PARLIAMENT DROPS PRESIDENTIAL DEPOSIT

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, is likely to remove the requirement of a deposit of 100,000 meticais (about 3,500 US dollars) from candidates in presidential elections.The proposed change will be put forward by the parliamentary commission on public administration, which is drafting amended electoral laws.However, the commission has not recommended the removal of the other barriers to standing in presidential elections, which include the need to hold Mozambican nationality, to hold no other nationality, to be at least 35 years old, to have full civil and political rights, and to be nominated by at least 10,000 registered voters.According to the commission’s chairperson, Alfredo Gamito, “the commission decided to remove the financial deposit, although it has maintained the requirement of candidates to have the support of 10,000 signatures, despite some parties calling for the lowering of this requirement to 5,000 signatures”.Gamito also stated that the commission has decided that the new electoral legislation should be drawn up to include detailed explanations of electoral procedures. Previously, many procedural matters were left to the National Elections Commission (CNE) to decide upon.

CANNABIS FARMS FOUND IN MANICA

The Mozambican authorities have discovered about two hundred hectares of land covered with cannabis plants in the district of Guro, in the central province of Manica.According to the daily paper “Diario de Mozambique”, 25 cannabis farms were found in the region, but their owners are still unknown.In the area cannabis plants by far exceed food crops, which are only being cultivated with the sole purpose of concealing the drugs. Dense cover also helps prevent the fields covered with cannabis from being seen.Most of the plantations were found close to the banks of the Luenha river in Calombolombo.Caeredzi, in neighbouring Zimbabwe is the preferred market, due to its close proximity and its easy access through the Caeredzi river.A joint operation carried out by the local law enforcement authorities in coordination with the Provincial Office for Drug Control and Prevention, led by chief of operations of the Mozambican Police in Manica, Joaquim Tomo, has already incinerated more than 21 tonnes of cannabis plants.The police commander of Guro district, Esperanca Calisto, said that there is an urgent need to strengthen the law enforcement authorities with adequate staff and vehicles to speed up the destruction of cannabis farms in the region.Calombolombo is located about 300 miles from Chimoio, the provincial capital of Manica. It is difficult to get there given the state of disrepair of the existing road. The road is mostly dirt, is covered in rocks and in places is very steep, rendering it accessible only by four-wheel drive vehicles.Government authorities in Guro are carrying out campaigns to discourage this illegal activity, urging local residents only to embrace legal crops.On Wednesday, the permanent secretary of the district of Guro, Candido Pedro Jose, delivered seeds to encourage the population to grow food crops to ensure food security in the region.“You should devote yourselves to food production, to the fight against hunger”, said Candido Pedro, addressing a group of women who received seeds to grow cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, lettuce and onions.Some of these women have also been employed to take part in the destruction of cannabis plants, which were later incinerated.The destruction of cannabis plants is still taking place. In parallel, the local authorities have launched an investigation to identify the owners of the illegal cannabis farms, who will face criminal charges.

What more evidence can ask us?

The case this week is, in fact, the purchase of buses for public transport company Public Maputo (TPM), without public tender, by invitation, in an operation that will benefit members of Mozambicans "TATA" in Mozambique, which are not more or less, the Head of State and Government of Mozambique, Armando Guebuza, and the Minister for the Presidency of the Civil Affairs, Antonio Sumbana. In short: "master" and "foreman" snooty together in a great deal (565 million Meticais, about 20 million USD), which may even be engendered in the premises of his own presidency, where two partners and are working at the behest of the Mozambican people, apparently, to blend with the public affairs strictly private affairs and personal interest.  In this operation the purchase of buses for the TPM, to top it off, is still beyond the minister Antonio Sumbana, involved the Minister of Transport and Communications, Paulo Zucula, which appears to us, heard on last Tuesday by Canalmoz - Daily Digital and Mozambique Channel - Weekly at the door of the Council of Ministers, to confirm that there was no public tender, but rather a "limited public demand."   As the Fund for the Development of Transport and Communications (FDTC) an institution subordinated to the Minister of Transport and Communications, and the TPM being a public corporation supervised by the same ministry, we have Paul Zucula, appointed by President Armando Guebuza, to buy buses who is a member who appointed him.
If this is not promiscuity, that is?
In a normal country, another country that still does not seem to be our evidence to the contrary, such a scandal would necessarily result in the fall of the three men immediately compelling. Or at least the consequent dismissal of shame, the Government's own chief and two ministers. And it would be at this very moment, the need to announce early elections.  As in our case, Armando Guebuza is the head of state, the government and the Forces for Defence and Security. And it is who appoints the Attorney General's Office, who appoints the President of the Constitutional Council, who appoints the Chief Justice, who appoints the President of the Administrative Tribunal appoints the ministers who are your partners in this operation completely promiscuous and do believe that we have a genuine case of "political incest" who runs as president of the ruling party, the members of the majority Frelimo and qualified in the National Assembly, we can only hope that everything will be beyond repair, joyfully, as ... in the movies light up the lights and turned up the story.  Such promiscuity between the state and private business, it is proved that the citizen Armando Guebuza, as the top leader of the institution that buys the buses - the state is involved with the majority shareholder of the "TATA Mozambique" is that the Indian company to whom buses were purchased from PMS, it would at least expect that he resign, but this will not do. Was it any wonder that the citizen is put Armando Guebuza himself as a symbol of a true fight against corruption in Mozambique.  Nor will we know how to explain to Mozambicans promiscuity is evident in that arguably involved.  Knowing how everything has happened so far in this "Home of Heroes" that "have every right to be rich because they fought for it," we can only hope too cowed by the Attorney General's Office and other figures of the pyramid of Justice, which accustomed to see it in them like puppets puppets and authentic.
Unless we are wrong we can not surely believe they are different this time.  Nor can we believe that they will not tell a great story Mozambicans, rolling the facts, as if they were mild and did not deserve to repair.
We know that Armando Guebuza and many ministers are members of companies that are clients of the state. But evidence has never been as evident as they now found and where we can source the very Government Gazette and the most significant figures of the TPM and the Fund for the Development of Transport and Communications. Just read the piece we have published already after the 'Editorial'.  We always asked provássemos that we have people who practice what can only classify as "political incest." This time we leave here more than obvious evidence.
It was even said to our reporter, the executive director of the Fund for the Development of Transport and Communications, the buses will be assisted by the "TATA Mozambique", when it's over the warranty period. Does this mean that promiscuity will be continued. Go to ping constantly and the more machimbombos broke in the bill will be higher! ...
Return buses to India and put an end to this corrupt deal with boundaries, we do not believe it will happen. The urgency of the Mozambican capital of the country and Matola have public transportation available can not prevent that immediate steps be taken so that the state does not continue to fall victim to this business undoubtedly promiscuous. It could be said that the Lord did not know Armando Guebuza of business, but we know that the President and Head of Government of India has recently negotiated several things we can not believe he did not know that buses are the company that holds the majority stake in the "TATA Mozambique", a company that he is a partner. We can not also believe that the President Guebuza has forgotten that is a member of the "TATA Mozambique." And do not believe that the minister did not know that Paul Zucula was machimbombos to buy a company that holds the majority in a society with your head in the Government. The operation (150 machimbombos) is estimated at 565 million MT, about 140 000 USD per bus. The choice of the supplier of the buses, the TATA, was not preceded by an international public tender, according to the law of the Procurement. It was a family business.
As shown by the BR Government Gazette No. 17, Series III April 24, 2002, Armando Guebuza is a member of the "TATA Mozambique", together with Holdings and TATA MBATINE INVESTMENTS LIMITED. It also has shares in TATA Minister in the Presidency for the Affairs of Staff, Antonio Sumbana, as shown by the BR No. 37, Series III 11 September, 1991.
What more evidence is needed?
Civil servants face of it will continue to be arrested for corruption?
What example will be left after this evidence? (Mozambique Channel

Power: South entertains the north

The Frelimo party has already said that its proposals for the revision of the Constitution. However the party has not disclosed the contents of these proposals. According to the press release, the proposed revision of the Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique, to be submitted to Parliament, was adopted yesterday during the 64th session of the Commission's Policy Statement Frelimo.Neste, the Frelimo Political Commission reiterates that revision of the Constitution is a democratic and participatory process, which aims to consolidate and improve the constitutional order. Still, the content and the issues that Frelimo would like to see magazines in law mother still in the "secret of the gods" and therefore will only be known when the proposal goes entry in the National Assembly. In contradiction to press reports, draw up various scenarios such as the revision of the powers of the prime minister. A president with less power and a Head of Government level of the second man of state power with the autonomy to bring his team governments and heads it in fact, unlike the current role of emissary. This design does not endanger the party's deliverer the need to continue for more years to run the country since the constitutional amendment can give powers to the winner of the legislation and subsequent election of his candidate for prime minister. Frelimo holds a majority of seats in parliament that allowed thinking about revising the Constitution of Mozambique. The role of the President of the Republic, in a scenario of decentralization of powers, will give the holder the role of moderator, a defender of the sovereignty, constitution and a representative figure of the national flag inside and outside the country. Opening the chess board in a hypothetical victory of an opposition candidate, this would never have great power to amend any constitutional principle, as the review that is still unknown, but may remove any possibility of dissolving parliament as it is now possible . Of the candidates for president of Mozambique, who profiled in the press, on the side of the party of "comrades" are long gone, and five are all from central and northern Mozambique, comprehensible by "forcing" internal transfer for the first time the power the south to more populated regions and much richer. The proposed revision of the constitution will enter the next session of Parliament, even during this year, will undergo a debate at all over the country and when it happens the X Congress of Frelimo in 2012, is already approved by the bench e. ... majority in parliament to elect the President and Secrectário - General of the party, therefore candidates for the Presidency and the Prime Minister's general election in 2014. Just need to know that the race will head the Government in view of constitutional review.

MONEY DISAPPEARS FROM DISTRICT FUND IN INHAMBANE

Over a third of the money disbursed from the District Development Fund (FDD) in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane between 2007 and 2010 cannot be accounted for, according to a report in Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.The figures come from a report on the performance of the FDD presented last week at an Inhambane Provincial Seminar on Public Finance. Over the period concerned, 300.5 million meticais (10.5 million US dollars at current exchange rates) were disbursed – and 120 million meticais have “disappeared”.The FDD is still commonly referred to as “the seven million”, since it began in 2006 as an allocation of seven million meticais from the central state budget to each of the 128 districts in the country. The money was to be lent to individuals and groups who presented viable projects to improve food security or create jobs. In 2007, the power to handle the funds was decentralized to district level.The head of the Rural Development Promotion Department in Inhambane, Jose Foliche, said the missing sum was calculated on the basis of information from the districts. The districts provided information on how much money had been repaid and how much of the loans was still outstanding.And the accounts do not add up – there is a gap of 120 million meticais. Work is now under way in all the districts, Foliche said, to discover what happened to the money.“This money did not disappear in the Provincial Finance Directorate”, he said, “but in the districts where it was allocated. It is up to the managers in the districts to explain this, so that we know whether the money was delivered to the proponents of approved projects who then made off with it, or whether there are simply mistakes in the accounts”.Up until now, the main problem with the FDD, across the country, has been the low rate of return. Most of those who borrowed money from the fund have not repaid it, or have repaid only small amounts.So the Inhambane Provincial Government decided to draw up an FDD repayment plan, and it was then that it was found that 120 million meticais could not be accounted for.Up to 2010, only 28 million meticais of the FDD loans in Inhambane had been repaid.

FLOUR SUBSIDY REDUCED

Mozambique’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Armando Inroga, on Monday announced a 25 per cent cut in the flour subsidy which the government pays to the country’s bakers.The subsidy was introduced after the Maputo riots against price rises of 1-2 September last year. In order to keep the price of bread at its pre-riot level of five meticais for a 250 gram loaf, the government paid a subsidy of 200 meticais for every 50 kilo sack of wheat flour used by bakers.Inroga announced that this subsidy has been cut to 150 meticais per 50 kilo sack. He promised that this would have no impact on the price of bread. On a tour of Maputo markets on Monday, Inroga told reporters that the government could cut the subsidy because the price of imported wheat, when expressed in meticais, has fallen. This is due entirely to the sharp appreciation of the metical against the US dollar. When the flour subsidy was introduced in September 2010, the average exchange rate quoted by the Bank of Mozambique was 36.5 meticais to the US dollar. The rate quoted on Tuesday is about 28.5 meticais to the dollar.Inroga said the 25 per cent cut in the subsidy was introduced two weeks ago in the central port city of Beira, and extended to flour used by bakers in Maputo on Monday. Holding the price of bread down did not cost as much as the government feared, Inroga revealed. The sum estimated in the budget to cover the flour subsidy for the period up until June was not fully spent, because the price of wheat did not rise as had been predicted at the end of 2010.

GAS-POWERED BUSES TAKE TO THE ROADS

Maputo’s publicly-owned bus company, TPM, on Monday put the first 32 buses powered by compressed natural gas onto the roads of the Mozambican capital.50 of these buses, imported from India, arrived at Maputo port last week. The other 18 are still being cleared through customs.In all, 150 of the gas-powered buses have been ordered, and are expected to reduce significantly waiting times at the TPM terminals and bus stops and terminals in Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola.TPM chairperson Silvestre Constantino, cited in Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, said the buses would be placed on the busiest routes, including those to the districts of Boane and Marracuene. But as more buses arrive, so TPM plans to open new routes.The buses are a major strengthening of the TPM fleet which, prior to their arrival, consisted of only 85 vehicles. But Constantino warned that, to cope with the full demand for public transport in the greater Maputo metropolitan area, TPM would need 500 buses.At the ceremony presenting the new buses, Jose das Neves, general manager of Autogas, the company that owns the compressed natural gas terminals, said his company can refuel 50 buses in five hours, and so there is no reason to believe that the buses will ever run out of gas.The natural gas is a Mozambican resource, pumped by gas pipeline from the Temane gas processing plant in Inhambane province. The use of natural gas instead of imported liquid fuels represents a considerable reduction in running costs for TPM.The 150 buses cost 565 million meticais (about 19.5 million US dollars), provided by the government’s Transport and Communication Fund (FTC). FTC representative Luis Mhula guaranteed that the remaining 100 buses will arrive in the country by the end of August.Mhula explained that the 565 million meticais also covers spare parts to maintain the buses, two tow trucks, and four other vehicles that will provide technical assistance.In theory, the money is a loan - but can TPM ever repay it? Not from the fares at their current level, since TPM charges a flat rate fare of just five meticais. Constantino said that fares would have to rise to 14 meticais to pay off the loan. It is not yet clear that the government will authorise such an increase, although in August the current system of transport subsidies is supposed to come to en end, with the introduction of bus passes for workers, students and the elderly.The government will subsidise those passes – while everybody else is supposed to pay the full market rate for their fares.

EIGHT DIE IN NAMPULA SHIPWRECK

Eight people died off the coast of Mozambique Island, in the northern province of Nampula, on Sunday when the boat they were travelling in sank.According to a report in Tuesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, the shipwreck resulted from a combination of bad weather and overcrowding of the vessel. The boat, belonging to the Nampula Maritime Administration, should have carried only ten passengers, but 38 people were on board.The dead were six students from a Mozambican Island girls’ college and two Spanish catholic nuns. According to the Mayor of Mozambique Island, Alfredo Matata, one of the nuns worked at the school and the other was on holiday.The nuns were taking 21 pupils, aged between 15 and 18, on a school trip to the lighthouse located a few kilometres from the island. Such excursions are a normal occurrence, but normally take place between October and March, months when the seas around Mozambique Island are usually calm.One of the bodies of the drowned girls has not yet been recovered. The salvage operations are said to be difficult due to the depth of the water where the boat sank.The bodies of the two nuns have been taken to the morgue in Nampula Central Hospital, and will be flown back to Spain.

Traffic of influence in football

Football Mozambican three decades points to a decrease in quality.
Seeking the results of the spacious four appearances in the final of Africa Cup of Nations, never moved from the national team group stage and always in last place.  Internally less official events for young people in a good graphic contradictory to 80 years, a period that teens were called to support a fratricidal war and merciless.He died campeonao the second national division, the national junior and youth no longer happen and the provincial level there are very few clubs that keep the training category.The main event sports in the country's Moçambola, go running every year more and more footballers from neighboring countries, valued financially result of frequent use.Although the national export youth clubs abroad, Portugal, foreigners who are immediately convince as better prepared technically and tactically in the schools of their countries of origin.Training is not there in our football clubs like the excepccao Sports and Ferroviario Maputo,Desportivo de Manica, Vilankulo Football Club, it is known.
They approach the elections in the Mozambican Football Federation for the position of president, a leadership that wants a modern and compromised by integration of the sport throughout the country. We must put an end to the limitations that the caricatures have national picker to set up his eleven basis, is using the same players and already thirtysomethings.
The northern coast of Mozambique was always a queue of football players to get the hat, nature gave them the technique as the Brazilians have become the best in the world.
The pyramid is inverted because the traffic in this economic and political influence to kill the football and excludes those who know by experience gained through years of academic and to better express their knowledge.
Bonzo Baptist, was the cast of the current vice Federacao.Desavencas led him to a vowel and now and the presidential candidates. Deputy of the National Youth Council, brought to your list many young people want to invest in the unknown and provincial associations and clubs. Behind the scenes you want the support of the Youth Organization of Mozambique, Frelimo party arm in consequence of political power. For a company that already Presiddente and the Board of Directors has not complied with the bond with customers paying this image exlusivo in sponsoring the football championship football city of Maputo.  Carlos Jeque, bank official, lawyer, was an independent candidate the presidency in the first multiparty elections in 1994, expressed criticism of the regime as a commentator on television and radio. His speech has changed in recent years with little convincing, ridiculing the opposition and defending the system and now part of a presidential candidate of the party as a militant Federation governamental.Procura a place in the national arena after a failed attempt to take the place Provider of Justice. Sheik has composed a list of professional sports and physical education teachers, football, former international, some several years in Portuguese football, business managers and others of similar category. Would you like to enhance soccer with organizing the first world-recognized standards, catalyzing the potential of each province, for communities to serve as a form of affirmative projection in the social, cultural, ethnic, economic and sports. Teams, for these team sports results Jeque only have a base of consistent training and sufficient time needed to confirm the power of football in Mozambique.  This vision and not Faizal Sidat, who reapply the presidential election of July 16 in the town of Namaacha. It has turned the country to offer balls, talking to sports leaders and promising help. Clashed with the Youth Minister at the time of renewal of the Dutch coach who led the ANC in Mozambique Angola, only possible due to being a member of the ruling party. His election was a troubled four years ago, with the Presidents of eleven Combinations to change the voting at the polls, against the interests of members, clubs. Already we know that the seven associations Faizal gave indication of a memorandum of voting, a scenario that involves the delivery of some amounts of money to presidents and other goodies like cell phones. Sintecticos promises to put floors in Beira, Quelimane and Pemba result of money raised in some Arab countries. This is a strong candidate, fortissimo for having personal relations and empresarais very narrow with the highest figures of the Government, which has been taking up long before their current functions. Sidat Group won the tender for the making of ballot papers of the last presidential and legislative elections. Faizal Sidat has in its cast and the illustrious son of the unknown warrior who initiated the armed struggle for liberation of Mozambique.
Of the three candidates, Bonzo will complicate the math, Carlos Jeque who says he has up his sleeve reveals the irregular acts of Faizal, as the sale of properties of the Federation and ultimately the post of Vice Minister of Youth on Facebook: Faizal sell the quiz result of last game of the CAN apuaamento of Angola (Mozambique won and qualified team trained away by Humberto Coelho). This election wrapped up so who knows and lived by acting behind the scenes. The campaign has to be door to door and there Faizal Sidat this forward. Has the president of the associations in their favor, which suggests that the future has to change the charter so the vote of the clubs not to be ignored and susceptible character of the poverty of their representatives. Politically, and elite is divided between three candidates. Bonzo has the young organs of power, Sheik next to the technocrats of power and Faizal the "masters of the country." 

Photographic sequence:  CJeque, B. Bonzo and F. Sidat

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COUNCILS TO BE SET UP

The Mozambican Ministry for the Coordination of Environmental Action is working to create Natural Resource Management Councils to deal with such questions as the devastation of forests caused by the cutting down of trees for firewood and charcoal.The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, Mauricio Xerinda, told reporters on Friday that these Councils should teach local communities who to care for forests.Xerinda was speaking during in an interval in an Environment Ministry planning meeting held in Namaacha, on the border with Swaziland. The meeting brings together representatives of the central and provincial bodies of the Ministry to draw up the environmental parts of the government’s Economic and Social Plan for 2012, and the Programme to Support the Environment Sector 2011-2015.
Xerinda stressed that, as from the second half of this year, the Programme to Support the Environment Sector is entering its second phase. It is thus important to check what was achieved during the first phase. “We have to verify the activities which showed weakness due to the financial deficit so that they can be strengthened in this second phase”, he said. So far 30 million US dollars have been disbursed for this programme by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).Xerinda recognised that the state budget for environmental activities is very limited, and the Ministry must resort to support from outside partners to cover the gap.
The key areas for the programme, he said, were strengthening environmental management, educating communities about how to handle their environment, and publicizing environmental norms.
“For 2012, we are relying on inter-sector coordination on all environmental issues, counting on support from all the other sectors, with the Environment Ministry as the coordinator, and each sector doing its part to ensure continuity of the programmes that are under way”, said Xerinda.As examples of these programmes he stressed the government’s initiative for every schoolchild to plant at least one tree per year, and the drive for every community leader to take responsibility for a forest.

DEADLINE FOR VEHICLE INSPECTION PASSES

Although Thursday was the deadline for motorists to have their vehicles inspected for mechanical defects, it is far from clear whether the police will immediately begin to apprehend vehicles that do not display the sticker showing that they have been inspected.Asked on Thursday night whether sanctions will be imposed immediately on citizens driving cars without the sticker, the director of the National Traffic Institute (INAV), Taibo Issufo, refused to give a straight answer.He said that motorists “should not be afraid”, and even urged transport operators to continue carrying passengers and goods – but asked repeatedly by the interviewer whether the traffic police will stop vehicles and take measures against those that have not been inspected he refused to answer either “yes “ or “no”.Issufo said that motorists should continue to take their vehicles to be inspected. For, although the deadline has passed, the inspection centres remain open. Indeed, it is now time for vehicles that were inspected last year to be re-inspected.“The authorities will carry out their normal supervision on the public highway, without calling into question the circulation of people and goods”, said Issufo. “So all motorists should go to the inspection centres to check the state of their vehicles. In that way they will contribute to reducing the number of accidents which cost the lives of many people”.A press statement issued by INAV also made no mention of any penalties for the owners of uninspected vehicles. Instead, it stated that the inspection centres will now be open from 06.00 to 22.00, instead of closing at 20.00 – which certainly gives the impression that the deadline has been extended.A good number of private motorists were taking no chances and were determined to beat the deadline – so huge queues built up at the Maputo and Matola inspection centres on Thursday. Some motorists arrived on Wednesday night and slept in the queues.The inspections concentrate on such key safety issues as brakes, steering, suspension, lights, tyres and the level of polluting gases that vehicles emit. According to Issufo, so far the great majority of vehicles inspected have passed. He said that about 133,000 vehicles have been inspected, and around 8,000 have failed. Owners of the private minibuses, known as “chapas”, that provide much of the passenger transport in Maputo had threatened to take their vehicles off the roads as from Friday, in response to the inspection deadline. But they seem to have regarded the ambiguous statements by INAV as a guarantee that their vehicles will not be fined or impounded. Certainly on Friday morning the chapas were circulating much as normal.

VALE INCREASES 2011 MOATIZE COAL FORECAST

The Brazilian mining company Vale has announced that it intends to produce 1.5 million tonnes of coal this year from its open cast mine at Moatize, in the western Mozambican province of Tete. This is a 75 per cent increase on its previous estimate of 850,000 tonnes for the year. The company plans to increase output to 6.3 million tonnes in 2012.Vale had hoped to begin exporting coal in July, but delays in rebuilding the Sena railway line from Moatize to the port in Beira have meant that the company has postponed launching exports until October.Production in the first phase will increase to 11 million tonnes per year, of which three quarters will be coking coal. Output will then double to 22 million tonnes per year during the second phase beginning in 2014.The company’s investment in Mozambique is huge - this year it will invest 422 million US dollars in the Moatize project.There are now 36 mining companies operating in Moatize district, and they are all facing a nightmare in getting their coal to the coast for export.Even when the Sena railway line is running it will only have the capacity to transport six million tonnes of coal per year. A further upgrade could increase this to 12 million tonnes per year. Yet coal output from the Zambezi coal basin could by then be running at over 80 million tonnes per year.Vale is considering funding a 900 kilometre railway line from the mine to the port of Nacala, in the north of Mozambique. The line would take five years to complete, and would cost (including the upgrading of the port) about four billion dollars.

The Mozambican government on Wednesday declared “zero tolerance” for violence against children, particularly the sexual harassment and abuse of minors in schools, in the family and in the communityThe government, together with its cooperation partners and with civil society organisations launched a four year campaign to protect children, under the slogan: “It mustn’t be accepted: zero tolerance for the sexual abuse of children”. The campaign seeks to end the culture of silence and indifference towards all forms of violence against minors, and to provide a healthy and safe learning environment for children at school.At the launch ceremony, Education Minister Zeferino Martins said that the government “vehemently repudiates the abominable and inhuman acts perpetrated against our children, and reaffirms its commitment to launch a battle against the phenomenon and to build a school environment in our country that is tranquil, healthy and safe”.He explained that this is a campaign against silence and inertia, which makes it necessary to speak about violence against children, and about sexual abuse in the schools, at home, and in the community.Society, he added, needed to understand the psychological, education and economic consequences of violence, the low self-esteem, the poor school performance and often the abandonment which child victims of violence suffer.
“Our action against these evils must be permanent and consistent”, Martins said. “We must fight negative attitudes and practices with courage and perseverance”.A survey undertaken by the Ministry of Education in 2008 showed how shocking the problem of sexual abuse is in Mozambican schools. An astonishing 70 per cent of the 900 girl students interviewed said that male teachers made passing a grade conditional on sexual relations – and that many of the girls consented under this pressure.
The study concluded that pupils who suffer sexual abuse or other forms of violence do not know who to turn to in the school to denounce these cases. Shame and the fear of reprisals keep them silent.Police statistics show that the number of cases of violence and sexual abuse against children denounced to the authorities is around 5,000 a year, but it is feared that this is only the tip of a very large iceberg. Martins said that, in order for the campaign to be successful, all stakeholders in Mozambican society must become involved – including teachers, parents and guardians, members of school councils, community, traditional and religious leaders, cooperation partners and civil society organisations. The deputy representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Mozambique, Roberto de Bernardi, guaranteed continued support to the Ministry of Education in preventing violence against children and urged other organisations to do the same.“Mozambique is taking measures to combat this serious situation”, he said. “The country knows what needs to be done”.

THREE NEW GINNING MILLS PLANNED

Three new cotton ginning mills are planned, for the central Mozambican provinces of Manica and Sofala, and for Inhambane in the south, as part of the government’s strategy for reviving the textile sector, according to the National Director of Industry, Sidonio dos Santos.Speaking to reporters, Santos said “as part of the strategy for the textile sector, we have on the ground, in the ginning area, new investments in Beira, in Sofala province, in Guru, in Manica, and in Inhambane, where new industries will arise”.Santos did not say how much money would be invested in the ginning mills. He recognised that the major gap that Mozambique faces “is in spinning and weaving. This is the great challenge, since we know we have to add value.”He noted that exporting cotton fibre brings in five or six times more money than exporting the equivalent amount of raw cotton. Santos stressed that the government strategy for textile covered everything from growing cotton in the fields, through ginning, spinning and weaving, to the manufacture of clothing.The idea, he added, is to achieve “vertical integration” of the cotton, textile and clothing sectors, based on increasing cotton production, improving the business and market environment, and ensuring supplies of electricity to the industries. Only in this way would it be possible to attract investors.In the 1970s, Mozambique had a thriving textile industry, but in the 1980s and 1990s most of the large, labour intensive textile factories closed down, throwing many thousands of workers into unemployment.The government’s strategy to revive the textile sector envisages bringing existing factories back into production, establishing specialized industries, and creating 100,000 jobs by 2012.Data from the Cotton Institute of Mozambique indicate that currently there are 18 functioning ginning mills in the country. Another nine ginning mills were destroyed during the war of destabilisation or are out of order.

BEACON HILL READY TO SEND COAL TO BEIRA IN JULY

The British company Beacon Hill Resources on Wednesday announced that it has begun to produce export grade coking coal from its open cast mine at Moatize, in the western Mozambican province of Tete. It plans to start trucking coal to the port at Beira in July. The coal will be stockpiled at Beira pending the first export shipment.In a statement to the Beacon Hill Annual General Meeting, the company’s Chairperson, Justin Lewis, said “we are delighted to announce the commencement of operations at Minas de Moatize with production of its first washed export grade coal. This is another significant milestone for the development of the Minas de Moatize coal mine, which, has been achieved in less than a year since we acquired the mine”.Minas de Moatize initially consisted of an underground mine, which has been producing small amounts of coal for domestic use, and for export to neighbouring countries, such as Malawi. But since taking ownership of Minas de Moatize, Beacon Hill has switched the focus to open cast mining. It is developing a large open cast mine that will produce 2.35 million tonnes of coal per year, of which 0.9 million tonnes will be in the form of the more valuable coking coal. The company will start by mining 15,000 tonnes of coal per month.The company has a temporary processing unit to wash and grade the coal, and will process a stockpile of 39,000 tonnes from its underground mine to test the unit and the logistics of getting the coal to market.Although it will begin moving coal to Beira by road, the company intends to use the Sena railway line from Moatize to Beira to shift 1.8 million tonnes of coal per year. The company states that “the operators of the Sena railway line remain confident of being able to transport initial volumes of Minas Moatize coal in the second half of this year”.However, the company does not want to completely rely on this, and has organised for trucks to transport to Beira up to half a million tonnes per year.The Zambezi basin is considered to be one of the last undeveloped coal basins in the world. However, this is about to change. The Brazilian company Vale will shortly begin exporting from its mine at Moatize while Rio Tinto’s mine at Benga, run by its subsidiary Riversdale, will also soon be operational.Vale is expecting to eventually produce 25 million tonnes a year, whilst Riversdale forecasts that Benga will produce 10 million tonnes of coal a year. Riversdale’s mine in the adjacent Zambeze concession area will in late 2014 begin producing up to 25 million tonnes a year. A third Riversdale area, Tete East, could contribute a further 10 million tonnes.Other mining companies are also sitting on large reserves. The British company Ncondezi hopes to export ten million tonnes per year beginning in the second half of 2014.Transport is the critical bottleneck. The renovation of the Sena railway line is far from complete. Even when fully operational the line will be unable to cope with the huge amounts of coal flowing from the region.Both Vale and Riversdale are looking at alternative means of moving the coal. Vale plans a new railway linking Moatize to the northern Mozambican port of Nacala. Such a line would have to cut across southern Malawi. Riversdale has proposed taking the coal to the Indian Ocean on barges down the Zambezi River.There are now 36 mining companies operating in Moatize district, and between them they have so far created 10,811 jobs, according to the Moatize district administrator, Manuel Guimaraes.

NATIONAL SEED PLAN APPROVED

The Mozambican government on Tuesday approved the National Programme for Strengthening Seed Supply. The programme has been put together under the Agricultural Development Strategic Plan (PEDSA) which was adopted by the government in May. The seed programme has an overall budget of 1.5 billion meticais (about 52 million US dollars), part of which will be funded from the state budget.Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco told reporters at the end of a meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet) that the programme aims to increase access to improved seed.“Our objective is to increase the production of improved seed at national level, and to improve and expand the seed distribution network, particularly in the rural areas where most farming takes place”, said Pacheco.The minister stressed the need to increase the capacity to process seed, strengthen the seed production companies, and guarantee an efficient and effective system for quality control.
He said that improved seeds are a national asset that should be preserved and protected because of their vital importance as a major production input. However, he stressed that this should not prevent making seed production a business.“Currently the country produces six thousand tonnes of seed of which 50 per cent is maize seed, and 32 per cent is rice seed, and 18 per cent is for other crops”, said the minister.However, this is well below the needs of the country. Pacheco pointed out that currently only ten per cent of Mozambican farmers use improved seed. The result is low agricultural productivity.The seed programme will begin during this agricultural season (2011/12) and extend into 2014/15 by when it is planned to produce 262,000 tonnes of seed per year.To implement the programme two institutions must be strengthened - the state owned company Sementes de Mocambique (SEMOC – Seeds of Mozambique), and the Mozambique Grain Institute (ICM).“SEMOC needs to be restructured through a public-private partnership so that it can meet the needs of development. The Mozambique Grain Institute also has to be changed, because we cannot run the risk of our farmers increasing productivity and their output without guaranteeing a market for their surplus”, concluded the minister.In other words, the ICM will revert to playing the role of buyer of last resort, promising to purchase all grain that private traders fail to buy.During the Cabinet meeting the ministers reviewed the implementation of the Multisectoral Action Plan for the Reduction of Chronic Malnutrition, which was approved last year.On Monday a UNICEF report “Child Poverty and Disparities in Mozambique 2010” was published, warning that chronic malnutrition affects 44 per cent of Mozambican children under five years of age.

GAS-POWERED BUSES ARRIVE IN MAPUTO

Maputo’s publicly owned bus company TPM has now received the first consignment of buses from India that run on compressed natural gas.!50 of these buses have been ordered, and so far 32 have arrived. A further 18 are expected this week.According to the interim chairperson of the TPM board, Silvestre Constantino, cited in Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, 50 more buses will arrive in July and the final 50 in August.The buses that have already arrived, manufactured by the Indian company Tata, are currently in Maputo port, awaiting customs clearance. They will then be given number plates and insurance policies so that they can start operating on the TPM routes.Constantino said the buses will operate on routes where there is a serious shortage of public transport – including between Maputo and the adjoining city of Matola, as well as to the districts of Boane and Marracuene.He warned that even 150 new buses will not end the transport crisis in the Maputo metropolitan area, though they would certainly cut waiting times at the bus stops and terminals.Currently TPM is operating with less than 100 buses to cover the company’s 56 routes. Constantino estimates that TPM needs a minimum of 280 buses on the streets.The gas-powered buses were purchased under a credit system financed by the government’s Transport and Communications Fund (FTC). It is expected that the use of natural gas, a Mozambican resource, will greatly reduce TPM’s expenditure on imported liquid fuels.To guarantee maintenance of the buses, TPM has sent engineers and mechanics for training in India. TPM has also recruited 300 new bus drivers and the same number of fare collectors.The buses can refuel with compressed natural gas at the TPM premises in central Maputo, and at a supply post near the MOZAL aluminium smelter on the outskirts of the city.

12 POLICEMEN DETAINED FOR THEFT AND EXTORTION

12 policemen in Maputo City have been detained in connection with various crimes, including theft and extortion, the spokesperson for the General Command of the Mozambican police, Pedro Cossa, told reporters on Tuesday. The 12 were detained in connection with five crimes that occurred over the last weekend, and Cossa suggested there could be further arrests in the coming days. The detentions, he said, were part of a drive “to purify the ranks of the force”.Six of the policemen were arrested for robbing a South African tourist. “They threatened this citizen with a firearm and took 4,000 rands from his wallet”, said Cossa. “Then they forced him to go to an ATM and withdraw 8,000 meticais (about 275 US dollars)”.The thieves were so sure of themselves that they did not bother to hide their identity. They wore their police uniforms while they robbed the South African tourist. He went to a police station, lodged a complaint, and the six policemen were soon identified and detained. A second case concerned two policemen who recovered goods stolen during a robbery, and instead of handing them over to be returned to their rightful owners, kept them for themselves.The third case mentioned by Cossa concerned traffic policemen who seized four cell phones from youths involved in a traffic accident. “They stole the cell phones and then made returning them conditional on the youths paying 5,000 meticais”, he said.Cossa also mentioned the case of a man who impersonated a member of the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) in order to extort money from citizens. The man did indeed work in the Maputo police command – but not as a member of PIC. Nonetheless he took his victims to the PIC canteen, where he would shake them down and demand money from them.Cossa said the only possible measure to take against “police thieves” was to expel them from the force. It was also likely that they would face criminal proceedings.“We are purifying our ranks, and not only in Maputo”, he added. “In all provinces we have instructed the provincial commands to control the behaviour of our agents with a fine comb, and to take the appropriate punitive measures. We want to free ourselves of all those who damage the good name of the Mozambican police”.Cossa urged all citizens to collaborate with this effort, by denouncing to the authorities all policemen involved in illicit activities.

LAND DISPUTES DELAY BELA VISTA RICE PROJECT

Land disputes in the southernmost district of Matutuine, Maputo province, are delaying the implementation of a project to grow and process rice which aims to cut Mozambique’s rice imports by a fifth.The Bela Vista Rice Project is co-owned by the Libyan state’s Libyan African Investment Portfolio (LAP) and the Mozambican company Ubuntu.The project plans to grow rice in an area of six thousand hectares in the initial phase beginning in September this year. That would produce around 40,000 tonnes of rice per year. The plan is to continue expanding the project until it covers an area of 20,000 hectares.However, the plan is being endangered by land disputes.The project currently only has access to 1,800 hectares of which 400 hectares are used for seed production. The remaining 1,400 hectares are not situated in a contiguous block, which is a barrier to installing an effective irrigation system.According to the newspaper “Diario de Mocambique”, the chief in the locality of Tinonganine, Abel Machango, lamented that just before the project was due to be launched many people suddenly appeared brandishing land titles, known as DUATs, covering areas where the project had planned to expand. A further problem is that some households are refusing to hand over their fields to the project. Machango complained that some of these citizens have never used or developed the land covered by these documents. He said that under normal conditions the DUATs should have been revoked because the land was not used or developed within five years, as demanded by the law.The local traditional leader (regulo) Eduardo Santaka stated that the delay in handing over the land to the project was due to the Mozambican government and the investors agreeing that the land should be disbursed in a phased manner.
“The government has to know who has handed over the land and what the benefits are to the community, district, province and country in general. We see that this company is responsible. The land will be dispensed in a phased manner”, promised Santaka.According to Machango, the authorities are working to help the community to understand the need to welcome the project and hand over part of their land. In return they will benefit from the help that the company is promising to provide as part of its social responsibility.Once fully operational the project aims to employ 400 workers.

LINA MAGAIA DIES

Prominent Mozambican writer, journalist and activist, Lina Magaia, died at her Maputo home on Monday, at the age of 71.According to a family source, she had been suffering from “very high blood pressure”. She had suffered cardio-vascular problems for the previous month and had received treatment from doctors at the Maputo Heart Institute. They proved unable to save her, and she died at about 16.00 on Monday.Lina was a clandestine member of the liberation movement, the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), in the closing years of Frelimo rule.She sat as a Frelimo deputy in the country’s first multi-party parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, from 1994 to 1999, but refused simply to toe the party’s line. She was one of only two Frelimo deputies who, in 1998, abstained on a money-grabbing bill establishing full pensions for parliamentarians after just five years sitting in the part time Assembly. Lina refused to vote for such naked greed. She and Fernando Teixeira, the other deputy to abstain, were vindicated when prominent economists showed that the parliamentary pension scheme was unsustainable and would be an enormous drain on the state budget. This led President Joaquim Chissano to veto the bill.Lina was a regular contributor of columns in the Maputo daily “Noticias, in the 1970s and 80s, but she will be best remembered for her full length books, denouncing the apartheid regime’s war against Mozambique.The books “Dumba Nengue” (1987) and “Double Massacre in Mozambique” (1989) contain gruesome episodes illustrating the savage nature of the war and of the apartheid regime’s surrogate force, the Renamo rebels. A third book “Delehta” (1994) set during the war, is part fiction, part documentary.Lina’s final work was “Recordacoes da Vovo Marta” (“Memories of Grandma Marta”), published this year, and based on lengthy interviews with one of Mozambique’s oldest women, 99 year old Marta Mbocota Guebuza, mother of the current Mozambican President, Armando Guebuza. Lina was planning further biographical works when she was overtaken by her final illness.Lina was the sister of another prominent journalist and writer, Albino Magaia, who died last year.

The Mozambican government is scheduled to sign three loan agreements this week, totalling almost 31 million US dollars, with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (ABEDA).According to a press release from the Finance Ministry, the agreements will be signed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Finance Minister Manuel Chang and the Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Ernesto Gove, are attending the 36th annual meeting of the IDB.One loan, for 11.9 million dollars, has been granted by the IDB for water supply and sanitation projects in the northern province of Cabo Delgado and the southern province of Gaza.A second agreement, worth nine million dollars, provides funding for the construction of agricultural colleges in Gaza and Manica provinces.BADEA is also providing 10 million dollars for the construction and equipping of two schools and technical institutes in Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces.In addition, the IDB has offered Mozambique a grant of 312,500 dollars for the project to revitalize the National Cotton Institute,Mozambique joined the IDB in 1995. Since then the IDB has providing funding for the rehabilitation of the Macarretane dam in the Limpopo valley in Gaza, for rural electrification in Cabo Delgado, and for several education projects.

ILLEGAL LOGGERS DEVASTATE MOCUBA FORESTS

Three community leaders in Mocuba district, in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, have been sacked for their connivance with illegal loggers, who are devastating the forestry resources in the district, reports Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.In certain parts of Mocuba, such as the Mataia area, large areas of forest have been cleared by the loggers. The number of trees above the legal diameter for logging has declined drastically, and the loggers are now cutting down immature trees.An NGO, the Panos Institute, alarmed by the situation, took a group of journalists to Mocuba to see for themselves. They found that illegal logging takes place in broad daylight, but the logs are then taken in trucks to the provincial capital, Quelimane, at night.The reporters interviewed two men, Alves Ricardo and Horacio Franque, who use chain saws to cut down the trees in Mataia. The men who purchase their illegal services pay them 100 meticais (about 3.5 US dollars) per log. When they are taken to Quelimane the same logs are sold for about 3,000 meticais each.
The head of the Munhiba locality, which includes Mataia, Maria Isabel Sebastiao, recognised that illegal logging is devastating the area. She said that the weaknesses in forestry inspection allow the loggers top commit their abuses.She said that three community leaders in Mataia and the nearby area of Juliao have been removed from their posts because of their collaboration with the illegal loggers. She said that they had no idea of the real value of a resource they were selling for a pittance.In Munhiba, there are just three legal timber operators. Last year they paid 47,000 meticais to the local communities – this is the 20 per cent fee that all forestry and wildlife operators should pay to communities.But there is no sign that this money is being put to good use. The journalists noted that “almost everything is lacking” in Munhiba. In an area rich in timber, children in fifth grade still study in the open air, and have never sat behind a school desk in their lives.

EIU WARNS OF DANGER OF UNREST

The London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has warned that increases in the cost of living in Mozambique pose a greater threat to the hegemony of the ruling party Frelimo than “the enfeebled opposition parties”.The latest EIU Country Report on Mozambique, published in June, carries details of the current mineral boom, but warns that this “may sharpen inequality and increase frustration among the majority of people who will not directly benefit from it”. The EIU report considers that the risk of instability similar to the riots against price rises that erupted in Maputo in September last year is “considerable”.The report continues that “in addition to price rises, other triggers for future unrest could include power cuts, a localised rise in unemployment or a delayed official response to a disease outbreak or flooding”. Such prophecies are laughable – power cuts are a regular occurrence in Maputo and other Mozambican cities, and have yet to lead to any disturbances. Responses to epidemics and to floods in recent years have been swift, and there is no reason to believe that this is likely to change in the near future.On the economy the report is more encouraging, and expects growth to be “brisk”. Industrial output is expected to rise briskly, and growth is predicted in agriculture. However, the report claims that “industrial production will remain below potential owing to the fitful power supply”.Overall growth is expected to accelerate to 7.3 per cent this year and 7.5 per cent next year, mainly due to increased investment in minerals and infrastructure megaprojects.Worryingly, the EIU forecasts that global food prices will rise by 30 per cent this year. However, the report expects that government measures will manage to keep Mozambique’s inflation rate down to 7.5 per cent this year, before falling to five per cent next year.Exports are expected to increase from 2.7 billion US dollars last year to 3.6 billion dollars this year and 4 billion dollars next year. These increases are due to a strong global demand for aluminium (the Mozal smelter on the outskirts of Maputo exports aluminium ingots) and coal (exports from the west of the country will shortly begin if not delayed by transport bottlenecks). The EIU also expects agricultural exports to increase.However, partly due to predicted rises in oil prices, the report expects that imports will also rise sharply, from 3.7 billion dollars last year to an average of 4.9 billion dollars during 2011/12.The report therefore expects the trade deficit to widen from 11.2 per cent of GDP in 2010 to 12.3 per cent this year, before falling to 9.7 per cent in 2012.

MOSLEM GROUPS MAKE THREATS OVER BURQAS

Moslem organisations are trying to force the Mozambican government to reverse its ban on the wearing of burqas in public school, and are even threatening a “popular revolt” unless the government changes its mind.
The burqa resembles a black tent which completely envelops a woman’s body, leaving just a narrow slit for her eyes. Wearing the burqa is not mandated in the Koran, and the vast majority of moslem women across the globe do not wear it. It is very rare to see women wearing burqas in Mozambique.The current dispute over burqas in schools was sparked off by one student, Fatima Khalifa, who insisted on wearing a burqa to her classes in the Fraternidade Secondary School in Pemba, capital of the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The teachers refused to teach classes containing a student shrouded in a such a garment, but Khalifa insisted that she was within her rights to wear a burqaThe dispute dragged on for weeks, until Education Minister Zeferino Martins visited Pemba and suspended Khalifa from the school. He told reporters that wearing overt religious clothing such as a burqa violated the fundamental principles governing state-run schools.He was backed up by Justice Minister Benvinda Levi, who declared that religious freedom means that citizens can freely practice the religion of their choice, without interference from the state – but it does not mean that they can impose that religion on the state.Students, she said, must respect school regulations. “It cannot be accepted that each student invokes the name of their religion in the loudest tones in the schools”, she said. She pointed out that burqas are a recent arrival in Mozambique. “Our country has many people who profess this same religion”, said Levi, “but they don’t wear burqas in the schools where they study”.It was thought that Khalifa was an isolated case – no other incident involving a pupil wearing a burqa was mentioned in the Mozambican press. But three moslem leaders have now claimed that “more than 90” girls have been excluded from schools in the northern city of Nampula for wearing the burqa.According to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, Abibo Amade, of the Islamic Conference of Mozambique, Momade Tuahir, of the Islamic Council of Mozambique, and Abdul Latifo, of the Islamic Community, made this claim at a Nampula press conference. No list of the schools or pupils concerned has been published, however.The three moslem leaders claimed that excluding students wearing the burqa violates the constitutionally enshrined right to education. However, Levi pointed out that schools have rules about what can be worn in the classroom, and nobody has the right to break those rules in the name of their religion.
Amade, Tuahir and Latifo claimed that the government’s position leads to the “social exclusion” of moslems and relegates them to “the third category in society”.“The veil is a religious symbol and even Christian nuns use it”, they claimed. “It seeks to avoid the sexual harassment women suffer when exposing their sensitive parts, and there is no legislation about its non-use in the country”.Thus, for these three moslem men, everything about a woman’s body except her eyes is “sensitive”. The burqa is also not the same thing as a veil, and catholic nuns, who are all adults, are unlikely to be found behind the desks of primary or secondary schools.The three said that they will soon present a formal document to Martins and Levy in an attempt to find solutions, but then claimed that, if the government does not retreat, there could be a “popular revolt”. “We are in favour of dialogue but, if our possibilities are exhausted, we shall resort to other means of protest”, they threatened.According to the 2007 census, about 18 per cent of the Mozambican population are moslems, though the percentage is much higher in the north of the country.

CABO DELGADO EXCEEDS RICE PRODUCTION TARGET

The northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado in its last harvest exceeded the production target for rice laid down in the Food Production Action Plan (PAPA). For the year 2009/10 the province harvested 29,969 tonnes of rice, exceeding the target of 22,500 tonnes. According to the provincial government, the good harvest was due to increased productivity, which went up from one tonne to 2.4 tonnes per hectare. This was due to the timely distribution of better seeds, good rains and a campaign to encourage farmers to grow rice.During the agricultural campaign 172 tonnes of seeds were distributed to farmers and machinery was made available. An increase in the producer price of rice was also an incentive.There was a huge increase in the area under rice cultivation, up from only 1,865 hectares in 2008/09 to 14,820 hectares in 2009/10.Meanwhile, in the current agricultural campaign, the province has planted 8,694 hectares of maize, compared with a target of 7,520 hectares. In the last harvest only 4,999 hectares of maize were cultivated.
This should produce a harvest of 22,560 tonnes of maize. So far 19,822 tonnes have been harvested.According to the provincial government, the maize harvest could have been higher but productivity did not reach the planned level of three tonnes per hectare. This was because farmers did not receive the full technological package, including fertilizer.

SOFALA FISHERMEN USING ILLEGAL NETS

Artisanal fishermen using inappropriate fishing gear, including mosquito nets, are putting the marine ecosystem at risk in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, according to a report in Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.The use of mosquito nets, or other types of netting with a fine mesh, means that the holes are not large enough to allow juvenile fish or crustaceans in the larval form to escape. Such nets catch everything in the sea.Fishermen started using such damaging nets in Beira and in Machanga district, but the practice has now spread to Buzi, Cheringoma and Marromeu districts.Local fisheries officials say they do not have sufficient funds to carry out regular inspections of fishing gear, and to persuade fishermen not to use inappropriate nets.The Provincial Director of Fisheries, Joao Saize Duarte, told “Noticias” that Sofala currently has 116 maritime fishing centres and 48 centres in inland waters (rivers and lakes). Between them these artisanal fishermen use 6,836 canoes and 97 other small vessels.Saize said that many of the fishermen are now using the illegal nets with a mesh size of ten to 15 millimetres. The minimum mesh size should be 38 millimetres. He warned that the practice is spreading to other parts of the country, notably the Zambezi estuary.It is affecting areas where many species spawn and which are crucial to the reproduction of fish and crustaceans. “This is a major concern”, warned Saize, “and we need to mobilise funds in order to end this situation”.He said that this year a team consisting of officials from the Fisheries and Environment Ministries, and the Mozambican navy and police, undertook three operations in Sofala against illicit forms of fishing. Five nets of illegal mesh size were destroyed, and 24 boats were seized. Saize clearly believed that these three inspections only scratched at the surface of the problem.

MINING COMPANIES CREATE 11,000 JOBS

There are now 36 mining companies operating in Moatize district, in the western Mozambican province of Tete, and between them they have so far created 10,811 jobs, according to the Moatize district administrator, Manuel Guimaraes.Cited on Monday by Radio Mozambique, Guimaraes said this boost in employment has a visible effect on the social life of the population, notably with more households sending their children to school.“The projects are bringing good results”, said Guimaraes. “Young people are now sending their children to school, and providing social assistance to their dependents. The number of unemployed youths in the streets has declined”.By far the largest companies active in Moatize are Vale of Brazil and Riversdale Mining of Australia, both of which are opening large open cast coal mines. Vale has begun production, and both companies hope to begin coal exports later this year.Guimaraes said that the local authorities are working with the companies to encourage the creation of more jobs, to stimulate a culture of work among young people, and to discourage illegal activities.“We are concerned to create a culture of work among the youths, because some of them end up losing their jobs when they become involved in illicit activities”, he said.Guimaraes added that mining is also leading to the opening of new roads, with road lighting, and the construction of various social facilities.