The governor of the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, Abdul Razak, on Monday urged all Mozambicans to defend national unity, as a basic requirement for the preservation of peace.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Mozambique: Governor of Zambezia calls for defence of National Unity
Illiteracy rate fell by eight percent in a decade
The illiteracy rate in Mozambique fell by eight percentage points in the first decade of this century, Education Minister Jorge Ferrao declared in Maputo on Tuesday, at the launch of International Literacy Week, which runs from 1 to 8 September.In 2000, 56 per cent of the adult population was illiterate, and this figure dropped to 48 per cent by 2010.But this is not exactly a revelation. As Ferrao admitted, the reduction was first announced in 2010 by his predecessor Zeferino Martins. There are no more recent figures, but Ferrao expected an update when the National Statistics Institute announces the results of the Household Survey currently under way.
The Minister attributed the decline in illiteracy to the efforts of the government and its partners in the Literacy and Adult Education programme. The government’s strategies in this area have allowed the development of a new adult education curriculum which includes literacy classes, not only in Portuguese, but also in Mozambican languages. Despite the improvement in the literacy figures, Ferrao said that illiteracy remains a serious concern. The statistics show, he added, that there is a much higher rate of illiteracy among women than among men, and that a higher proportion of adults in the countryside than in the towns are unable to read and write.The statistics also showed a regional gap. “As we move from the south to the north, the illiteracy rates tend to increase”, said Ferrao. The worst figures were found in the northernmost provinces of Niassa and Cabo Delgado.In the context of information and communication technologies, he added, the government must be more creative in offering attractive platforms that encourage learning among adults and youths, and reduce the absenteeism and drop-out rates in literacy courses.The government’s target, announced in 2010, was to bring the illiteracy rate down to 30 per cent by this year, 2015. In the absence of an up-to-date statistical survey, it is still impossible to judge whether this target has been met.
Singer Gabriela 'remixed' in 'Poverty is Sexist'
'Poverty is Sexist’ is a campaign by international advocacy group ONE. It aims to encourage empowerment and justice for women and girls predominantly in Africa. Nine Africa women artists feature the recently recorded 'Strong Girl'. Mozambican Gabriela is among them.The organisation recorded a song in April called "Strong Girl", the song originally featured nine female artists from different countries in Africa but has since been remixed to include men to show that both men and women must collaborate to destroy the link between gender and poverty.The original, 'Strong Girl' features vocalists Waje (Nigeria), Victoria Kimani (Kenya), Vanessa Mdee (Tanzania), Arielle T (Gabon), Gabriela (Mozambique), Yemi Alade (Nigeria), Selmor Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe), Judith Sephuma (South Africa), Blessing Nwafor (South Africa) and the video stars Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (Nigeria).“We thought that since this was the year of women's empowerment it was important for us to really get behind the African Union's efforts in highlighting the importance of empowering women and girls so we came up with the campaign,” said Dr Sipho Moyo, Africa Executive Director at ONE.
ONE's poverty is sexist campaign is about women's empowerment and justice. "Strong Girl" is the organisations anthem, first recorded in April by some of the continents top female artists. One has produced a brand new remix.The campaign found women are more disadvantaged than men in poorer countries and through sectors such as health, agriculture and education, Dr Moyo uses education in Africa as an example to explain the disparity.“In a family where resources are limited, parents are more likely to send the boy child to school than they are his sister,” she states.She adds: "Across the sectors we are finding that women are marginalised and disadvantaged but here is the clincher, what makes it even more critical is that these barriers that are stacked up against women are clearly structural.”Dr Moyo reckons the gender issues are more structural, from political right through to religious and that Africans have to target the issues from a policy framework perspective.“Getting the leaders to really address the issue, in terms of policy intervention, in terms of legislative interventions and in terms of targeted budget interventions,” she says.She expresses her excitement for the participation of men in the campaign and in the song because “empowering women is really about empowering society, it is about economic transformation”.ONE has 2.3 million members in Africa’s biggest country, Nigeria, where they wish to fully penetrate and utilise that reach. “We have the biggest membership in Nigeria so at a country level, if we don't crack it in Nigeria; we will struggle to crack it in the rest of Africa,”Moyo reiterates the importance of not creating another rift between women in rural areas and urban areas, “Policy intervention actually needs to apply to everybody in the country and that’s why this is so important and we are hoping that by taking this journey with this campaign from Africa to New York”.ONE’s next step is taking this campaign to the United Nations general assembly this month to further drive the women empowerment narrative and with the declaration from African leaders during the African Union summit in Johannesburg earlier this year has given Dr Moyo more reassurance of success with the UN.“The next thing is just making sure that these commitments are translated into budgets that impact the lives of women and girls and therefore impact the lives of everybody.”Mozambique Historical Archives receives estate of Portuguese
Mozambique Historical Archive (AHM) yesterday received the estate of José Tristão de Bettencourt, Governor-General of the former Mozambican colony from 1940 to 1946, from the Mario Soares Foundation in Portugal.The ceremonial hand-over of the boxes containing the estate of Tristão de Bettencourt, including correspondence, statistical information, financial data and photographs, took place in the Historical Archives of Mozambique in Maputo, which will also house scanned copies of all the documentation."It is a crucial period because it is World War II," noted Alfredo Caldeira, representing the Mario Soares Foundation. Cited by the Portuguese news agency Lusa, Caldeira emphasized the value of the collection, which includes an account of a fistfight between a pro-German and a pro-British at the Hotel Polana in Maputo, as well as letters from former consuls of the belligerent powers.Caldeira noted that the story of the Governor Bettencourt's estate began six years ago with the intervention of the former Science Minister Mariano Gago, who decided to gather and process the information and send it to Mozambique, a job then taken up by the Mário Soares Foundation."It is essential that we continue our cooperation," said Caldeira, adding that "our common history, for better and for worse, must be preserved, and a lot of missing information, in both Portugal and Mozambique, recovered.
"The Director of the Historical Archive, Joel das Neves Tembe, pointed out that this is the kind of initiative encouraged by the International Council of Archives, and said he hoped that the Tristão Bettencourt documentation would be of interest to students and researchers and that collaboration with Portuguese institutions would be maintained.Das Neves Tembe recalled the delivery to the Mozambican Archives of an eighteenth century estate, and the archives of the International Police and State Defence (PIDE) deposited at the Portuguese Archive of Torre do Tombo, and expressed his desire to gain access to declassified overseas files from the 70s decade soon.José Augusto Duarte, the Portuguese ambassador, said that "this collaboration between Portugal and Mozambique, this time through the Mário Soares Foundation, shows that diversity of contacts, not only between states but also between civil society organizations and private institutions, is absolutely fundamental."The Mário Soares Foundation has dedicated itself to the collection and preservation of documentation on the recent history of Portugal and its former colonies, and holds considerable documentation on the Mozambican painter Malangatana Valente Ngwenya, the Timorese resistance, the founder of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Amilcar Cabral, and the former leader of the Movement of Liberation of Angola (MPLA), Mário Pinto de Andrade.Mozambique has 300,000 traditional medicine practitioners
Mozambique is thought to have about 300,000 traditional medicine practitioners, of whom 120,000 are not registered with the Institute of Traditional Medicine, the Ministry of Health agency that assures standards of practice in the activity.The ministry wants to register traditional healers and regulate the activity so as to put an end to false promises of miracles in the healing of diseases such as Aids.In Mozambique, about 70 percent of the population resorts to traditional medicine for the treatment of ailments of the body, mind and soul. In addition to the collective beliefs, the appeal of traditional healer services is also explained by poor health service coverage, particularly in rural areas.These figures were unveiled on African Traditional Medicine Day, whose main ceremonies took place on Monday in Inhambane. The regional meeting of Traditional Medicine in the South and Centre of the country, is taking place in the same city, bringing together in conference over 50 traditional doctors and health technicians.
Friday, September 4, 2015
"THE BOOK THAT WAS A HOUSE THE HOUSE THAT WAS A COUNTRY"
All
people love peace. Those who have been through a war know that there is no more
precious value. They know that peace is another name of life itself. We live
for months under the permanent threat of a return to war. Those who thus
threaten should know that one who is threatened is not just a government. The
threat is an entire people, an entire nation.
It
may not be this time may not be the place. But it is necessary that the owners
of the weapons listen: do not use us, to us, Peace citizens, as a medium of
exchange. Do not use us as cannon fodder. The proverb says that "under the
feet of elephants sufferers is the grass." But we are not grass. Deserve
respect, deserve to live without fear. Who want to make policy that makes
policy. But do not point a gun at the future of our children. This is what I
wanted to say before saying anything else.
That
is forgiven me this excited introito. That I be forgiven the lack of etiquette
that should begin by welcoming the presence of the President, the President
Filipe Jacinto Nyussi. In fact, His Excellency President, you may have delayed
this moment because a writer should never declare himself speechless. In fact,
knowing of his intense and precious occupation, I do not find words to thank
you for the honor of your presence.
What
I mean is welcome your call to rethink the way we conceive ourselves as a people
and a nation. We want to be part of this effort, we want to learn to be a
country that does not exclude a plural and diverse country. We want to help
build a nation that takes fearlessly their differences. This new attitude may
be the cure for a type of autism that we had been suffering. I welcome the
presence of President Joaquim Chissano, is delighted Revee it.
It's
hard to imagine how even listening, we can be deaf. Selectively deaf. We listen
to those who are close to us, listen to those who obey us, hear what we please
hear. We listen to our party, especially those who do not listen to the
criticism. Everything else does not exist, everything else is a lie, everything
else is slander. Everything else is cast by the "other". And it's almost
a paradox: because they take up entire pages of newspapers to say that the
"Other" should not be heard. Spend up hours of radio and television
programming to say what others said nothing. These "others" who want
to question what we do, these others are "outsiders", the same way of
being "foreign." The truth, however, is that no one can negate the
existence of these "other". No one can deny that they are
Mozambicans. No one can know if they have reason to not let that speak freely.
This is the great lesson of President Nyussi who understood reconcile one
nation apart from herself. It is he who reminds us that those who say
"no", are the same family of those who say "yes". This is
the same family that has a single house. There is no other place, no other
destination but this by the name of Mozambique.
I
say all this without any embarrassment. Because we all, starting with you, Mr
President, we want to get away from the practice of flattery. With its attitude
of openness and simplicity, the President suggests another relationship,
closer, more real. After all, it is easy to imagine that together with Your
Excellency has already created a procession of sycophants. Fortunately, came
forth a warning sign: so he took office, President Felipe Nyussi began
receiving people who do not clapped, people who had raised questions and
criticism. His ministers are doing the same, are to listen to those who think
differently, they are to sit with those who are no longer ministers, are
learning these others who were sentenced to condition already have been
somebody. It seems before the huge problems we face. But this way of dealing
with people may suggest another way to deal with great challenges.
For
all this wanted to say to him, thank you very much, Mr President. Thank you
very much for having returned to our family size. Thank you for having restored
our status as residents in the same house. For a long time we were led to build
boundaries that separated us in small nations within the larger Mozambican
nation. For a long time some have suggested that there were Mozambican
categories, some more authentic than others. Still survives in some identities
that police look. Even today some people assess others by the color of their
skin, the color of the tribe, by the color of his party. Even today, there are
those who, instead of discussing ideas, attack people. And even those who
prevail, instead of seeking solutions, seeking ways to hide the problems. All
this cosmetic was being done in the name of unity and patriotism. This whole
scenario of normality is an inheritance calling for a firm response. This post
was brought to you. Without great proclamations, but a firm and continuous
basis. We know today that their message: we have the resources we have. It is
not as promising as our human heritage made so much as different people.
The
President is creating a dynamic that is much more than a new policy. It is a
new culture. And this culture can make a difference in the whole history of
Mozambique. Congratulations on as already lit as hope, congratulations on your
patient so without recourse to authoritarianism without use of easy
demagoguery. Congratulations by the way started to return to politics its
ethical and human dimension.
Rector Professor Dr. Lourenço do
Rosário
They
say that the writers are masters of words. Are not. Words fortunately has no
owner. Sometimes, I feel sorry so be it. Because if it had that power I would
relieve the forms of treatment that are much heavier than these my new clothes.
In
fact, Professor Dr. Lourenço do Rosário do not need polishing a title whatever
it is. Rosary Lawrence earned a place of respect not only in academia but in
Mozambican society as a man committed to his people and his country. And this
moral authority that comes in exercising its role of mediator of the talks at
the Conference Centre Joaquim Chissano. We know how hard to find among us
characters able to put together such a broad consensus. We are a nation that
was invited to take on extreme dualities. Those who defend the clarity of the exemption
were always regarded with suspicion.
Your
latest words are a warning for anyone who forgets that the country does not
belong to any party. I'll play these your words at the risk of being the quote
via the newspapers (and newspapers are more creative than any writer). The
teacher reportedly said: "Basically, the opposition party is proving its
claim to comply with what the popular jargon calls" it was our turn.
"
Translating
their words in the oral language teacher Rosario knows so well the result might
look like: is that for some, politics is a pan. You have to eat a lot and fast
because the spoon is hard fought and the meal can last bit. For others,
however, the policy is still the noble art of serving others, politics is still
the task of putting first and foremost the interests of all. Possibly who both
claim against partisanship is not against the principle itself. Want, yes,
partidarizar two. I do not care the name of the parties. My question is not so
much political than for that, little vocation left. It is an objection of moral
nature. It is important to me as a citizen that persists in some Mozambican
leaders, the idea that Mozambique is a private backyard. A yard whose destiny
is to be paid in installments as interests and conveniences.
Let
me Rector that despite the solemnity of this act, the case by the most
honorable qualifying I know that is the "teacher". There is no other
title than me more honor me. For years, I taught in different schools in
Maputo. Even today, after almost ten years, these my students pass me and treat
me per teacher. I can not imagine how much it touches me and how much I am
afraid not have size to fill that word. Teacher is not who teaches. It's who
gives lessons. Is not that going to school teaching. It is one whose life is a
school.
For
our Rosary Lawrence Teacher called me a few months ago to tell me that the
Polytechnic University had chosen me to receive this degree. He confessed that
he was afraid that I would not accept this distinction. I'm not a person of
titles or honors. But I was not able to say no. Because the person speaking to
me because of the institution he represented. Still have the heart to ask him,
but the ceremony will be uniformed protocols, speeches and hats? And he
answered tersely:'ll have to be. And that "will have to be" left no
room for negotiation.
It
took me months to get used to the idea of this solemn ceremony. When she
thought she had reconciled me with the ghost of clothing, there was a small and
unfortunate incident. It's sad that I had the idea to show my grandchildren
photographs of another doctoral ceremonies. And one of them enthusiastically
asked, but, grandfather, you'll have to wear these long skirts? Because I want
to take this time to reassure my dear companion, Patricia, who is sitting there
and tell you the following: Patricia, under these long skirts is still a man's
pants.
I
also want to talk about Luis Bernardo Honwana, my godfather. The word
"godfather" won today one deslustrosa connotation and, from now on,
there will be the same, my dear Luis Bernardo, who dares to ask you one way and
arranjes a dress for a friend in need of titles. I mean, however, that, in your
case, fully reunion me what is the etymology of the word "godfather"
who is the guide and guiding. In fact, there is much that Luis Bernardo,
without knowing it, has been fulfilling this role model in my performance as a
writer and as a person. You need to repeat here how much we, Mozambican
writers, we are indebted to Luis Bernardo. What he left us as a legacy is much
of what he wrote. It's kind of inaugural manifesto, one setting up ways that we
later came to walk. Luis Bernardo Honwana, José Craveirinha, Noemia de Souza
and João Dias were the first four vertices of this construction of voices, the
one point proclaimed: we want to write history with our own handwriting. Louis
Bernard, I know you are averse to these tracts: but I can not help but express
my infinite gratitude for being who you are: an umbrella and inspirational
figure in writing, in life and thought.
Here
is something that I still reveal: I started working as a journalist in exactly
the same newspaper where LBH it had also started as a reporter. This newspaper
was called the TRIBUNE. That was a very interesting time because there was a
discovery game. There was a journalism who was looking for his own country; but
there was also a country that rode the search for a journalism that was his.
And this double demand called for a journalism done next door to the
literature. It was no accident that not only José Luis Bernardo but
Craveirinha, rui knopfli, Gonçalves Carneiro and Luis Carlos Patraquim they
were all journalists and writers. I owe a lot to these people, this
nonconformity environment that reigned in newspaper production. I remember the
first day I introduced myself in the writing and I was called by someone that I
revered as a poet and it was Rui Knopfly. And he said, want to be a journalist?
And before I answer he handed me a sheet of paper. This sheet was reproduced a
quote from an American singer named Frank Zappa. And the phrase read:
"Journalism today is to put journalists who can not write interviewing
people who can not talk for people who can not read. "It was a good career start.
He
remembered Luis Bernardo Honwana my parents. And I'm grateful for that memory
that does justice to the history of my family. All that I am comes from that,
that is my source of time and children's time, grandchildren and those who come
after. The world in which I was born and I became a man fed up prejudice. Creating
walls to separate and grade races. The walls did not offend only those who were
on the other side. The on this side, they are converted themselves into
stereotypes. We were, of one and the other hand, decreased by fear and
ignorance. We believe that the effect of racial and tribal prejudices is to try
to devalue another race. And this is true. These biases also result in another
insidious effect that is the negation of the existence of individuals, each
with its own identity. This is what makes racism, sexism and tribalism: each
person ceases to be a single creature, to read the identity of the group. Lets
you have a face, a voice, a soul, we become identified with a general label:.
Blacks, whites, matsuas, the spinefeet, the North, the South is talk of someone
and there a voice that says, ah, I know how it is, I know those guys.
Dear
friends
I
will talk about the erosion of moral values and how a writer can help in the
rehabilitation of the moral fabric of society.
I
chose this topic because I do not know anyone who does not mourn the loss of
moral values. This is a subject on which we have an immediate national
consensus. Everyone agrees, even those who never had any moral value. And even
those who take advantage of immorality, even these after profiting from the
absence of rules, complain that it takes to catch the lack of decorum.
One
of the ways we can help rescue this lost may be the moral of literature. I am
referring to literature as the art of telling and listening to stories. I speak
for myself: the great lessons of ethics I learned came dressed in stories,
legends, fables. I'm not here to invent anything. This is the mechanism more
efficient and oldest reproduction of morality. On every continent, in every
generation, the oldest invented stories to delight younger. And just this
enchantment passed not only wisdom but a sense of propriety, decency, respect
and generosity.
There
is some thirty years ago Graça Machel - who was then Minister of Education -
convened a group of writers to tell them she was worried. I'm worried, she
said, we are teaching in schools abstract values as the revolutionary spirit
of patriotism, internationalism. But we are not teaching the most basic values
such as friendship, loyalty, generosity, be faithful and doer of the word,
solidarity be with others. And she asked us that we write stories that would be
published in textbooks. Graça Machel had the conviction that a good story, a
seductive story, is more efficient than any doctrinal text.
I
wanted to illustrate the power of stories with two small examples. In these
next few moments I will share with you two experiences and how these
experiences have produced in me enduring lessons.
The
first episode - a nation looking for an anthem
Just
now in this room we sing the National Anthem. This song has a story and I'm
connected to this story. It happened like this: at the beginning of the 80s,
Samora Machel decided that the then current national anthem should be changed.
He was right: the letter was more a praise to the very Frelimo than an
exaltation of the Mozambican nation. We were still far from the multi-party
system, but Samora made this decision. And in that way it was her, "he
ordered" four poets and 5 musicians and locked them in a house in Matola
with the task of producing not one but several proposals hymns. I was one of
four poets. It was wartime, the only thing we had in the shops were empty
shelves. Every day we leave home with a single obsession: what to bring to eat
for our family. Because by then all of a sudden we were in a house with
swimming pool, surrounded by perks and served food and drink. I confess that in
the early days we were fascinated in such a way that little worked. When, in
the afternoon, we heard the sirens of cars of the leaders we ran to the piano
and improvised an air of great weariness. By late afternoon, we and my
colleagues we handed our wives that we came to visit, containers with food that
each of us had spared during the day. And so, after a week, we produced a
handful of songs that were tested by a choral group and presented to an
evaluation commission. There were two proposals that deserve our preference:
one was that this is now our national anthem, the Beloved Fatherland. The other
was based on a Chemane conductor composition and had a refrain that said
"Homeland heroes! Lift up thy voice! Viva Mozambique, united people, The
star of tomorrow shine "The choir submitting the proposal instead of
Heroes homeland sang," Rice Motherland "and the proposal was forgotten.
What
happened is that, for unknown reason, the Samora initiative came to nothing.
Samora died, the group of artists was scrapped and each of us returned to the
queue waiting for the cabbage and horse mackerel. And we never remember what we
had done.
A
decade later, the new multi-party parliament was looking for a new national
anthem. And I was part of a task force set up by Parliament. This group
gathered people appointed by the Frelimo Party and the RENAMO. I must say that
in fact work together in a harmony environment such that we forgot that we
represented two rival forces. We did two tenders but the bids received were all
of them very weak. The late Albino Magaia then published an article recalling
the hymns that ten years ago, a group of artists had created. And so we rescued
these records when we were the last day of the meeting. We chose the Patria
Amada with some doubts. What was no doubt, however, was that the song was not
approved that day, it would have to wait for the next session months later. And
that was a matter of great sensitivity and urgency.
Because
in those last moments, colleagues Renamo objected on some passages of the
letter. In fact, most of these objections made sense. because some of the
verses of that letter were actually marked by a time of revolution. No longer
extolled no political force. But there was talk of proletarians, spoke on the
red sun. I asked the working group a few minutes and there in the next room,
changed the passages that aroused controversy. It was there that came the "Sun
June", for example, to replace the red sun. And the anthem was approved by
the group and transferred to debate between Members.
Interestingly
one of the passages that raised most objections was the one that says "We
swear for you Mozambique, no tyrant in will enslave us." Some members
thought it should not be there. Because, according to them, we would never have
in Mozambique the threat of a tyrant. Every country in the world can suffer
breakage. We do not. I can not imagine how one can sustain this certainty.
There is also the naive idea that we Mozambicans are, by any divine reason,
above ordinary mortals. But we are human and be with us those, who in greed of
sending are already tyrants before they win the power. Thankfully, dear
friends, that this verse was not removed. There are many ways of being a
tyrant. There are several way to be a slave. And it's good that our anthem
encourage us not to accept any form of tyranny or slavery.
Second
episode - Non Samora speech
At
the Fourth Congress of the Frelimo in 1983, I was appointed as head of the
Press Office. We journalists, we were confined to a glass-enclosed compartment
in a kind of suspended aquarium on the large room. At the time, we already were
producing television broadcasts in addition, of course, radio and newspapers.
Right at the beginning of the work, Samora Machel took the podium to speak. It
carried with it the Central Committee's report which was, like the
revolutionary parties, a voluminous document. Once started reading, Samora had
a brief hesitation, put the papers on the counter and spoke extemporaneously.
It was a brief impromptu but what he said was, for me, more important and more
enduring than the extended Central Committee's report. Leaning on the podium,
as if he won the proximity of a confides, Samora converted the solemn Congress
Hall in an area with family privacy. And he spoke of his feeling of strangeness
to be seen as a former guerrilla now surrounded by facilities, surrounded by
the protocol obligations and security of a presidential palace. And he said,
spoke of what he called the "sweet bullets of the enemy." Referred to
the more subtle forms of seduction and corruption which, in his view, were more
perverse than real bullets. And he wondered if his companions were really
prepared for this clash, if they were prepared to face the sugar candy. The
room was suspended that confidence. The radio and television transmitted in
direct that outburst of the President. And if listened not only the words but
the silences and the restless breath of the president. At that moment, an
official of the Protocol entered the Press Office and handed me a paper with a
scrawled statement saying immediately interrupt transmission. That was, for me,
a cold shower. Because it seemed to me, as a journalist and as a citizen, what
was happening there was a didactic range that could not be recovered if we lost
the transmission. But there was an order ticket that I had no way to refute. It
occurred to me a little maneuvering fun. I just wanted an additional
minutinhos. Perhaps the President did not use more than these minutes? And I
wrote the following on his back on the ticket: sorry, do not understand the
signature well, does not care to identify best, after all it is the President
who is speaking very slowly .... I folded the sheet and asked the Messenger
protocol that was back . That back and forth gave me time for the president
finished his impromptu direct transmission.
Of
my entire career eleven years of journalism may have been the greatest moment.
Because here was a leader of a nation that undressed of his infallible status
shared and not a certainty, but the confession of an insecurity, a weakness.
There was not a revolutionary leader speaking out loud, but a man bent with
grief and murmuring doubts about how much it was worth it all his fight.
During
a break of that Congress had the opportunity to sit with a group of veterans of
the national liberation struggle. And they were reporting as clandestinely left
the country to join the nationalist struggle. Some of these men confessed that
the main reason for his escape was not the liberation of the motherland. What
moved them out of Mozambique was able to study. And when, in Tanzania, received
the news that instead of studying, would fight these militants were assailed by
lacerating doubts. Some thought into desert and flee from the training camps.
This is what confessed. And I thought there was more courage in that
confession, than in all its perilous odyssey. Those little stories humanizavam
the solemn and official narrative that presents the epic of the nationalists as
a supermen show. After all, no one was born hero. He grew up, had doubts, she
felt fear. Most bravery not in the way they fought to others. The great courage
is inside fighting, that we do to overcome ourselves.
I
spoke to you earlier this hymn proposal called Homeland Heroes which was sung
as Rice homeland. I remember that at the time, even liked the misconception of
the singers, because they came to mind the words of Albert Camus remembered
when Algeria where he was born and said, "the poor country that needs
heroes."
At
that time I thought it might be preferable to a homeland of rice to a homeland
heroes. The truth is that our national epic was appropriated by an empty speech
jingoistic exaltation.
The
result is that our streets and squares are filled with heroes names. To these
heroes, however, they lack face, it lacks voice, they lack life. We have
inherited a heroic story of heroes without history. We just have to History
with a capital H. They lack the short stories, we lack the little episodes that
entice the imagination and sustain memory.
Dear
friends
The
other day, a young officer offered me the payment of a bribe to issue a
document. That did not go well because he, at one point, recognized me and
stepped back on your purposes.
To
redeem the young man explained as follows:
-
You know, Mr. Mia I loved to be an honest person, but I lack the sponsorship.
It
will not be exactly the patronage that keeps us from honesty. What we need is
to create a narrative that proves that honesty is worth it. Some people confuse
the fight against absolute poverty by the struggle for absolute greed. They
suggested us that self esteem can be resolved by the ostentatious luxury.
A
certain narrative still wants to prove that it is worth lying, it's worth
stealing, and that is worth anything but be honest and work. Incidentally, the
word "work" raises very strong allergies. Can have business, you can
have designs. But having a job that's ever. That work takes much time and,
moreover, gives much work. But deep down, we all know: Fast enrich and
effortlessly can only be done one way: stealing, vigarizando, corrupting and
being corrupted. There exists in the world, integer, another recipe.
We
are concerned that our students come to college with weak academic performance.
Because I think even more worrying that our young people grow up without moral
references. We are committed to issues such as entrepreneurship as if our sons
were destined to be entrepreneurs. We occupy leadership courses as if the next
generation were all designed to create political and leaders. I do not see much
interest in preparing our children to be simply good people, good citizens of
their country, good citizens of the world.
Once
wrote that the greatest misfortune of a poor country is that instead of
producing wealth, will produce rich. Today could add that another problem of
poor nations is that, instead of producing knowledge, produce doctors (until
now I've already been promoted ..,). Instead of promoting research, issuing
diplomas. Another misfortune of a poor nation is the only model of success
selling to new generations. And this model is evident in the video clips that
go on our television: a young rich and poor manners, surrounded by luxury cars
and easy girls, a young man who thinks he's American, a young man who hates the
poor because they They make them remember their own origin.
It
has to go against all this current. It must show that it pays to be honest. It
needs to create stories in which the winner is not the most powerful. Stories
that who was chosen was not the most arrogant but the most tolerant, one that
listens to others. Stories in which the hero is not the boot-licking, not the
street-smart. Perhaps that the stories are such sponsorship missed our young
employee.
All
this is urgent and imperative. Because we are on the verge of discrediting
ourselves. We have all listened to someone following withdrawal: not worth it,
we are like that. We are kids waiting to be tied in any pasture. We are
learning to desqualificarmo us. We are replicating the racism that others
invented to demote us as a lower moral quality people.
And
I will end by sharing a real episode that was experienced by my colleagues.
After Independence, a control program in river flow was installed in
Mozambique. Forms were distributed by hydrological stations around the country.
The destabilization war broke out and this project, like many others, was
interrupted for more than a dozen years. When peace was reinstated in 1992, the
authorities have relaunched this program believing that everywhere, it had to
start from scratch. However, a surprise awaited the brigade visited an isolated
hydrometric station inside of Zambezia. The old guard had remained active and
fulfilled, with daily zeal, his mission during those years. Sold out the forms,
he switched to the walls of the station to register, coal, hydrological data.
Inside and outside, the walls were covered with notes and the old house looked
like an immense book of stone. Upon receiving the brigade the old guard at the
door the season, with pride of those who served day after day, ran out of
paper, he said, but my fingers are not over. This is my book. He pointed to
the house.
And
that's the story with that end. "
» » Mia Couto (1955) is a writer, poet, journalist and Mozambican biologist.He was awarded the "Latin Union of Romantic Literature" and "Camões Prize", among others.The WRITER Mozambican Mia Couto received in Maputo, the Polytechnic University, the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in Humanities in the specialty literature (above your speech full) .The award the title of the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa to this which is one of the most important writers and award-winning country takes place after the proposal has been approved by the Scientific Council of what is considered the largest private university is the nacional.Esta first time the writer Camões Prize in 2013, gets a title of its kind in the country and available information indicates that in Portugal the author has been awarded by the University of Évora.
» » Mia Couto (1955) is a writer, poet, journalist and Mozambican biologist.He was awarded the "Latin Union of Romantic Literature" and "Camões Prize", among others.The WRITER Mozambican Mia Couto received in Maputo, the Polytechnic University, the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in Humanities in the specialty literature (above your speech full) .The award the title of the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa to this which is one of the most important writers and award-winning country takes place after the proposal has been approved by the Scientific Council of what is considered the largest private university is the nacional.Esta first time the writer Camões Prize in 2013, gets a title of its kind in the country and available information indicates that in Portugal the author has been awarded by the University of Évora.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Mozambique’s Area 1 oil bloc requires investment of US$24 billion
The oil groups involved in exploiting the Area 1 bloc of northern Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin plan to invest nearly US$24 billion to begin extracting natural gas, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reports.The following Indian state-controlled groups have stakes in the bloc: Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) via ONGC Videsh – 16 percent; Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) – 10 percent; and Oil India Ltd (OIL) – 4 percent. This means that the Indian state holds more than the main partner and operator, the US group Anadarko Petroleum, which has a 26.5 percent stake.An ONGC Videsh official cited by PTI indicated that the Area 1 bloc partners will have to invest US$23-24 billion to begin extracting, processing and liquefying natural gas for subsequent export to consumer markets, among them India and Japan.The aim is to begin processing natural gas in the first quarter of 2020 at a facility to be built on land, said the source cited by the agency, who referred to initial production of 12 million tons.This Area 1 bloc has capacity to annually produce 20 million tons of liquefied natural gas, thereby becoming the second biggest natural gas project after Ras Laffan in Qatar, operated by the US group ExxonMobil.Besides the three Indian state-controlled groups, partners in the bloc operated by the Anadarko Petroleum group include Japan’s Mitsui group (20 percent), Mozambique’s state-owned Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (15 percent) and the Thai group PTTEP (8.5 percent).
Mozambican gas firm part of Zesco’s ‘rescue plan’
ZESCO has further reduced electricity generation at Kariba north bank power station to 300 Mega Watts (MW),blaming this on it’s customers who they say consume too much electricity after load shedding hours. The country now only has 1,158 Giga Watt hours (GWh) of electricity accessible for generation at Kariba from the 4,996 GWh which was available for the period June 1, to December this year. Zesco senior manager for marketing and public relations Bessie Banda said at a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday that the Kariba power station could be shut prematurely due to the impending lack of water for electricity generation.Zesco previously generated 800 MW from Kariba before the figure trickled down to 560 MW after the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) rationed water supplied for generation owing to poor rainfall.Ms Banda said the current pattern of consumption after the 8-hour daily load shedding programme was not helping the rationing exercise which is intended at conserving water for electricity generation in the months ahead.She said the trend of consumers maximising the usage of electricity while the commodity was available could lead to Zesco prematurely shutting Kariba power station as early as next month.Eni's credentials boosted by giant gas find in Egypt
Eni's "supergiant" gas find off the coast of Egypt bolsters its top-flight exploration credentials and gives the Italian energy group access to easy reserves that fit its strategy of seeking growth without sacrificing dividends.Eni said on Sunday that its discovery ranked as the largest known gas field in the Mediterranean, covering an area of about 100 square kilometres (39 square miles) and containing a potential 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas.Shares in the company rose as much as 4 percent on Monday. By 1148 GMT the stock was up 2.2 percent at 14.72 euros. Eni, already Africa's biggest oil and gas explorer, was the first oil major to cut its dividend after a plunge in global oil prices. It is looking to reduce its stake in its Mozambique gas discovery and does not rule out doing the same for its latest find, dubbed Zohr. "It's an open door to give value and solidity to Eni's balance sheet," CEO Claudio Descalzi said of a potential Zohr stake sale in an interview published on Monday by Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "But it will not be a necessary outcome. There is much less to spend than in Mozambique and the new gas is aimed at the local domestic market, with prices disconnected from those of oil, which today are at six-year lows." In July Egypt raised the price it pays Eni for the natural gas it produces, part of its initiative to encourage investment in the energy-hungry country. The company's initial investment in Zohr will be about $3.5 billion, an Egypt official said, though the country's state gas company said that the total could stretch to twice that figure."With the full completion of development for the field, investments will (reach) $7 billion," the head of EGAS, Khaled Abdel Badie, told Reuters on Monday.
The good quality of gas discovered at Zohr and the field's proximity to the shore and existing pipeline infrastructure makes it relatively easy and cheap to develop, especially compared with the more remote discoveries off Mozambique, which had to be developed from scratch."The news in Egypt is supportive of our view that Eni is the best self-help story among the large-cap integrated oils and continues to keep momentum with a strong growth story," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said, adding that the field was potentially worth up to $5 billion to Eni.The company is still looking to sell down stakes in top acreage such as Mozambique and Congo to help to fund upstream development and dividends, and its CEO reaffirmed that the current dividend was a floor after its recent cut. "We will not go below," he said in comments aired on Class CNBC.Santander analyst Jason Kenney said that Eni is likely to look at selling a 30-40 percent stake in Zohr within three to four years.Yet disposals could be challenging in an environment of low oil prices, with a shrinking pool of potential buyers and several competitors also engaging in asset sales to shore up balance sheets, analysts said.The new African find could also help to meet Egypt's gas needs for decades and pose a challenge to other projects in Egypt, Israel and Cyprus. Falling production and rising gas demand has forced Egypt to become a net importer in recent years.Key Israeli energy stocks Delek Group, Delek Drilling, Avner Oil, Ratio and Isramco Negev lost 4.5 billion shekels ($1.14 billion) off their combined market capitalisation on Monday.Eni has a top class geophysical team backing its E&P work, said Davide Tabarelli, head of energy think-tank Nomisma Energia. "We thought there was nothing like this in the Mediterranean ... it will prompt a rethink," he said. Breaking!!!!!
Reporting
live from the courtroom of the Guebuza libel trail, ‘Canalmoz’ reports that,
called by the judge to explain the reasons that led him to write the letter /
post (against former president Armando Guebuza), economist Carlos Castelo
Branco "became emotional (cried) to tell his story with Guebuza in the
former Popular Liberation Forces of Mozambique (FPLM), which he (Castelo
Branco) joined aged only 17". Acording
to what Adrien Barber (a French journalist / correspondent based in Maputo)
tweets, Castelo would become emotional when he said, that after sharing a
"confidence and an identification of ideas with Guebuza during the 1980's
he had "violated the ideals of the national liberation struggle.".
Castelo Branco would have told the court: I have kept my ideals, he
hasn't".
According
the the report Castelo Branco told the court this morning that he wrote the
speeches of Armando Guebuza who was a Commissioner at the time. "I have
written speeches for the (former) President of the Republic, I met him in 1977
and he trusted me," Castelo Branco told the court cited by Dércio
Tsandzana, a contributor to Global Voices.
Canalmoz reports that Castelo Branco gave the court a long list of
businesses conducted by Armando Guebuza and family, having advised the public
prosecutor to investigate them, namely the business of the Tata buses with the
TPM, the business of the digital migration and StarTimes, and the Pemba Logistics
Base business are among those suggested by Castelo Branco for an investigation
by the Public Attorney. Meanwhile, Abdul
Carimo Issa has been heard as a witness. Former head of Mozambique's Technical
Team for the Legal Reform, former judge, former Prosecutor and former Frelimo
parliament member, he told the court that he saw no intention of harming the
honour and dignity of former president Guebuza, on the opposite, Abdul Carimo
considers the open letter as a critical contribution for the moment the country
was going through. (In the open letter) "I saw the disheartedness of
someone who thinks that we can do better but are not," he said. This
morning the court also heard co-accused of Freedom of Press Abuse journalist
Fernando Mbanze, director of Media Fax who told the court that he published
Castelo Branco's letter because it talked about themes of national interest
such as poverty, war, kidnappings and corruption. João Carrilho and Teresinha
da Silva will also heard as witnesses for the case today, called by Castelo
Branco's defence lawyer João Trindade.
Photo: Facebook / Carlos Castelo Branco and Fernando Mbanze listening
to the Public Attorney's accusation earlier this morning in court, in Maputo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)