulalia Ofumane, told Lusa that “it seems contemptuous that the General Command of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique has not provided any information about the enquiry that has been opened into a case of great public repercussions such as the one that happened at the Matalane Police Training School.”

Ofumane criticised the direction of the PRM for not explaining the circumstances in which four female trainees allegedly became pregnant by their instructors at that school, in Maputo province, southern Mozambique, according to preliminary enquiries, which began in August 2020.

“After all these months and after public promises of an investigation by the president of Mozambique, the ministry of the interior and the police, there is no public information about what was found, and that is worrying,” she stressed. The lawyer called for transparency concerning the disciplinary and criminal proceedings brought in the wake of the scandal “so that Mozambicans know that the presumed perpetrators have borne the consequences of their actions or were cleared and have their reputations cleared if that was the case. The AMMCJ executive director stressed that transparency in the case is necessary for the Mozambican state to send the country and the world the message that it does not tolerate “undignified treatment based on gender, whenever it occurs.”

“We cannot continue to normalise and naturalise attacks on the dignity of women because this translates an unacceptable cultural backwardness,” she stressed.

Eulália Ofumane criticised the lack of clarification regarding the latest development: a report published three weeks ago by Notícias, the country’s main daily newspaper, quoted the commander-general of the Mozambican Republic Police (PRM), Bernardino Rafael, as saying that instructors suspected in the case had been transferred to other police units. “There must be light concerning the circumstances in which suspect instructors were transferred to other areas of the police if it was because they were innocent that this fact is clarified so that the school no longer has the cloud of doubt that hangs over it,” said the AMMCJ executive secretary. Contacted by Lusa, police spokesman Orlando Modumane limited himself to saying that “transfers of police officers are normal in the institution,” without further explanation. In August 2020, the scandal attracted the attention of the Mozambican president, who considered it a “serious” case that deserved to be “investigated in detail at ministerial level and the general command” of the PRM.

“Some of this behaviour was shared with someone who remained silent, connived and did not speak up. Today, all the blame falls on the school and the state,” he lamented at the time, adding that the institution was monitoring the trainees. The case provoked the indignation of several people, mainly in social media, and several Mozambican civil society organisations have demanded the accountability of the instructors who got the young candidates pregnant. Mozambican activist Graça Machel even called for “a broad and deep repudiation movement against sexual harassment”.

MINEDH

Investment in education in Mozambique has fallen in the last two years, according to civil society platform Education for All. Minister for Education and Human Development Carmelita Namashulua says that the sector does not receive enough for its needs from the government. The Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH), civil society, the European Union and other government partners came together in Maputo this Monday to launch the Global Action Week for Education. This year, the focus is mainly on education funding. Gaspar Sitefane, president of the Education for All Movement, called on the government and other cooperation partners to pay more attention to the sector. “Notwithstanding the fact that, in the period from 2019 to 2021, there was a budget increase for the education sector, we are concerned about the continuous decrease in investment expenses,” Sitefane said.

According to Minister Namashulua, Mozambique still has 9,776 classes held outdoors and 20,000 classrooms of precarious build, a scenario aggravated by the cyclones which devastated the centre of the country recently. Armed attacks in Manica and Sofala, as well as terrorism in some districts of Cabo Delgado, have also rendered education in the country more precarious, with the destruction of educational infrastructure. The Minister of Education and Human Development said 46 schools had been destroyed in the province, putting the education of 30,000 children at risk. Namashulua said that the executive was striving to address the needs of the sector, with 23.9% of the annual state budget allocated to the education sector. “The government mobilised, and continues to mobilise, resources in order to proceed with the construction of classrooms in the short, medium and long term,” Namashulua reported.

 

Promote dialogue

Families hosting people displaced by the war in Cabo Delgado should be included in packages to support the development of those suffering from violence, the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Pemba argues. “All interventions must integrate aspects of good coexistence between the displaced people and the locals. Support should not be channelled only to displaced people, totally ignoring the local population,” Dom António Juliasse Sandramo said. The bishop was referring both to the “allocation of infrastructure” – such as land and building materials for houses – and to other “development benefits”, which must be shared between both the displaced and local residents. Dom Juliasse was speaking to Lusa after on Friday meeting consultants from the Integrated Northern Development Agency  (ADIN), a state entity that is drawing up plans for the social and economic development of Cabo Delgado,[Nampula and Niassa provinces ]. According to Dom Juliasse, from the perspective of the church, ADIN should contribute to good coexistence between displaced people and locals. “The need for security” is “supreme”, and this indicates as a priority “that the military conflict in Cabo Delgado does not continue to spread”.

The bishop said that promoting dialogue with and within Muslims is one of the keys to curbing armed violence, and urges “dialogue with Muslim brothers and [among] themselves, in their various aspects and families, [so that] they also find ways to talk to the youth and demonstrate that the true face of the Islamic religion does not include violence”.

“Violence and extremism are not the true face [of Islam],” he stresses. “We are all together in this search for peace,” he said. Dom Juliasse also argued that, in the absence of security, investment withdraws, citing the current moment, when several projects in Cabo Delgado have stopped because of armed attacks by insurgents. “If there is no security, it is difficult to attract investment. Some investments have stopped precisely because of insecurity,” he added. Armed groups have terrorized Cabo Delgado since 2017, with some attacks claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State. Attacks and clashes with the Mozambican military have already caused more than 2,800 deaths according to the ACLED conflict registration project and 714,000 displaced people according to the Mozambican government.