President Filipe Nyusi appoints Jose Weng San as deputy commander of the Mozambican police force (see page 40 for more).

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OBJECTIVE

Offering seamless solutions for asset protection

in SADC political and security environment.

VISION

Providing a network of political and security risk

advisers with first-hand knowledge of

Mozambique and each country in the SADC.

SCOPE OF SERVICES Country Risk Management

Country Risk Assessment

Market Entry

Due Diligence

Research & Investigations

Cultural Nuances and Understanding

Health, Safety & Environmental

Management

Physical Site Assessment

Compliance

Sanctions (US, EU, UK, Asia)

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OECD)

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SoF)

Specialised Security Services

Corporate Security Planning

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Emergency Evacuation

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Kidnap and Ransom

AREAS OF OPERATION SADC

KEY PERSONS Dr. Leonardo Simão - Executive Chairman

Executive director of the Joaquim Chissano

Foundation, Chairman of United Bank of Africa

and Member of the SADC Mediation Team for

Madagascar, Leonardo Simão served as Minister

of Health from 1988 to 1994 and Minister of

Foreign Cooperation from 1994 to 2005.

Graduated in Medicine, Specialist in Public

Health, he is a founding member of the Medical

Association of Mozambique and member of the

Mozambique Medical Council.

Nuno Tomas - Director

A career diplomat, Nuno Tomas is Senior

Adviser to former President of Mozambique,

Joaquim Chissano since 2005. He has been

involved in special political missions across

Africa focussed on Conflict Resolution,

Sustainable Development, Accountability and

Good Governance.

Nigel Morgan - Director

For more than two decades, Nigel Morgan has

advised multinational companies, financial

institutions and private clients on political and

security risk related to foreign direct investment

in Africa. He served in the Irish Guards and at

the Centre for Policy Studies in London during

the premiership of Margaret Thatcher.

Joe van der Walt - Director

Former South African military officer, who has

specialised in private-sector security in Africa

and the Middle East, with particular expertise in

the oil, gas and mining sectors and working

experience in Angola, DRC, Liberia, Zambia,

Somalia, Iraq, to name a few.

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ECONOMY ...................................................................................................................... 7

GRAPH 1: MOZAMBIQUE CURRENCY EVALUATION ........................................... 7

Bank of Mozambique increases international reserves by US$13.6 million ................. 8

Workshop on the SADC Trade Related Facility ........................................................... 8

Prime Minister urges diversifying the economy ............................................................ 9

Prime Minister calls for greater investment in tourism ................................................ 10

“Those who innovate, win” – Prime Minister tells m-Cel ............................................ 11

Mozambican Tax Authority has already collected 56.08% of the year’s total revenue

target .......................................................................................................................... 12

Implementation of electricity projects accelerated ...................................................... 12

CTA urges Maputo Province to prioritise local business ............................................ 13

70 state-owned companies will soon be sold or liquidated ........................................ 15

China’s diplomacy focuses on preferential loans for infrastructure ............................ 15

Project launched to boost small scale sugar farmers ................................................. 17

Study calls for additional support measures for the sugar industry ............................ 18

Mozambique considers surcharges on rice imports to boost domestic production .... 18

Mozambique: slow to catch fire .................................................................................. 19

Rubicon Resources issues shares to expand business in Mozambique .................... 20

Triton Minerals produces battery grade spherical graphite ........................................ 21

Regional power integration is the way to go .............................................................. 22

AfDB to fund Mapai Dam construction ....................................................................... 23

Upgrade of Sena railway line nears completion ......................................................... 23

Shoprite to open store in Tete .................................................................................... 24

Loading times in Maputo reduced to two and a half days .......................................... 24

Matola City Council creates new urban area.............................................................. 25

World Bank makes recommendations for reducing poverty in Mozambique .............. 25

US$1 billion budget will fund youth-led projects in rural areas ................................... 26

4

Mozambique part of regional expansion strategy of Botswana based RDC Properties

................................................................................................................................... 27

Investment Conference - Beira 2015 ......................................................................... 27

POLITICS ...................................................................................................................... 28

Frelimo urges Renamo militia to turn in their weapons .............................................. 28

Mozambique “very concerned” over Guinea-Bissau .................................................. 28

SADC needs US$500 million for strategic plan .......................................................... 29

President Zuma hands over SADC chair on defence and security to President Nyusi

................................................................................................................................... 30

President Nyusi’s speech at his first SADC Summit .................................................. 31

Renamo’s quest for parity extends to public companies ............................................ 32

“Let President Nyusi keep his police” – Dhlakama ..................................................... 34

Minister de Almeida advocates urgent implementation of alternative sentences ....... 35

President Nyusi dismisses deputy minister of public works ....................................... 36

Government makes tachographs mandatory ............................................................. 36

Prime Minister opens conference of judges on environmental law ............................ 37

Plastic bag regulations to take effect in early 2016 .................................................... 38

Fifth Session of the Parlamento Infantil takes place in Maputo .................................. 38

Renamo militia gather for national conference in Quelimane ..................................... 39

New Chinese ambassador in Maputo ........................................................................ 40

SECURITY .................................................................................................................... 40

President Nyusi appoints new deputy general commander of the PRM .................... 40

12 new leaders sworn in by Minister Monteiro ........................................................... 41

President Nyusi urges demobilised soldiers to seek work with private sector ............ 42

Grenades discovered at former FADM base .............................................................. 43

CRIME ........................................................................................................................... 43

MAP 1: KIDNAPPING INCIDENTS IN CENTRAL MAPUTO 2014 & 2015 ............. 43

GRAPH 2: REPORTED KIDNAPPINGS PER YEAR ............................................. 44

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GRAPH 3: TIME OF KIDNAPPINGS 2014 & 2015 ................................................. 44

GRAPH 4: KIDNAPPINGS PER GENDER / AGE-GROUP 2014 & 2015 ............... 45

Nanny that abducted South African child entered Mozambique – child’s whereabouts

still not confirmed ....................................................................................................... 45

Two Mozambicans detained for allegedly abducting an albino child in Nampula ....... 46

South African soldiers assist Mozambican policeman ............................................... 46

Grocery store employee murdered in Maputo ............................................................ 47

PRM recover three AK-47s and a pistol ..................................................................... 47

Body of an albino male found in Nacala-Porto ........................................................... 47

15-year-old girl gang raped in Matola ........................................................................ 48

Malawian police arrest eight child-traffickers en-route to Mozambique ...................... 48

IGT suspends two illegal employees .......................................................................... 49

Charges against Castel-Branco, Mbanze and Veloso should be dropped - MISA

Mozambique .............................................................................................................. 49

WILDLIFE PRESERVATION ........................................................................................ 49

PRM release district administrator and nine accomplices caught poaching in Niassa 49

Ivory and rhino horns from Mozambique seized in Vietnam ...................................... 50

Vietnamese national caught in possession of lion claws and teeth ............................ 51

18 poaching gangs neutralised in the first half of the year in Gaza Province ............. 51

OTHER .......................................................................................................................... 52

Mozambique tops African Freedom of Speech/Press list ........................................... 52

President Nyusi calls for joint efforts on food security ................................................ 52

President Nyusi inaugurates school games ............................................................... 53

3,990 contaminated chickens incinerated .................................................................. 54

Religious leaders to fight against child marriage ........................................................ 55

Endemic diseases decrease in Sofala Province ........................................................ 55

Mozambique’s malaria-carrying mosquitoes resistant to insecticides ........................ 56

Mozambique must end the confusion surrounding given names – government ........ 56

6

BUSINESS INDEX

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. 22

Black & Veatch 22

Brookings Institution 15

BYD 21

Djire Commercial 49

DP World 25

Electricidade de Moçambique, EdM 12

Eskom 12, 22

Gestores 25

Grindrod Group 25

Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa, HCB 13

ICVL 19, 20

Jindal Steel & Power 19

Liebherr 25

Maputo Port Development Corporation, MPDC 24

Mocambique Cellular, m-Cel 11

Mota-Engil 23

Ncondezi Energy 20

PacMoz 20

Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique, CFM 24

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP 22

RDC Properties 27

Rio Tinto 19

Riversdale 19

Rubicon Resources 20

Shoprite 24

Telecomunicações de Moçambique, TDM 12

Terrace Africa 24

Tesla 21

Tongaat-Hulett 17

Toyota 21

Triton Minerals 21

Vale 19, 20

Visabeira Group 23

Yichang Xincheng Graphite Co 21

7

ECONOMY

Mozambique Exchange Rate and Fuel Prices: 18 August 2015

GRAPH 1: MOZAMBIQUE CURRENCY EVALUATION

Mozambique Fuel Prices

Fuel Type Price Per Litre

Petrol 47,52MT

Diesel 36,81MT

Prices only valid for Maputo, Beira and Nacala

Mozambique Metical (MZN) Exchange Rate

Currency Buy Sell

Euro (EUR) 43,69 43,91

U.S. Dollar (USD) 39,34 39,54

S.A. Rand (ZAR) 3,05 3,06

8

Bank of Mozambique increases international reserves by US$13.6 million

Following a public warning that the central bank risked running out of US dollars, provisional data indicates that the Bank of Mozambique’s foreign currency reserves actually increased by US$13.6 million in July.

Reserves climbed to US$2.61 million, sufficient to cover 3.86 months’ worth of imports, against June figures of US$2.60 million.

The central bank explains that the increase in reserves is predominantly due to US$91.5 million in foreign aid, which was received by the State.

Owing to the depreciation of the metical against the dollar, the central bank’s reserves decreased in dollar value by US$34.5 million in July, reducing the impact of the increase in reserves. During the same month, the government was liable for US$24.3 million in foreign debt repayment.

In the financial sector, provisional data for July shows that the monetary base increased by MT1.79 million to MT60.27 million, a figure in line with forecasts for the period (MT60.07 million).

The behaviour of the monetary base in July reflected the simultaneous increase in notes and coins in circulation and in bank reserves by MT1.27 million and MT525 million respectively.

Source: O País

Workshop on the SADC Trade Related Facility

The Trade Related Facility (TFR) is a mechanism that provides financial and technical support to Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to assist them in the implementation of commitments made under the SADC Protocol on Trade and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the SADC-EPA group. On 6 August a workshop was organised in Maputo to discuss the identification and elaboration mechanisms in relation to eligible Mozambican projects.

The workshop gathered representatives of the Mozambican private sector and the majority of Mozambican ministries (including Industry and Trade, Foreign Trade and Cooperation, Economy and Finance, Transport and Communication, Rural Development and Culture and Tourism), as well as representatives of the European Union Delegation in Mozambique and from the SADC.

Celio Nhachungue, the deputy director of international relations in the Ministry of Industry and Trade - the TFR focal point in Mozambique - underlined the importance of regional integration for the economic development of Mozambique. As explained by Dumisani Mahlinza from the TFR Facility Support Unit, €2.6 million (of a total of €32 million) could be allocated to Mozambique through the TFR mechanism. In order to be eligible, projects must be worth at least €250,000.

Support mechanisms range from trade defence instruments (anti-dumping measures) to trade related adjustments (to mitigate the impact of the EPA) and competition policy. Paul Kalenga, a TFR

9

technical adviser, elaborated on the technical services that the TFR can provide in the fields of customs co-operation, trade facilitation and industrial development.

He reminded the audience that the main goal of the TFR was to increase the exports of member states. The EU is an important commercial partner for Mozambique; in 2013, it was its main export partner (36.6% of exports) and its fourth import partner (11.4% of imports).

For now, the TFR implementation has been delayed. The first call for applications (of which there will be two per year) for eligible projects is planned for September or October.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Prime Minister urges diversifying the economy

On Thursday (13 August) Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário stressed the need to diversify the country’s economy, maintaining that agriculture in particular plays a crucial role in improving the country’s living standards.

Although he was speaking at the swearing in ceremony of the new chairpersons of the National Hydrocarbon Company (ENH), and the National Petroleum Institute (INP), Omar Mithá and Carlos Zacarias, the Prime Minister took the opportunity to highlight the importance of other sectors of the economy.

“There is an urgent need to diversify the Mozambican economy, paying attention to attracting investments to promote agriculture and agro-industry”, he said.

Focusing on the ceremony, Prime Minister Rosário subsequently urged Mithá and Zacarias to ensure the transparent management of the human and financial resources of their respective institutions.

ENH and the INP “should contribute to greater dynamism in implementing the government’s Five-Year Programme”, he added. “The choice of these leaders for the positions they will now occupy is based on the high degree of professionalism they have shown in their previous posts”. The Prime Minister said that he believes that they will conduct themselves in a professional manner when it comes to the management of the country’s natural resources.

Mithá told reporters that he will work towards implementing the Five Year-Programme by stimulating the growth of the gas and petroleum sector, which he regards as crucial for the development of the Mozambican economy. “The challenge is to catalyse this sector with industries that produce energy for the this region and the world”, he said.

For his part, Zacarias pledged to consolidate the INP, “since there are many challenges ahead. It is important that all this be done in a correct and sustainable manner”.

Mithá is from Mocimboa da Praia, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, near the newly discovered offshore deposits of natural gas in the Rovuma Basin. The country’s known reserves of natural gas stand at 170 trillion cubic feet (tcf), enough to support production and export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for several decades.

Mithá’s experience lies in economics. He was chief economist at the country’s

10

largest commercial bank, the Millennium-BIM (International Bank of Mozambique), and he has lectured in financial mathematics, financial management and project analysis at various universities in Maputo.

After taking office in January, President Filipe Nyusi appointed Mithá as deputy minister of industry and trade, a post he has now vacated in order to assume the position of chairperson of the ENH board.

ENH is the state body responsible for research, prospecting, production and marketing of petroleum and gas products, and represents the State in petroleum operations. In all the natural gas concessions, notably in the Rovuma basin, ENH has a stake of between 10% and 15% in the various consortia that have been formed.

The INP is the regulatory body for hydrocarbons, and is responsible for such matters as organising the bidding rounds for allocating areas of hydrocarbon exploration. Zacarias has worked at the INP for years in the post of director of operations.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Prime Minister calls for greater investment in tourism

On Monday (17 August) Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário called for increased innovation and competitiveness among tourist operators in order to improve the quality of Mozambican tourism.

Speaking in Maputo, at the Fourth Annual Meeting on Tourism, Prime Minister Rosário said that the constant training of workers employed within the tourism

sector is one of the key methods outlined in an attempt to achieve better services.

“We encourage tourism operators to prioritise innovation, competitiveness and improvements in the quality of their products and in the way in which they attend to clients”, he said.

Statistics presented at the meeting indicate that, in 2014 international tourism generated revenue of US$266 million from approximately 1.7 million tourists visiting the country. Investment in tourism in 2014 stood at approximately US$250 million.

However, this was a decline from 2013, when there was an investment of US$871 million in tourism. The government attributes this decline to political instability. In June 2013 Renamo returned to war, and embarked on a low level insurgency in the central province of Sofala, which lasted until August 2014.

In 2014, Mozambican tourist establishments offered 47,000 beds, compared with only 18,000 in 2009. That year, tourism employed 31,000 workers. However, by 2014, the work force in the tourism sector had grown to over 50,000.

Prime Minister Rosário is confident of the role that tourism is playing in creating jobs, diversifying the economy and providing a catalyst for inclusive growth.

“Realising the rich potential of our country”, he said, “involves an endless search for answers to each of the challenges posed in the sector”.

He stressed that the government is committed to the “Serving Well” campaign, which aims to mobilise all the

11

relevant institutions in receiving visitors to the country.

“The government will continue to promote competition in the tourism industry through measures conducive to the entry of new operators, in order to make tourism prices more competitive, particularly in the areas of air and road transport, accommodation and meals”, said the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Rosário also emphasised the need to promote domestic tourism as a platform for encouraging stability and generating employment and growth, in order to minimise the seasonal effects of international tourism.

The meeting a day was attended by staff of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, former tourism ministers, private operators, and co-operation partners.

Source: Notícias/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

“Those who innovate, win” – Prime Minister tells m-Cel

On Monday (17 August) Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário urged the publicly-owned cell phone company Mocambique Cellular (m-Cel) to improve its investment and marketing strategies, in order to cope with the highly competitive environment of the mobile telephony market.

Prime Minister Rosário issued this warning while conducting what he described as a “routine visit” to the m-Cel headquarters in Maputo. His object of the visit was to enable him to understand the operations of the company, which is a former pioneer in its field.

The Prime Minister also urged m-Cel to invest in technological modernisation. “When competing, those who innovate the most win and those who don’t innovate lose”, he said. “Those who have the most highly motivated staff win, and those who don’t, lose. Those who promote investment win, and those who do not, lose”.

After meeting with the top m-Cel management, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Carlos Mesquita (who was accompanying the Prime Minister on his visit) declared that: “this operator has enormous challenges ahead of it. These are challenges which must be faced seriously in order for the company to develop and compete”.

Minister Mesquita noted that there had been “a slight delay in the investment programme in the last three years. Things must be speeded up. The company must also take into account human development from the career structures to technological conditions”.

He added that the government, in partnership with m-Cel, is currently assessing measures to regulate the operational methods of the competing companies, so as to ensure that there is no form of unfair competition in the Mozambican mobile telephone market.

The minister admitted that m-Cel is experiencing financial difficulties which require “careful treatment”. He called for “a courageous look at the operational costs, at the structures and at the whole chain of commercial marketing”.

Minister Mesquita also rejected the idea of selling-off m-Cel shares. Instead he suggested that the State should find some other form of financial participation to

12

recapitalise the company. The sale of shares would be “a last resort”.

“At the meeting with the m-Cel management we were given to understand that the State, as shareholder, should participate or arrange forms of financing through the various models that exist, to capitalise the company so that it can continue to invest”, said Minister Mesquita.

The public telecommunications company Telecomunicações de Moçambique (TDM) owns 74% of the shares in m-Cel, and the remaining 26% are in the hands of the government’s Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE). Last week the IGEPE chairperson, Apolinario Panguene, categorically denied that IGEPE was considering selling any of its shares in the company.

Source: Macauhub/Notícias/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Mozambican Tax Authority has already collected 56.08% of the year’s total revenue target

As of this week (14 to 21 August) the Mozambican Tax Authority (AT) has raised MT90.12 billion in tax revenues, representing 56.08% of its annual target (MT160.7 billion).

This information was made public Tuesday (18 August) in Maputo, by the President of the AT, Rosário Fernandes, during a social responsibility event hosted by the authority.

Source: Rádio Moçambique

Implementation of electricity projects accelerated

On Tuesday (18 August) the government relieved Gildo Sibumbe of his responsibilities as chairperson of the publicly-owned Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM), and immediately re-allocated him to a revived electricity Project Implementation Technical Unit (UTIP).

Speaking to reporters at the end of the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Pedro Couto, said that a second former chairperson of EdM, Augusto de Sousa Fernando, will also be given a position at UTIP.

According to Minister Couto, UTIP’s primary task is to speed up investment projects for the generation and transmission of electricity. He mentioned in particular the planned “backbone” of the national electricity grid. This entails a new transmission line from Tete Province to Beira (Sofala Province) and Maputo. This project has been in the pipeline for years; however, until now it has not progressed beyond the stage of preliminary studies.

Currently, power from the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi flows directly from the town of Songo to the Apollo sub-station in South Africa, since the South African electricity company Eskom is the main client for Cahora Bassa power. Power from Cahora Bassa does not go directly to Maputo.

Instead, all of southern Mozambique receives its electricity via an Eskom transmission line. It is considered as Cahora Bassa power and EdM pays the Cahora Bassa operating company,

13

Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), for this electricity.

The planned new line will bring an end this cumbersome arrangement. It will also be necessary to add additional transmission capacity as other electricity generation projects in Tete become operational. These include a second power station at Cahora Bassa, a new dam and power station at Mpanda Nkua (60 kilometres downstream from Cahora Bassa) and coal fired power stations planned by mining companies.

“In the energy sector there are a series of strategic electricity generation and transmission projects which must be developed during this five year period (2015-2019)”, said Minister Couto. Therefore it is crucial “to revive UTIP, so that it can systematically begin to monitor the progress of each of these projects”.

UTIP, he added, must develop existing project studies, propose any necessary innovations, undertake viability studies and, eventually, ensure implementation. The minister insisted that projects listed in the government’s Five-Year Programme must, at the very least, be started during the government's term of office.

The Tete-Maputo “backbone”, he said, is still at an initial phase of analysis, but the government was determined that construction would begin during this five-year period. “We want to speed up the project”, said Minister Couto, stressing the importance of making electricity available for development projects.

According to President Filipe Nyusi, speaking at the end of the Monday 17 August SADC summit in Gaborone, the region is currently facing an electricity deficit of approximately 8,000 megawatts

(MW). Much of this could be supplied by Mozambique, if the necessary investments are made in hydropower. The Mepanda Nkua dam alone would add 1,500 MW to Mozambique’s generating capacity, and a north bank power station at Cahora Bassa would add a further 1,000 MW.

Source: Macauhub/O País/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

CTA urges Maputo Province to prioritise local business

The Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) has urged the Maputo provincial government to prioritise local businesses in the supply of goods and services as part of the implementation of the Strategic Development Plan for Maputo Province for the 2015-2024 period.

Speaking on Wednesday 19 August, at a conference in the city of Matola to launch the development plan, CTA chairperson, Rogerio Manuel, encouraged local entrepreneurs to use the opportunities provided by the plan to show that they are capable of supplying quality goods and services, and that they deserve the attention of the provincial governments.

Much of Wednesday’s discussion at the conference centred on the need for greater realisation of the value of local business sector, and also on the need yo boost the quality of local produce, in order to reduce or eliminate dependence on imported goods.

Manuel declared that the launch of the strategic development plan opened up opportunities for businesses in agriculture, industry, transport, communications, energy, water supply and trade. “This is a

14

serious challenge posed to all of us, to the government at all levels, to companies and to all stakeholders in implementing projects on the ground”, he said.

It was the CTA’s hope, Manuel added, that the strategic plan would generate growth of the provincial economy and of local business, thus contributing to greater prosperity in the province.

“As a son of this province, and as a business person, I have an enormous interest in seeing these expectations take shape”, said Manuel. He believed his expectations were justified “by the confidence I have in the government and in the business class”.

The CTA’s activity, Manuel added, will be aimed at seeking partnerships to empower private businesses in the province so that they can take advantage of the existing opportunities in order to increase their production and competitiveness.

The provincial strategic plan consists of four pillars – namely: Human Capital; Economic and Social Infrastructure, Economic Growth and Governance.

According to the provincial director of planning and finance, Ludovina Bernardo, who presented the plan, each pillar is based on strategic goals, which will determine targets to be attained in the medium-term.

Accompanying the strategic plan is a portfolio of projects, which is intended to structure the development strategy for the province in an integrated and comprehensive manner.

On the matter, Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário stated that the

success of the development plan will depend on establishing mutually advantageous partnerships between the provincial government, private business, civil society and local communities.

Prime Minister Rosário stressed that partnerships will allow complementarity and mutual support in collective action, in order to promote the development of the province. Such partnerships “will also promote the competitiveness of the economy and the sustainable development of the province”, he claimed.

The success of the development plan “will depend on good vision, good leadership, and the adoption of a development model centred on human capital in which the population, based on greater access to knowledge, information and adequate levels of health care, participates in the development of the province”, said the Prime Minister.

Although the plan has a 10-year scope, Prime Minister Rosário stated that it was perfectly in line with the government’s Five-Year Programme for 2015-2019, as a guiding instrument for government action, with the central goal of improving the living conditions of Mozambicans.

He hoped that, after the first five years of the plan’s implementation, Maputo Province will witness a greater flow of investment, resulting in the construction of additional access roads, linking agricultural production areas to centres of consumption, more irrigation systems, and new industrial units, specifically in agro-processing.

The Prime Minister stressed that the central government is completely willing and open to supporting the

15

implementation of the strategic development plan.

Provincial Governor Raimundo Diomba explained that the main purpose of the two-day conference was to present the development plan, and the dossier of projects that constitute investment opportunities.

He called for a frank debate “so that we can all identify the best ways of taking advantage of the situation and identify opportunities for small, medium and large businesses, in the country in general, and in Maputo Province in particular”.

Source: O País/Jornal Notícias/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

70 state-owned companies will soon be sold or liquidated

On Thursday 20 August, IGEPE announced that it is considering selling and/or liquidating 70 of the 113 public companies within its portfolio due to a lack of sustainability.

The announcement was made during the institution’s Advisory Board meeting held in Maputo.

“The sale or liquidation of 70 of the 113 companies - in which the State has an interest - is underway, since only 47 are sustainable or show any improvement in their performance”, said the president of IGEPE, Apolinario Panguene.

The head of the IGEPE said that several companies owned by the State have now begun to grow, and are expected to pay dividends in the coming years.

“With the recovery of profitability, companies that were exhibiting unsatisfactory performance are beginning

to be able to honour their commitments and pay dividends to the State”, Panguene said.

The president of IGEPE pointed to the fall of product prices in the international market as one of the factors that had resulted in the lack of registered profits amongst some state-owned companies in recent years.

He said that to promote transparency in the management of state companies, IGEPE is preparing a structured monitoring model, which will allow timely access to each company’s financial data.

In turn, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, who supervises the public business sector, urged state companies to be a model of management and transparency and fulfil their role in the development of the Mozambican economy.

Source: Lusa

China’s diplomacy focuses on preferential loans for infrastructure

According to an analysis conducted by the Brookings Institution, the amendments currently being made to China’s development aid model should strengthen co-operation with multilateral agencies, whilst continuing to focus on preferential loans for infrastructure.

Yun Sun, an analyst at Brookings, who has studied the role of Africa in China’s diplomacy, said that loans with preferential terms (or subsidised loans), similar to those that have been granted to Angola and Mozambique, already constitute the largest component of Chinese foreign aid, accounting for almost 56% of the total between 2010 and 2012.

16

In relation to Africa, in the “near future” the “bulk” of the aid is likely to be granted through preferential loans which, together with development aid, are a set of “highly valuable financial resources for (Africa’s) vast infrastructure development needs”, said Sun.

In the next few months the Chinese Foreign Ministry is expected to issue a set of guidelines for external aid to frame the high growth figures expected in the coming years, in line with those recorded in the recent past.

Between 2010 and 2012, China’s aid reached ¥90 billion, nearly a third of the total since 1949, becoming a “formidable alternative to Western aid”, according to Sun.

Some analysts in China have been advocating for a reduction in the weight of preferential loans and infrastructure projects, but this seems to clash with the current priorities of the Chinese government, which include establishing links, particularly along the “New Silk Route”.

Sun stated that, in the coming years, preferential loans for infrastructure “will be considered favourably within Chinese foreign aid”.

In Africa, Angola and Mozambique are among the main beneficiaries of these loans. China is already the biggest bilateral creditor of Mozambique, where major investments are being prepared with Chinese capital. China has increased funding to the country by 160% since 2012.

With a new loan of US$400 million announced last month, the weight of funding from China to Mozambique is

expected to grow almost 50% above the current level.

The new loan is earmarked for the construction of a 600 kilometre power transmission line between the provinces of Zambézia and Nampula.

In the case of Angola, the two countries established a strategic partnership in 2010, with China providing credit lines and Angola repaying them with oil, which led to an increase in two-way trade of over 2,000% between 2002 and 2012.

The level of support for Angola was well received, and the aid scheme was so effective that it was eventually extended to other countries under the designation: “Angola Model” – financing agreements with low interest rates for African countries, guaranteed with the supply of raw materials.

For African countries, this support came at a time when they were experiencing great difficulty in accessing financing.

The Chinese foreign aid budget supports the difference between market interest rates and subsidised interest on loans, enough to increase demand for this financing, which also secures contracts for Chinese companies and helps ensure a market for natural resources, said the analyst at Brookings.

Sun also maintains that the future of Chinese support would involve further multilateral funding, with joint initiatives of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, led by China, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Source: Macauhub

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Project launched to boost small scale sugar farmers

The EU and the Botswana-based ABC Bank have pledged financial support to the tune of over €3.9 million for a project in support of the development of small scale sugar producers in Xinavane (Maputo Province).

The project, launched in Xinavane on Thursday 13, also involves the South African company, Tongaat-Hulett, the majority shareholder in the Xinavane sugar company, and 362 farmers, organised into five associations.

These farmers will grow sugar cane on 520 hectares. A further 30 hectares has been set aside for cultivating food crops.

The EU is providing a grant of €1.54 million, while the ABC Bank is providing the farmers with a loan of €2.37 million. The farmers will repay the loan out of the sales of their sugar cane to Tongaat-Hulett.

Tongaat-Hulett says that it has co-ordinated the project, obtained the necessary licences and assisted in organising the Xinavane farmers into associations. The company promises to provide extension services, and develop management skills among the farmers.

The cane was sown in the project area from August 2014, and the first harvests are expected within 14 months. The prospective yield is estimated at 100 tons of cane per hectare.

According to the project director, Sancho Cumbe, the expectation is that the supply of cane to the Tongaat-Hulett Xinavane factory will increase, and a sustainable and viable small scale agricultural sector

will be created in the area, with a substantial rise in rural employment.

Cumbe stated that the company has significantly increased its cane procurements from small producers. In the 2007-08 sugar production season, only 3% of the cane milled at Xinavane came from small farmers, while 97% originated from Tongaat-Hulett’s own plantation. During the 2013-14 season, however, 20% of the cane came from small farmers, and Tongatt-Hulett expects the figure to reach 29% in the 2015-16 season.

Tongaat-Hulett has two sugar mills in Mozambique, in Xinavane and at Mafambisse in the central province of Sofala.

Between them the two mills have an installed capacity of over 330,000 tons of sugar per year, although they have never reached that figure. Production was 249,000 tons in 2013-14 and 271,000 tons in the 2014-15 season. The company expects production to rise to 307,000 tons in 2018-19.

Xinavane is the larger of the two operations, producing 202,000 tons in 2014-15.

Tongaat-Hulett boasts that it is the largest employer in the private sector in Mozambique, employing 17,000 people during peak production periods on its two plantations and mills. This is about half the total number of sugar workers in the country.

“The project to develop smallscale farmers will contribute to increased production, and will guarantee that sugar companies have skilled suppliers

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providing the necessary raw material”, said Cumbe.

Speaking at the Thursday ceremony, deputy foreign minister Nyeleti Mondlane said that the project demonstrates how it is possible to create a positive dynamic in the relationship between a sugar company and small producers, thereby benefiting the development of local communities.

She praised the EU for its “valuable support” through the European Development Fund (EDF), which was “a catalyst that enabled more smallscale sugar producers to benefit from the opportunities that have been created by the relationship” (between Tongaat-Hulett and the smallsclae sugar producers).

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Study calls for additional support measures for the sugar industry

According to a study released on Tuesday 18 August, the increase in the benchmark prices for sugar imports will contribute towards protecting Mozambique’s sugar industry, if they are combined with additional measures to enhance the competitiveness of the sector.

On 8 August the government decided to increase benchmark sugar import prices, with immediate effect, from US$385 to US$806 per ton for brown sugar, and from US$450 to US$932 per ton for refined (white) sugar.

This measure is designed to discourage the entry of large quantities of sugar from neighbouring countries where production and export are highly subsidised, which results in unfair competition with the

Mozambican industry, which is still in a recovery phase.

Commissioned by the CTA, with funding from US development agency USAID, the study claims that the country will need to invest in transport infrastructure to ease the movement of the product internally.

Peter Kegod, a consultant who presented the study, also mentioned the importance of diversifying the export market. This is due to the fact that, during the next few years, placing sugar on the EU market may not be as advantageous as it is now.

Kegod said that it is imperative that Mozambique starts looking at exporting locally produced sugar to the markets of SADC and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), as well as exploring the domestic market.

The sugar industry in Mozambique currently employs around 30,000 people.

Source: Macauhub

Mozambique considers surcharges on rice imports to boost domestic production

According to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, José Pacheco, the government is planning to introduce surcharges on imports of rice, beans, meat and eggs in order to encourage domestic production.

Recently, the local media reported that rice farmers have been complaining of diminishing competiveness due to imported rice, particularly low quality of cracked rice. They told local sources that the lack of restrictions at entry points is the main reason behind the increase in rice imports in the country.

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The minister noted that a recent introduction of surcharge on sugar imports has yielded the desired results, and he expressed optimism that the same concept would be successful if implemented for other products as well.

Source: Oryza

Mozambique: slow to catch fire

Renewed fighting between security forces and rebel Renamo forces over the past couple of months has added to the hardships faced by Mozambique’s coal industry, which is concentrated in the troubled province of Tete.

According to the government, a July firefight in the district of Moatize killed one member of the security forces (FADM) - but Renamo claims to have killed 45 government troops. Hundreds of refugees fled across the border to Malawi after their homes and farms were burnt to the ground.

Although Mozambique possesses rich coal deposits, the fall in the global price of coal had already exposed not only the high costs of mining in Mozambique, but also of transporting the resources to port. According to one major investor, these costs make “the operation of the Mozambican coal mining industry economically unsustainable”.

At the end of July Maputo hosted a conference on coal mining in the country. The scale of the event - fewer than 100 participants in a small room on the first floor of the Hotel Avenida - was in stark contrast to the Gas Summit at Maputo’s international conference centre last year (2014), where prospective investors packed a large auditorium to hear about

the opportunities that the coming bonanza would bring.

The hope is that the gas industry will not follow the trajectory of the coal industry.

Revelations sited in a newly published book on Brazil’s relations with Mozambique suggest that former president Lula da Silva’s government lobbied hard — including writing off some Mozambican sovereign debt — to help Brazilian mining giant Vale win the concession to dig for coal in the Moatize basin, thought to be one of the richest deposits of high-quality coking coal in the world.

They needn’t have bothered, it now seems. In a famous case, Rio Tinto paid US$4 billion to buy neighbouring concessions in Tete from Riversdale, only to sell them three years later for US$50 million, which led to the dismissal of their chief executive and the senior manager responsible for the investment.

Mozambican coal’s potential saving grace

lies in India, where President Filipe Nyusi went on a state visit earlier this month. India has a huge and ever-growing demand for coal, to fuel its steel and power generation industries. A conglomerate of Indian state-owned coal and steel companies, known as ICVL, snapped-up Rio Tinto’s assets at a bargain price. Jindal Steel & Power is another major investor, with a mine close to the Zambian border. Nevertheless, President Nyusi’s main message in India was to stop fixating on oil and gas, and to invest more in agricultural processing industries. Coal barely got a mention.

The Mozambique government’s disengagement from the coal industry is said to be frustrating investors. According

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to Jindal’s presentation at the conference in July: “there is no dialogue [with government] on problems affecting the industry and the development of the country in general”. Moreover, decision-making is a slow process, Jindal’s country head, Chandra Singh, said.

The biggest problem faced by coal producers in Mozambique is getting it out of the country. ICVL country head Nirmal Chandra Jha said last month that the “costs and infrastructure make Mozambique coal highly unviable”. That could change somewhat when Vale completes a new railway to a purpose-built export terminal at Nacala.

At the end of last month, however, it emerged that one of Vale’s coal stackers, which moves coal from the trains to the boats at Nacala, had collapsed.

Some investors have given up on the prospects of exporting coal. Ncondezi Energy, a London-listed company with a coal mine in Tete, has switched its plan away from exporting, to become a power producer. It wants to build a 1,800MW plant. This plan would go some way towards protecting it from fluctuations in the global coal price - a good plan, since at the end of last year, its accountants wrote off 80% of the value of its coal deposit.

One final consideration is the political flux in Mozambique. Renamo is pushing hard for a decentralisation of power, and fairer division of resource revenues, in a country which has historically been tightly ruled from Maputo by Frelimo.

Tete was the last stop on President Nyusi’s tour of all 11 provinces. During his visit there at the start of August, he

preached what has become a regular sermon of peace and national unity.

Nevertheless, Mozambique appears to be on the road to some decentralisation of power. Tete is a Renamo stronghold. The gas, by contrast, is concentrated in the Frelimo stronghold of Cabo Delgado.

Perhaps, all things considered, Frelimo will determine that the effort needed to nurse Mozambique’s sickly coal industry back to life is no longer worth it.

Source: Financial Mail/Tom Bowker

Rubicon Resources issues shares to expand business in Mozambique

Rubicon Resources achieved a cash inflow of US$474,300 from a share issue, which is to be invested in the expansion of its business in Mozambique.

The company issued over 63.6 million shares, worth a total of US$763,200, although 24 million shares worth US$288,900 were not subscribed.

In a statement, the company’s Chairman Ian Macpherson said that, taking into account the current difficult investment climate, “we are pleased that over 62% of shareholders decided to take part in this issue”.

The company’s management also said that it had received expressions of interest for the acquisition of the shares that were still available.

Rubicon Resources operates in Mozambique through PacMoz, a company specialising in the supply of skilled labour - both Mozambican and foreign - for the natural resources and energy infrastructure sectors.

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PacMoz, established three years ago, is headquartered in Maputo and has additional offices in Beira and Nacala, and is currently constructing offices in Pemba and Cabo Delgado. Rubicon Resources acquired PacMoz in March 2015.

Source: Macauhub

Triton Minerals produces battery grade spherical graphite

Triton Minerals has locked in on the growing battery sector with initial laboratory tests producing spherical graphite from graphite concentrate sourced from its Nicanda Hill Project in Mozambique.

This follows in the wake of the commencement of trial production of enhanced graphite products earlier this month at partner Yichang Xincheng Graphite Co., Ltd’s Dongyang factory in China.

Spherical graphite is ideally suited for lithium ion batteries and energy storage applications within the multi-billion dollar battery sector.

This has the potential to increase the range of Triton Mozambique Graphite (TMG) products, as well as increase revenues.

Triton will now review the additional options available and consider the benefits of incorporating a scaled production process of spherical graphite into future product streams.

Further testing will also continue to optimise performance and recovery rates.

Managing Director, Brad Boyle, says that: “These tests confirm that Nicanda Hill graphite is ideally suited for the creation of

the high value spherical graphite, which is the foundation for the energy storage and electric vehicle markets.

“The battery market is an exciting, high growth sector. Triton will investigate incorporating spherical graphite production into future processing operations”.

Nicanda Hill flake graphite concentrate is used because of the presence of naturally occurring high purity finer flake material, which reduces the time and costs required to grind the particles to the required size.

Initial tests produced a wide range of spherical graphite particles ranging from five to 40 microns.

These are suitable for both course sizing li-ion batteries with particle sizes ranging from 25 microns to 48 microns and the fine sizing batteries that require spherical graphite with particle sizes ranging from three microns to 25 microns.

The battery market is a rapidly growing sector with demand forecast to grow at approximately 9% per annum based on the growth forecasts in the li-ion battery demand.

This is driven mainly by the growth in hybrid and electric cars such as the Toyota Prius, BYD and Tesla.

The value of li-ion batteries in light duty consumer vehicles is expected to grow to US$24.1 billion in 2023 from US$3.2 billion in 2013.

Approximately 90% of spherical graphite produced around the world is used in batteries.

It is estimated that 60,000 tons of graphite is consumed per year in the production of

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anodes for lithium ion batteries (35,000 tons natural graphite and 25,000 tons synthetic graphite).

An average electric vehicle will require between 100 and 250 kilograms of graphite each depending on the size and power requirements.

Should the market grow as expected, the demand for graphite, and in particular spherical graphite, will grow accordingly. The total amount of graphite required to sustain this growth is projected to be almost 1.6 million tons per year by 2020.

Triton expects to be able to produce natural spherical graphite at a fraction of the cost needed to produce artificial graphite, which is made from a by-product of refined oil using an energy intensive and expensive process.

Source: Proactive Investors

Regional power integration is the way to go

Sub-Saharan African nations need to integrate their power-distribution systems to help meet the region’s increasing energy needs, says Black & Veatch chief financial officer Karen Daniel.

“The integration of the delivery of power is a big deal”, Daniel said in Johannesburg (South Africa) where the US developer announced that it had opened a local unit. “People are going to really figure it out in a way that it will be more regional as opposed to country specific”.

Black & Veatch, based in Kansas, is seeking to expand its business in sub-Saharan Africa, where countries are “way behind” on developing power systems, Daniel said.

While power-generation capacity in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to quadruple to 385GW by 2040, approximately 530 million people will probably remain without electricity, the International Energy Agency said in a report last October (2014).

Regional power generation and interconnection projects offer the prospect of increased access to electricity, as well as cheaper power, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said in a report this year

In South Africa, Black & Veatch is working on Eskom’s 4,800MW Kusile coal-fired project currently under construction, and it is also advising the power utility on managing outages at its existing assets.

Other opportunities in the region include projects stemming from natural gas discoveries in Mozambique, Daniel said.

Mozambique has gas reserves with the potential to vault the country into the top three producers of LNG in the next decade, according to Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

“The gas that is going to come out of Mozambique will have a huge impact on sub-Saharan Africa. That’s going to generate a lot of spending here in the southern part of Africa”, Daniel said.

Daniel is also a member of US President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, which in April presented recommendations to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

Pritzker’s office has indicated that it would focus on the council’s proposals to attract more investors to projects in Africa and

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the creation of an African infrastructure business centre, Daniel said.

The proposed centre would gather data about planned and existing infrastructure projects in Africa and provide a forum for investors to connect with governments and prospective local and international partners, Daniel said.

“That might not sound like a lot, but when you’re a whole continent away trying to figure out how to do business, getting those agencies connected will be a really important piece of integrating the whole infrastructure process”, she said.

Source: Bloomberg

AfDB to fund Mapai Dam construction

According to the government, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged to finance the building of an irrigation dam in southern Mozambique.

Government spokesperson, Mouzinho Saíde, told reporters that the funds for the Mapai Dam, in the southern province of Gaza, will be available before the end of the year.

“At the moment there is €4.1 million for feasibility studies, environmental impact studies, as well as irrigation project and resettlement studies”, he said.

The total project costs are estimated at €4.5 million, of which €3.4 million will be financed by the African Water Facility (AWF) grant funding, and €700,000 will be financed by the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA), according to the feasibility report of the Mapai project, published by the AfDB.

The report says that construction work will commence at the beginning of next year

(2016), and the overall duration of construction will be 36 months from the date of approval.

Mapai is located in the Limpopo Basin, which is characterised by both drought and flooding.

Source: Xinhua

Upgrade of Sena railway line nears completion

According to the Executive Director of the Sena Line Reconstruction Brigade (BRLS), Elias Xai-Xai, the construction work currently underway to increase the transport capacity of the Sena railway line, from 6.5 to 20 million tons of cargo per year, is 75% complete and will be finished before the year’s end.

The reconstruction work has been going on since 2013, and covers roughly 575 kilometres from the port of Beira (Sofala Province) to the coal town of Moatize (Tete Province), including the Nhamitanga-Marromeu extension.

Completed upgrades of a 254 kilometre section of the line have allowed for the movement of 100 wagons and six locomotives, primarily transporting coal, against the previous capacity of 42 wagons and two locomotives. The €163 million project, in the hands of contractors Mota-Engil and Edvisa (Visabeira Group), also involves the reinforcement of railway bridges to withstand increased loads and the smoothing of curves with a radius under 300 meters.

According to the head of BRLS, the rehabilitation of the line has already substantially reduced derailments, although ballast theft continues to be a problem.

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Ultimately, the route should support a daily average of between 21 and 25 trains. To cope with this high demand, Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) has recently bought 20 “Drezina’ inspection and maintenance units in order to enable it to swiftly respond to problems.

As Xai-Xai pointed out, the construction is taking place at a time when the BRLS’ 1,300 workers are simultaneously committed to the rehabilitation of most of the company’s 31 railway stations, with an emphasis on the Savane, Mwanza, Inhaminga, Nhamitanga, Caia, Sena, Doa and Cambulatsisse facilities. They are also currently building a new railway station at Cateme. The next phase includes improving accommodation for staff and guests at the railway stations.

Source: Notícias

Shoprite to open store in Tete

Later this year Africa’s largest food retailer, Shoprite, will open a new store in the town of Tete. Property development company, Terrace Africa, confirmed Shoprite as their anchor tenant and indicated that the new shopping centre will also feature many other well-known retailers.

Tete, with an estimated population of more than 250,000, is expected to receive an economic boost later this year when the new rail corridor to Nacala is officially opened. In addition, a new coal fired power station is in an advanced planning stage. Tete is strategically positioned between Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi - making it a strategic transport and logistics hub.

“We are thrilled to bring this new shopping experience to Tete. The project has already provided jobs to the local community and we are confident that it will encourage further investment in the town”, said Sean Oberholzer, development manager for Terrace Africa.

The new Shoprite store will feature a full selection of groceries and fresh produce as well as a bakery, deli, butchery and liquor offering. The development will also include fashion, furniture and banking services.

Addressing plans for future investment, Oberholzer says that: “Terrace Africa’s strategy is to build convenience type retail shopping centres across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia. We focus on smaller towns where we are able to make a difference to the communities and bring new concepts and products to market, we are enthusiastic about the opportunities that exist in Mozambique as it suits our investment profile”.

Source: Naija 247 News

Loading times in Maputo reduced to two and a half days

The Maputo Port Development Corporation (MPDC) plans to reduce the time it takes to load a 40,000 ton ship at the port to two and a half days (from the current three and a half days), according to operations manager Alexandre Houane.

Houane says that the reduction in loading time stems from the purchase of two mobile cranes, which were acquired by the company in order to improve efficiency and productivity of the cargo loading process.

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The construction of the two LHM550 series cranes, by the German company Liebherr, took eight months and each crane has the lifting capacity of 144 tons.

The MPDC has also invested in increasing its ferro-chrome storage capacity by one million tons per year, as well as purchasing a diverse range of forklifts, tractors and trailers to ensure smooth and efficient cargo handling.

The MPDC is a public-private partnership between CFM, South Africa’s Grindrod Group, DP World of the United Arab Emirates and Mozambique’s Gestores.

The government granted the Port of Maputo concession to MPDC in 2003. Fresh momentum was achieved in 2008 when Grindrod and DP World acquired a majority stake in Portus Indico, the largest shareholder (51%) and sponsor of the project.

Source: Macauhub

Matola City Council creates new urban area

The Matola municipality is developing a 14 kilometre stretch of the Maputo Ring Road, between Tchumene and Zimpeto, with industrial and commercial infrastructure, transport and communication networks, energy, sanitation and social facilities all planned for the area.

The municipality has erected signs prohibiting the construction of houses within 250 metres of the road on both sides and has already met with the communities affected. Those who have been using plots for farming have been relocated to the Mulaúze River area.

In order to minimise congestion and prevent traffic accidents, entries to the future commercial units will be directed via feeder roads perpendicular to the Ring Road, and not from the Ring Road itself.

The Territorial Planning and Urbanisation councillor for the sector, André Chacha, is quoted as saying that the project is in response to the city council’s self-imposed challenge to build a diverse city, not given over solely to housing and industrial development.

Source: Folha de Maputo

World Bank makes recommendations for reducing poverty in Mozambique

According to a World Bank report, presented on Thursday 20 August, Mozambique has to select the right policies if it wants to achieve sustainable poverty reduction.

This assertion stems from the fact that, despite robust economic growth over the past two decades, Mozambique still experiences high levels of poverty.

The report, drafted by the World Bank and co-financed by the UK government, through its Department for International Development, examines the state of domestic revenue and public expenditure, and provides a detailed analysis of public spending by sector, including health, education, transport infrastructure, energy, water and sanitation and social protection.

The document offers suggestions, based on international best practices in comparable contexts, to improve public expenditure in these sectors, in order to make informed decisions on public

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spending and macroeconomic balance policies.

In conclusion, the study offers policy options that the government could take to consign sufficient resources in priority sectors even at times of fiscal consolidation.

Source: Macauhub

US$1 billion budget will fund youth-led projects in rural areas

According to the Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Celso Correia, who was speaking during a recent discussion meeting on rural development, a sum of US$1 billion is available to fund development initiatives proposed by finalists and young university graduates.

“The government will provide, in partnership with commercial banks, a US$1 billion line of credit at an average interest of 5%, for the implementation of private sector anchor projects in rural areas”.

The discussion was organised by the University Finalists Student Association of Mozambique (AEFUM), and was attended the former dean of the Eduardo Mondlane University, Filipe Couto, and by the president of AEFUM, Osvaldo Mauaie.

Minister Correia pointed to agri-food, renewable energy and micro-finance sectors as having the potential for young people to leverage the development of districts over the next five years.

The Stimulus Package for the Rural Economy, part of Project Star (Projecto Estrela), focuses on areas of the country with untapped potential and relies on

structured and rigorous financing for anchor projects in rural areas.

Although efforts are being made by the government to attract financial institutions, it is estimated that 50% of districts in Mozambique are not serviced by commercial banks. This opens opportunities for microfinance institutions to fill the gap.

In the agri-food sector, Minister Correia argues that the aim should be to improve production and productivity, thereby using less land, although a high percentage of the country’s fertile land is uncultivated.

Minister Correia emphasises that income generation and local development initiatives should not always rely on government funding, which is not available for all projects.

“We should always look out for examples that can help us develop our initiatives. It is important to value local knowledge, learn from experiences – like ‘xitique’ – and not always wait for help from the government”, he stressed.

Speaking on behalf of the students, Mauaie cited some of the challenges facing the districts, such as lack of infrastructure or qualified personnel to ensure the provision of quality services and attract investment.

“Limited local capacity and high levels of unemployment, especially among youngsters and graduates, are also challenges”, he added.

Source: Club of Mozambique/Notícias/O País

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Mozambique part of regional expansion strategy of Botswana based RDC Properties

The Botswana Stock Exchange listed company, RDC Properties is diversifying its business interests across the Southern African region, with new developments earmarked for South Africa, Madagascar, Namibia and Mozambique.

Briefing the media on their half-year results to June 2015, in Gaborone recently, company CEO Guido Giachetti said that RDC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its business counterparts in Cape Town (South Africa) for the development of a hotel in the resort town’s Central Business District (CBD).

The company also stated that other regional prospects are in Madagascar, Namibia and Mozambique, with primary focus on prospecting on gas and oil.

Giachetti says that the investment and property portfolio has grown by 11%, which now stands at P963.2 million, as compared to P868.8 million in the 2014 financial year.

“Although the recent IPD Botswana Annual Property Index 2014 report shows a decline in the Botswana property market, totalling ungeared return from 21.5% in 2013 to 11.5% in 2014, we are pleased to report that the company’s return for the same period was 15%, and this is very good”, he said.

Giachetti further stated that while appreciating the business and market

turbulences in the property sector in the region, RDC continues to bravely upscale its business ventures at local and regional levels. Source: Mmegi Online

Investment Conference - Beira 2015

The CTA recently announced that the Municipal Council of the city of Beira, in partnership with the company Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM), is organising the “Beira 2015 Investment Conference”, which is scheduled to take place on 17 September 2015 at the Lunamar hotel in Beira.

The conference aims to present the master plans for the city of Beira and the development of its port, to discuss the priority projects and investment opportunities and to highlight projects, such as the expansion of port terminals, public water companies and electric power, drainage, sewerage and road networks.

Another topic of discussion is the project aimed at combating coastal erosion, with an estimated cost of US$450 million.

In this context, the CTA invites companies interested in attending the event to register via the contact below:

Lucas Judas: ljudas@cta.org.mz

Phone: +258 21 32 10 02/+ 258 82 32 11 11 820/+ 258 82 31 91 300

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique/Voice of America

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POLITICS

Frelimo urges Renamo militia to turn in their weapons

During the course of the week 7 to 14 August, Frelimo Central Committee member, Edson Macuácua, urged the members of Renamo’s militia to hand themselves over to the authorities so that they can be reintegrated into society, and contribute towards the country’s development.

Macuácua was speaking at a press conference in Beira (Sofala Province), following a five-day working visit to the area.

“Those men who continue to illegally possess firearms should deliver them to the relevant authorities”, he said. “They themselves should be reintegrated into society to contribute to development”.

Macuácua said that many of the Renamo militiamen are isolated from their families; if, however, they turned themselves over to the authorities, they will be able to enjoy a healthy life with their families and communities.

“We invite our brothers who are in this situation to free themselves from guns and to have no fear”, he said. “Approach government bodies and you will be received for reintegration so that you can join your loved ones”.

Macuácua promised that the government would greet these men with open arms. “You will find that the conditions exist for you to resume a normal and peaceful life, so that you can contribute to your own families”, he said.

Macuácua added that he strongly believes that some of the Renamo militiamen desperately want to return to society, but are being prevented from doing so.

Source: Jornal Notícias/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Mozambique “very concerned” over Guinea-Bissau

On Monday (17 August) the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oldemiro Balói, said that Mozambique is “very concerned” about the situation in the West African state of Guinea-Bissau.

Speaking to reporters in Gaborone, where he attended the Council of Ministers of the SADC, which took place on 14 August, Minister Balói said that Mozambique will attempt to contribute to stabilising Guinea-Bissau.

Guinea-Bissau has suffered from chronic instability in recent years, and the latest unexpected development relates to President Jose Mario Vaz’s decision to dismiss the Prime Minister, Domingos Simoes Pereira, after a series of disputes between the two men, which included disagreement over the appointment of a new head of the armed forces.

Minister Balói said that since Mozambique took over the presidency of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) it has been closely monitoring the situation in Guinea-Bissau. He urged all political and military stakeholders in the country to engage in dialogue and respect the Constitution.

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It had been thought that last year’s elections would at least be a turning point for Guinea-Bissau. President Vaz won those elections and the former liberation movement, the PAIGC, led by Simoes Pereira, gained a parliamentary majority.

Minister Balói said that there has been a tendency to blame everything that has gone wrong in Guinea-Bissau on the military. However, deeper analysis shows that the army was being manipulated by politicians. According to Minister Balói, the latest events appear to prove that the fault lies with politicians rather than with the miltary, since the 2014 elections the military has remained peaceful.

Minister Balói declined to assign blame. “I’m not going to go into detail here”, he said. “But it is indeed a very sad situation, in which the egos of individuals are placed above the interests of a suffering country and people. It is lamentable, but we know where the problem lies”.

He announced that, through “silent diplomacy” via the CPLP, Mozambique hopes to contribute towards a solution. He warned, however, that some Guinean politicians must change the way they in which they behave. “They are in politics to serve and not to be served”, he stressed.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

SADC needs US$500 million for strategic plan

According to Foreign Minister Oldemiro Balói, the SADC is looking to raise approximately US$500 million to finance

the implementation of its Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP).

Speaking to Mozambican journalists in Gaborone, Minister Balói stressed that the objective of the plan is to advance economic integration in the SADC region. The priorities are: industrialisation, infrastructure and energy.

The SADC website describes the RISDP as: “a comprehensive 15-year strategic Roadmap, which provides the strategic direction for achieving SADC’s long term social and economic goals. It also provides the SADC Secretariat and other SADC institutions with clear guidelines on SADC’s approved social and economic priorities and policies, thereby enhancing their effectiveness in discharging their facilitating and co-ordinating role.

According to the SADC Secretariat, “The plan re-affirms the commitment of SADC member states to good political, economic and corporate governance, entrenched in a culture of democracy, full participation by civil society, transparency and respect for the rule of law”,. “The ultimate objective of the RISDP is to deepen the integration agenda of SADC with the object of accelerating poverty eradication and the attainment of other economic and non-economic development goals”.

The plan, however, was originally approved at a SADC summit in 2003, and implementation began in 2005. The 15-year implementation period is therefore already two-thirds over.

The SADC Council of Ministers met in Gaborone on 14 August to discuss

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regional development and approve the agenda to be submitted to the SADC Heads of State Summit held on 7 and 18 August.

Minister Balói said that a budget for the industrialisation of the region and its respective Roadmap is being drawn-up, and the necessary funding must be found for it. He added that SADC has determined that it is essential to strengthen regional integration through industrialisation.

“The idea is that the contributions from the member states should not be used just to pay the wages of the organisation’s staff, but also to finance the implementation of regional development plans”, said Minister Balói. Hence the appeal by the Council of Ministers that each SADC member should pay (in full) its membership fees.

One SADC source said that, of the US$500 million needed to implement the RISDP, US$300 million should come from the member states and the remaining US$200 million from co-operation partners. The normal annual SADC budget is US$79 million, originating partly from the fees paid by the member states, and partly from the organisation’s international partners.

Minister Balói said that one of the matters discussed by the Council of Ministers was the participation of SADC in the tripartite free trade area set up between SADC, COMESA, and the East African Community. This wide-ranging free trade area was set up at a summit between the three regional organisations in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheik on 10 June 2015. Mozambique, however, refused to sign the agreement.

“Not all the countries have joined this initiative”, said Minister Balói. “Mozambique did not join because we need to hold internal consultations and solve tariff issues. It’s no good joining just for the sake of joining. We have to defend national interests, because integration involves risks”.

He pointed out that the SADC’s own integration programme has fallen behind schedule; for example, the SADC’s own free trade area has yet to be consolidated. By now SADC should have moved towards forming a customs union, but that has not yet happened because of the risks involved, said Minister Balói.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

President Zuma hands over SADC chair on defence and security to President Nyusi

South African President, Jacob Zuma, has officially handed over the position of Chair of the SADC organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation to the Republic of Mozambique.

South Africa took over its one-year tenure of the position at the last SADC summit, held in Zimbabwe last year (2014).

“When South Africa took over the chair from the Republic of Namibia in August 2014, we did so fully aware of the responsibility that lay ahead. We are once again honoured and privileged to have led the organ on behalf of the region”, President Zuma said at the 35th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government, held in

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Botswana, Monday and Tuesday 17 and18 August.

“I am pleased to report that we have developed a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy, to ensure our preparedness in confronting these threats facing the continent and the world today. Similarly we are addressing other threats to our regional stability, such as the risks of natural disasters, poverty and underdevelopment.

“As a region we have committed ourselves to ensuring that our regional early warning system is improved to ensure that it provides effective and efficient alerts to potential areas of insecurity and instability”.

According to President Zuma, during its tenure, South Africa led six SADC electoral observer missions to Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, Zambia and to the Kingdom of Lesotho.

“As I handover the chairship of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, I cannot but reaffirm South Africa’s continued support and engagement within the Organ Troika.

“I extend our congratulations to the new Chair of the organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, His Excellency President Nyusi of the Republic of Mozambique, as well as the incoming chair [of the SADC], His Excellency President Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania”.

President Zuma called for the full implementation of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the region.

He also thanked the other SADC member states which have contributed towards efforts to bring peace to Lesotho, which South Africa has led.

President Zuma also urged continued support for “the positive developments” in Madagascar. He said that the SADC should continue to support the processes of national reconciliation, constitutional reform and the consolidation of democracy in the Indian Ocean island state.

President Zuma said that he was pleased that SADC member states continued to unite in confronting emerging peace and security threats in the region.

He also called for continuing support for certain member states due to “continued pockets of instability”, pledging South Africa’s support.

Source: News 24

President Nyusi’s speech at his first SADC Summit

On Monday 17 August, President Filipe Nyusi reaffirmed that the Mozambican government and its people are committed to the ideals and aspirations of the SADC.

Addressing his first SADC Heads of State Summit since his inauguration in January, President Nyusi recalled that immediately after taking the oath of office he had sworn to respect the bilateral and multilateral agreements and conventions that Mozambique has signed, and to strengthen efforts to preserve peace.

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President Nyusi noted that the summit was taking place at a period characterised by political instability and a relative slowdown in economic growth. Despite this overall picture, President Nyusi maintained that southern Africa was generally stable, and continued to record promising levels of growth, resulting from the implementation of positive macro-economic policies.

“Yesterday we began the liberation struggle against the last redoubts of colonialism, under the aegis of the Front Line States, and then we advanced to the creation of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC)”, he recalled. “Today our activity in the SADC grants primacy to regional integration, sustained by the preservation of peace, security, regional stability and development”.

The summit is being held in Gaborone under the theme: “Accelerating Industrialisation of SADC Economies Through Transformation of Natural Endowment and Improved Human Capital”. President Nyusi stated that this theme fits with the priorities of the revised Regional Indicative Development Strategic Plan for 2015- 20, which puts industrialisation at the centre of the SADC’s priorities.

“The theme of the summit clarifies the challenges the region must overcome to achieve harmonious, sustainable and inclusive development”, said President Nyusi. It acknowledges “the vital importance of development of human capital as a factor driving the industrialisation strategy and the fair distribution of wealth”.

“This theme is in line with the Five-Year Programme of our government for 2014-

2019, which prioritises peace, human development, productivity, competitiveness, the development of infrastructures and the sustainable management of natural resources and of the environment”, said the President.

To achieve these goals, he added, Mozambique has committed itself to the consolidation of the rule of law, good governance and decentralisation – all values which the SADC also protects.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Renamo’s quest for parity extends to public companies

Renamo has demanded a share-out of positions in companies owned by, or participated in by, the State. This reflects Renamo’s earlier demands for a share-out of senior military and police positions.

This new demand was announced on Monday 17 August, at the 114th session of the seemingly interminable dialogue between government and Renamo delegations.

The dialogue has now progressed onto the fourth and final point of its agenda, simply labelled “Economic Questions”. The dialogue moved onto this point over a month ago, on 13 July, but Renamo only recently submitted their latest proposal on participation state-owned companies.

The delay has been described as “extraordinary”. The entire dialogue agenda was proposed over two years ago by Renamo. However, it was only in July that Renamo informed the government delegation that it had been “too busy” to draft specific proposals.

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Renamo first proposed this point in April 2013. The dialogue was held at Renamo’s request, under an agenda drawn up by Renamo. Yet it appears that Renamo threw in the point about “economic questions” without having the faintest idea of what it wanted to discuss.

On Monday, the Renamo proposal finally took shape, and was entirely unacceptable to the government. At the press conference following the talks, the head of the government delegation, Agriculture Minister José Pacheco, told reporters that Renamo had demanded “parity” in public companies.

The Renamo document (which has not yet been made public) “clearly shows a desire to politicise economic matters”, said Minister Pacheco. Renamo wants a share-out of economic positions “between the parties represented in parliament, excluding other Mozambicans”.

The demand for a political division of positions in companies owned by the State contradicts Renamo’s own demand for a separation between political parties and the State, Minister Pacheco added.

For his part, the head of the Renamo delegation, parliamentary deputy Saimone Macuiana, called for an “equitable division” of public resources. “The principle cannot continue by which only those who hold the red cards of the ruling Frelimo Party have access to resources”, he said. “Our proposal is that all Mozambicans, particularly members of Renamo, should benefit from these resources”.

During the negotiation session the delegations also discussed the implementation of last September’s Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities. Once again, however, no progress was made on the key issue of disarming and demobilising the Renamo militia. Renamo cited the alleged attacks by the FADM against its men in Tete Province as an excuse for further delays.

“We still have no way of integrating men from Renamo’s residual forces into the army and the police, because Renamo insists that attacks are being made against its forces”, said Minister Pacheco.

As for the declaration agreed to by both sides on 23 June on the separation of the state from political parties, the impasse remains on what further steps should be taken. Renamo wants the proposal to be presented as a fait accompli to the National Assembly, which would be expected to rubber-stamp it (as per the amendments to the electoral legislation in February 2014). The government position, however, is that, if Renamo wants the proposal to be passed by the National Assembly, then the Renamo parliamentary group should present it to parliament.

At the closing of Monday’s session, the government repossessed the five cars allocated to members of the Renamo delegation in the ongoing political dialogue, after having supplied transport for the team for more than two and a-half years.

The government had demanded the return of the vehicles, and so Macuiana handed the Range Rover keys over to Minister Pacheco. He did so under

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protest, but later admitted that: “we can’t keep the cars when the owner wants them back”.

This was the first public reference to the fact that the government has been assisting Renamo with transport, in addition to paying an allowance to the members of the Renamo delegation for their attendance at meetings.

In a similar development, unconfirmed reports suggest that the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) will no longer provide a travel escort for Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama.

In the meantime, the mediators in the dialogue once again called on the unresolved military issues to be referred to a meeting between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama.

Speaking on behalf of the mediators, prominent academic Lourenco do Rosario said that the two delegations have demonstrated that they are quite incapable of reaching consensus on the military issues. “Our perception is that no solution is going to emerge from the current dialogue”, he said. “We cannot see any solution that we can suggest to the two delegations to solve the military question”.

Consequently, the only thing to do is to pass the issue on to a higher power. “These questions should be remitted to higher bodies”, said Rosario. “They are very sensitive matters and I can see no solution, unless there is a clear mandate from the two leaders, President Nyusi and Dhlakama”.

As for the final agenda point, on economic questions, the mediators

believe that this should not be debated merely between the government and Renamo, but by all Mozambicans.

Source: Notícias/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique/O País

“Let President Nyusi keep his police” – Dhlakama

On Monday 17 August, Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama responded to claims that the government had ordered the removal of his police escort, stating that he no longer needs the government-provided security detail.

Dhlakama was reportedly irritated when his police escort left while he was addressing a rally in Chifunde district (Tete Province), last week. He accused the police of “abandoning” him, and henceforth he could do without them.

“I do not need them anymore. Let President Filipe Nyusi keep his police, along with his FADM”, Dhlakama said, speaking to reporters in the city of Chimoio (Manica Province).

As the leader of the second-largest political party, Dhlakama is entitled to state protection and security. However, Dhlakama maintains that from now on, his security detail will be made up exclusively of his own personal bodyguards and Renamo’s militia. “I have my men – the strongest in Mozambique”, he said.

The spokesperson for the General Command of the police, Pedro Cossa, said that the police had left Dhlakama in Chifunde, owing to “operational problems”, and this was not the first time that the Renamo leader had been left without a police escort.

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As for Dhlakama’s declaration that he was relinquishing his police escorts altogether, Cossa shrugged this off. As a political leader, he said, Dhlakama “can take whatever decision he thinks is best”.

The alleged desertion on the part of Dhlakama’s PRM escort was raised as a “priority issue” at the political dialogue session on Monday. With no immediate answer to give to the Renamo delegation, head of the government team, Agricultural Minister José Pacheco, promised to take the matter up with the police supervisory authorities.

Nonetheless, he thought it “strange” that Renamo should complain about the absence of the police, when Dhlakama had already made his contempt for the police public knowledge, and had boasted well before this incident “that he has men who are capable of guaranteeing his protection”.

Dhlakama also attacked President Nyusi’s decision to appoint the leader of the Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM), and mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, as a member of the Council of State, a body that advises the President. Dhlakama publically called on Simango not to accept the position.

Dhlakama claimed that President Nyusi should not have appointed someone who had run against him in last October’s presidential elections. But under the Constitution, the President can appoint any four people he chooses to the Council, as long as they are of “recognised merit”.

Dhlakama added that Simango should not accept because the MDM, like

Renamo, regarded last year’s elections as fraudulent.

However, the MDM has repeatedly made it clear that it has no intention of indulging in the politics of boycotting state institutions.

Dhlakama himself is automatically a member of the Council of State, since a place is reserved for the runner-up in the presidential elections. Ever since the Council was established, Dhlakama has been a member, but he has never attended any meetings

Source: O País/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Minister de Almeida advocates urgent implementation of alternative sentences

On Monday 17 August, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional and Religious Affairs, Abdurremane Lino de Almeida, called for the implementation of alternative sentencing in lieu of imprisonment, which is provided for by the current Penal Code.

According to the minister, this is an urgent matter owing to the fact that alternative sentencing offers numerous advantages for prisoners and for the State, particularly a reduction in expenses incurred by the country’s prison system.

Minister de Almeida revealed that there are approximately 15,000 prison inmates throughout the country, all of which are almost completely dependent on the State.

Despite the fact that the Penal Code has already been implemented, several legal instruments must first be adopted before

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alternatives can be introduced. One such instrument is the development and/or approval of the Criminal Procedure Code and the regulations in respect of the compliance system of such (alternative) methods of punishment.

Source: Folha de Maputo

President Nyusi dismisses deputy minister of public works

On Tuesday 18 August, President Filipe Nyusi relieved Joao Machatine of his duties as deputy minister of public works.

Later that day the government appointed Machatine as general director of the country’s relief agency, the National Disaster Management Institute (INGC), replacing Joao Ribeiro.

It is not yet clear who will fill the position of deputy minister of public works.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Government makes tachographs mandatory

On Tuesday 18 August, the government approved a decree obliging long distance bus and truck drivers to spend no more than four uninterrupted hours at the wheel, in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents on the country’s roads.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the weekly Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson, deputy health minister Mouzinho Saíde, said that: “the accidents with the greatest impact involve passenger transport vehicles

and trucks, mostly long distance vehicles.

“The drivers are subject to great pressure, working long hours without obligatory intervals for rest. This leads to greater stress, and tired drivers are often slower to react in the event of something unexpected”.

To ensure the implementation of the decree, all long distance trucks and buses must be fitted with a tachograph. This is a device that automatically records the speed of the vehicle, the distance covered, and the time spent stationary, which is presumed to be the driver’s rest periods.

The tachograph will allow the traffic police and the owners of the vehicles to check on the driver’s performance, particularly whether the rest periods, and the maximum period for uninterrupted driving, are being respected.

Tachographs are mandatory in many countries, including the entire EU and South Africa. Modern trucks are manufactured with a preinstalled tachograph. Older trucks in service on Mozambican roads must now have them installed.

The use of the tachograph becomes obligatory 180 days after the publication of the government decree in the official gazette, the Boletim da Republica.

According to deputy minister Saíde, the 180-day deadline provides more than enough time for tachographs to be applied across the board to the Mozambican market

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

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Prime Minister opens conference of judges on environmental law

On Wednesday (19 August) Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário declared that the democratic rule of law “demands pro-active behaviour to protect an ecologically balanced environment”.

Opening a conference of judges from the CPLP on “the Environment, Human Rights and the Rule of Law”, Prime Minister Rosário said that: “we are all responsible for monitoring the application of the laws and restoring violated rights”. However, a special role should be played by prosecutors and judges in defending the environment.

“The duty to protect the environment is not only the responsibility of the State”, he added, “but of all citizens, individually or in associations. This is a duty that should be shared between public powers and the citizens”.

“Our priority is to adopt measures that prevent environmental damage”, said Prime Minister Rosário. “It is the responsibility of all governments to guarantee an administration that takes preventive and pro-active measures, through regular inspection of activities which may cause damage to the environment”.

Social justice, security, respect for the environment and human rights “are vital for good, democratic governance and the eradication of poverty, and for the provision of basic social services to citizens”, he added.

With the development of industry, a range of environmental problems have arisen, he said, making it necessary “to

protect citizens, and to hold those who degrade the environment responsible for their actions”.

Prime Minister Rosário noted that, under the Mozambican Constitution, all citizens have the right to live in a stable environment, and the the government has a duty to defend it. The government’s Five-Year Programme for the 2015-2019 period aims “to promote sustainable development and share responsibilities for the defence of the environment, which implies careful management of natural resources as a fundamental condition so that present and future generations may enjoy these resources”.

The President of the Mozambican Supreme Court, Adelino Muchanga, says that environmental rights involves “promoting inter-generational equity”, and this is “an enormous challenge, because it presupposes the prevalence of a long term logic to tackle satisfaction of more immediate interests”.

Muchanga noted that Mozambique’s new Penal Code, which took effect in July, contains an entire section on “crimes against the environment”, dealing with matters such as pollution, illegal mining, illegal logging, and the hunting of protected species. These crimes can carry penalties of up to eight years imprisonment.

The Penal Code, he added, has also broken new ground in Mozambican law by introducing criminal responsibility for “collective persons”, such as companies, whereas previously crimes could only be applied to individuals.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

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Plastic bag regulations to take effect in early 2016

The government decree seeking to restrict the use of plastic bags will take effect in early March 2016, 180 days after the new regulations were published on 5 August in the official gazette, the Boletim da Republica.

Explaining the decree at a Maputo press conference on Wednesday 19 August, the National Director of the Environment, Ivete Maibaze, said that the new regulations apply to all bodies, public or private, involved in the production, import, sale and use of plastic bags.

The decree bans the free distribution of plastic bags by supermarkets, shops or any other sale points. The staff must now ask consumers whether they want plastic bags, and if they do, they must charge for them.

Several supermarkets are already charging for plastic bags, but others just thrust purchases into the bags without bothering to ask shoppers whether they want them.

At the check-out, staff must inform consumers of the cost of plastic bags, and this sum must be shown on the receipts.

“We believe this measure will help raise awareness on the cost of plastic bags, and the dangers they entail”, said Maibaze.

The decree bans the import and sale of plastic bags that are less than 30 micrometres thick. This covers the ubiquitous thin black paper bags, many of which end up in the Maputo drainage

system. Exceptions to this rule are the plastic bags used to weigh foodstuffs, and those specifically used to hold urban solid waste.

Recycled plastic is regarded as a health hazard. No plastic bag with a recycled content of more than 40% may be used in establishments that handle foodstuffs.

The head of the environmental health department in the Ministry of Health, Ana Paula Cardoso, points out that plastic is a derivative of petroleum, and the chemical substances in its composition are associated with cancer, and respiratory illnesses.

She warned against “massive and undue use of plastic bags” at home, which could transfer the chemicals in the bags to foodstuffs, leading to long- term health problems.

After the decree takes effect, violators will be subject to heavy fines. Any shop that gives plastic bags away, rather than selling them, will be fined 25 times the monthly statutory minimum wage (roughly MT80,000 or US$2020.00).

Selling plastic bags less than 30 micrometres thick will carry a fine of 50 times the monthly minimum wage, while using plastic bags with over 40% recycled material to hold food will cost the establishment concerned 60 times the minimum wage.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Fifth Session of the Parlamento Infantil takes place in Maputo

On Thursday and Friday 20 and 21 August, the Fifth Session of the Parlamento Infantil (Children’s

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Parliament) took place in Maputo Province.

The Children’s Parliament is a platform that provides an opportunity for youth to officially and publically express their feelings and concerns regarding the current state of the country and the government.

The event, sponsored by the National Parliament in co-operation with the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, aims to explain and emphasise the legislative and government policies directed at improving respect and understanding for children’s rights.

On Friday the attendees raised their concerns regarding issues such as: the tense political situation in the country, chronic malnutrition, the violation of children’s rights and child marriages.

The young attendees called for unity amongst all Mozambicans, saying that they want to grow-up in an environment of long-lasting peace throughout the country.

Source: O País/Jornal Notícias

Renamo militia gather for national conference in Quelimane

On Thursday 20 August, Renamo’s armed wing gathered for a two-day conference in Quelimane (Zambézia Province) with the objective of devising security strategies for the creation of the autonomous provinces, which it insists it will create.

This is according to Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama, who also revealed that the meeting will examine “provocations” by the FADM, which

resulted in confrontations between the two parties.

“We will gather for two days at a national conference for those demobilised from the struggle for democracy, the commanders and generals and the female detachment of Renamo, in Quelimane”, said Dhlakama.

Dhlakama recently announced in Beira that the Renamo governance [provincial authority] will start in Tete, where the movement’s headquarters would also be situated.

During the opening of Thursday’s meeting, Dhlakama told his audience that he would not tolerate a return to war, even if his comrades from the 16-year war forced him to take that course of action.

“I know we have been suffering since 1977 and I want to believe that soon the reasons that led us to fight will come to an end, because we are already about to begin ruling in the municipalities where we won the elections”, Dhlakama assured his men. Dhlakama immediately proceeded to accuse Frelimo of blocking Renamo members from all social and economic opportunities in the country.

“See how they are. After we signed the peace agreement in Rome on 4 October 1992, sponsored by the United Nations, Frelimo tore it up. Likewise, the Agreement of the Cessation of Hostilities of 5 September (2014) was also tossed into the rubbish bin”.

Dhlakama, nevertheless, counselled his comrades not to resort to war to solve the problems they are currently facing.

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The decisions that emerge from the meeting will be announced at the end of the event on Friday 21 August. Source: Lusa

New Chinese ambassador in Maputo

The government of China has appointed Su Jian as its new ambassador to Mozambique.

Su Jian, former Chinese ambassador to Cape Verde and East Timor, succeeds Li Chunhua.

Authorities in Mozambique have praised Chunhua for his “wise and intelligent work”, thanking him for his assistance in facilitating financial agreements for numerous projects.

Source: A Bola

SECURITY

President Nyusi appoints new deputy general commander of the PRM

On Wednesday (19 August) President Filipe Nyusi appointed General Jose Weng San to the position of Deputy General Commander of the PRM.

This position has stood vacant since January, when President Nyusi appointed its previous occupant, Jaime Monteiro, as Minister of the Interior.

Weng San has been a police officer for the past three decades, and his most recent position was commander of the Frontier Guard. He has also been provincial police commander in the provinces of Maputo, Nampula and Zambézia, as well as the national commander of the riot police (FIR).

According to reports, Weng San has a reputation for being one of the most fearless operatives and commanders in the Mozambican police force.

At the 19 August ceremony, the President declared that the defence and security forces cannot be run on the basis of improvisation. Instead,

commanders must prepare their decisions and tasks carefully.

“The best commander”, President Nyusi declared, “is one who avoids taking emotional decisions, which could lead to damage and losses, and hence prove costly”.

He stressed that police commanders must concentrate on complying with the national agenda without any form of discrimination among Mozambicans. “You are part of the crew of a vessel where the only colours of the passengers are those of the national flag”, he said. “In that vessel Mozambicans travel from the Rovuma to Maputo (the rivers marking the country’s northern and southern borders), and are members of a single tribe called Mozambique, which embraces all differences”.

President Nyusi stressed that the police serve the people and not any political party. “The members of your political party are more than 24 million Mozambicans”, he said. “These are the people whom you must defend and protect”.

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The mission of the police, he added, was to defend vulnerable citizens and to tackle crimes such as murders and kidnapping. He mentioned in particular the need to defend albino citizens. In the past, this has never been a problem; but in recent months the grisly crime of kidnapping and murdering albinos to harvest their body parts for black magic rituals has spilt over from Tanzania.

For his part, Weng San told reporters that he would work closely with the population. Criminals live among the public, and members of the public can provide information on their whereabouts.

“The public can tell us where the bandits and murderers are”, he said, “and we will always continue to work in alliance with the public”.

President Nyusi also swore into office Eugenio Roque as chief of staff of the Presidential Guard, the police unit responsible for the protection of the President. Source: Folha de Maputo/O

País/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

12 new leaders sworn in by Minister Monteiro

Combating crime, preventing road accidents and streamlining the distribution of identification and travel documents are the main challenges posed by Interior Minister, Jaime Monteiro, to the twelve senior Interior Ministry officials sworn in on Wednesday 19 August, in Maputo.

Addressing the new appointees, Minister Monteiro stressed that additional efforts must be made in controlling illegal immigration, a

challenge that requires modern solutions. A more participatory management style and on-going training is also necessary as to enhance service delivery.

“Every policeman, immigration official, civil identification officer and fire-fighter should excel and provide exemplary performance; hence the need to revive our internal control mechanisms and raise levels of probity and professional ethics, as well as conforming to all laws concerning the administration of public affairs”, the minister said.

He stressed that ministry staff should forge permanent links with communities, in order to assess the degree to which needs are being satisfied.

“In your work, you will expunge any deviant employee behaviour and ensure the purity of our ranks. We expect from each one of you a selfless commitment to the job as a way of honouring your oath and the confidence that your institutions have placed in you”, urged Minister Monteiro.

Those appointed were:

Arsenia Massingue, Director-General of the National Migration Service;

Elizete Nampuio, Inspector General of the Ministry of the Interior;

Teófilo Nhampossa, adviser for Communication and Image of the Ministry;

Zainadine João, Deputy Director-General of Migration;

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Timóteo Bernardo, Commander of the Border Police;

Pedro Cossa, Inspection Director in the Police General Command;

Ezekiel Muianga, Commander of the Rapid Intervention Unit; and

Antonio Pelembe, Director of Police Ethics.

Also sworn in as provincial PRM commanders were:

Alfredo Mussa, Sofala Province;

Fabião Pedro Nhancololo, Tete Province;

Bernardino Rafael, Maputo Province; and

Armando Mude, Manica Province.

Source: Notícias

President Nyusi urges demobilised soldiers to seek work with private sector

On Thursday 20 August, President Filipe Nyusi urged demobilised soldiers to use their skills in the private sector.

Speaking in Maputo, at a meeting with representatives of 10 associations for demobilised soldiers, President Nyusi said that, rather than just placing demands on the government, demobilised soldiers should apply for initiatives that will benefit them in their daily lives.

“Have you tried, for example, to contact the CTA to discuss ways in which you

can perhaps open companies or factories?” he asked.

President Nyusi stressed that the demobilised soldiers should not allow themselves to be swayed by political promises. “You must not agree to be used to destroy what you won with your sweat in the past”, he said.

However, the former soldiers raised complaints regarding the lack of government support in improving their lives. In a message read out by the rapporteur of the Commission of Demobilised Soldiers (CDG), Agostinho Murrias, the former fighters called for a “decent pension”.

As for the recently established ‘Peace Fund’, founded in order to lend money to veterans, Murrias proposed that the demobilised soldiers should themselves be the main managers of the fund.

“For the fund to be effective and efficient, we propose that veteran associations should be involved in its management, and also assess the projects from applicants in the district capitals, since most of the veterans live in these districts”, said Murrias.

Murrias also claimed that former members of the now defunct People’s National Security Service (SNASP) have not been covered by military pension schemes. This has required urgent intervention by the President himself, he said, “since they too are veterans”.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

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Grenades discovered at former FADM base

Technicians from the National Demining Institute have been dispatched to the administrative post of Mavonde, Manica district, after several grenades were discovered at a former military base.

According to reports, the unexploded grenades were abandoned in a trench after the 16-year civil war.

The presence of the grenades (the quantity of which has yet to be disclosed to the media) has caused panic among the surrounding population.

The chief administrator, Felisberto Melitão, has reassured the public that the situation is under control.

Source: Folha de Maputo

CRIME

MAP 1: KIDNAPPING INCIDENTS IN CENTRAL MAPUTO 2014 & 2015

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GRAPH 2: REPORTED KIDNAPPINGS PER YEAR

GRAPH 3: TIME OF KIDNAPPINGS 2014 & 2015

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Note: This graph excludes kidnappings in which the time of the kidnapping was not reported

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GRAPH 4: KIDNAPPINGS PER GENDER / AGE-GROUP 2014 & 2015

*Please note: the data present in the graphs and maps is not 100% accurate owing to the high number of unreported cases and irregularities in the documentation of these events. This graph illustrates the successful kidnapping incidents ONLY and not attempted/aborted/intercepted kidnappings.

Nanny that abducted South African child entered Mozambique – child’s whereabouts still not confirmed

Despite the South African government’s insistence that children leaving the country must have unabridged birth certificates to protect them from trafficking, a disgruntled child minder kidnapped her employer’s 18-month-old baby and managed to smuggle her into Mozambique without any documents.

The Mozambican child minder is demanding a ransom of ZAR500,000 for the safe return of the toddler. The child minder, known only as Nosiyoyo, was working for a couple in the Eastern Cape when she disappeared with their baby.

According to reports, Nosiyoyo and her employers had a dispute over

outstanding wages. She was earning ZAR1,500 a month at the time and it is not clear as to how long she had gone without payment before she fled with the child.

The South African couple met Nosiyoyo on the streets and admitted to not knowing much about her. On Monday (17 August), the South African Home Affairs office stated that they did not know as to how Nosiyoyo managed to enter Mozambique without proper documentation for the toddler. She has apparently called her employers from Mozambique, demanding ZAR500,000 before she returns their baby.

“Following the phone call, we know that the woman is in Mozambique, but we are not sure if she is with the child”, said Home Affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete. Home Affairs Minister Malusi

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<18 19-36 37-54 55-72 >73

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Gigaba has maintained that the unabridged birth certificate requirement would help prevent child trafficking.

Tshwete said that: “If she went through official ports of entry/ exit with the baby, then the officials who are involved will be charged”. East London police launched a manhunt for Nosiyoyo after the baby was kidnapped. They are currently being assisted by the Hawks and Interpol.

Police sources close to the investigation said Nosiyoyo had indeed crossed into Mozambique with the baby. The baby went missing from her home in Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape nearly three weeks ago.

Source: The Citizen

Two Mozambicans detained for allegedly abducting an albino child in Nampula

On Friday 14 August, two locals were arrested by the PRM and charged with abducting a two-year-old albino child, who was allegedly scheduled to be sold to a Nigerian buyer for MT4 million.

The two detainees, identified as 40-year-old Albertino Antonio and 50-year-old Selemane Saíde, are both taxi-drivers who reside in the village headquarters of the administrative post of Chalaua, Moma district (Nampula Province).

According to reports, the abduction was orchestrated by two other individuals who are believed to be related to the victim. The two masterminds are thought to have fled when Antonio and Saíde were arrested.

According to police statements, the two relatives entered the victim’s home in the town of Parta, Angoche, at approximately 24:00hrs on Thursday 13 August, and abducted the child while her parents were asleep in a nearby room. The child was subsequently placed inside a large bag and delivered to Antonio and Saíde, who were instructed to transport the victim to an undisclosed location in the Gilé district (Zambézia Province), where a buyer was waiting.

According to Antonio, he was unaware that the child had been abducted and was surprised when he heard of the kidnapping via a community leader. Saíde, on the other hand, admitted to knowing about the abduction and attempted sale.

The two men were subsequently arrested and the young toddler was found, unharmed inside the carry bag.

The victim was returned to her family on Monday (17 August).

The buyer and the victim’s two uncles have not yet been apprehended.

Source: @Verdade

South African soldiers assist Mozambican policeman

On Friday (14 August) South African soldiers deployed along the border with Mozambique aided a Mozambican policeman who is believed to have been shot by members of a syndicate smuggling contraband goods across the border.

The incident occurred near the Lebombo Border Post on Friday

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evening, just after one of the South African soldiers, identified only as Mathebula, had liaised with the Mozambican policeman through the fence.

As they parted ways, Mathebula heard pistol and AK-47 shots being fired. Mathebula went to investigate and found that the Mozambican police officer had been shot in his left foot. Mathebula contacted the Platoon Commander for assistance.

South African Military Health Services personnel stabilised the Mozambican. The Platoon Commander took the initiative to transport the injured police member to the South African side of the border where it was easier to transport him to the border post.

“He was handed over to the Mozambican authorities for further treatment. An AK-47 assault rifle was found at the scene while the South African soldiers were securing the area. The rifle and the police member’s boots and equipment were handed over to the Mozambican Police”, the SANDF said in a statement.

Source: Times Live

Grocery store employee murdered in Maputo

On Saturday (15 August) a gang of unknown criminals accosted and physically assaulted an unidentified citizen to death near the Adelina market in the Urbanização neighbourhood (Maputo Province).

The victim is believed to have been employed by the nearby grocery store, located within the market.

The motive for the murder is not yet known as the assailants did not rob the victim of her personal effects, and the grocery store was left untouched.

Source: @Verdade

PRM recover three AK-47s and a pistol

During the course of the weekend of 15 to 16 August, six people were arrested in the provinces of Sofala and Cabo Delgado and charged with the illegal possession of firearms. Three AK-47s and a pistol were confiscated during the arrests.

Also in Cabo Delgado, two suspects were arrested in possession of 907 kilograms of semi-precious stones.

Over the weekend the authorities arrested 1,824 citizens throughout the country. Of these, 1,691 were charged with border violations, 124 for various crimes, and nine for illegal immigration. During the same period, Malawian authorities repatriated 15 Mozambicans who had entered the country illegally.

Source: @Verdade

Body of an albino male found in Nacala-Porto

On Tuesday (18 August) the PRM discovered the body of 22-year-old Avelino Romualdo in an abandoned house in the Mocone neighbourhood, Nacala (Nampula Province).

According to the victim’s family, Romualdo (who is an albino) went missing on 23 July after receiving a phone call from an acquaintance who offered him a job. The victim arranged to

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meet the unknown man at the local sports club, 600 meters from his home. When the victim failed to return home the family contacted the police.

According to reports, Rumualdo’s body was discovered when a young man, who wanted to rent the abandoned house, inspected the property and was shocked by the smell. The young man immediately contacted the police who discovered the body, which was in an advanced state of decomposition, and was missing unspecified body parts.

The association ‘Amor à Vida’ (Love for Life), which defends the rights of albinos, has publically alleged that the police are taking little, if any, action to protect albinos.

The spokesperson of the association, Milton Mujovo, told reporters that: “the police are doing very little. There are reports from Nampula of albinos who went to complain to the authorities but the police simply ignored them”.

The police have reassured the public that they have identified a possible suspect in connection with the murder and are taking the necessary steps to bring him in for questioning.

Source: Jornal Notícias/Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

15-year-old girl gang raped in Matola

According to reports, a 15-year-old girl was recently gang raped by three 17-year-old adolescence, identified only as Zephaniah, Ezekiel and Ricardo.

The victim was attacked and physically assaulted by the three intoxicated assailants before being dragged to the

nearby forests behind the local Matola secondary school, where she was gang raped.

One of the three assailants denied the attack, claiming that the incident was consensual.

The victim sustained serious injuries during the attack and was transported to the Maputo Provincial Hospital.

The attackers were apprehended by a group of local residents and handed over to the PRM.

Source: Jornal Notícias

Malawian police arrest eight child-traffickers en-route to Mozambique

The Malawian police in Phalombe district recently rescued 14 children who were being trafficked to Mozambique.

The police have since arrested 25-year-old Justine Chikuni, 35-year-old Charles Mathewe and six others who were caught trafficking the children to Mozambique on bicycles.

Spokesperson for the Malawian police, Rhoda Manjolo, stated that an anonymous tip-off alerted the authorities to the matter.

“Our officers received information suggesting that eight suspects were attempting to traffic 14 victims to Mozambique for labour exploitation”, said Manjolo.

Mozambique is a known country of origin, transit and destination in respect to human trafficking.

Source: Nyasa Times

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IGT suspends two illegal employees

The General Inspectorate of Labour (IGT) recently suspended two individuals (one of American nationality and one of Irish nationality) who were found to be illegally employed by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Concern Worldwide in Quelimane (Zambézia Province).

In addition, a number of illegal foreign workers were suspended from Djire Commercial by the IGT.

Source: @Verdade

Charges against Castel-Branco, Mbanze and Veloso should be dropped - MISA Mozambique

Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco, Fernando Mbanze and Fernando Veloso are due to go on trial on 31 August 2015, on charges of having defamed former president Armando Guebuza.

Castel-Branco was charged following the mass publication of an article he posted on his Facebook page in November 2013 in which he criticised the former president for bad

governance, calling on him to resign. Castel-Branco was subsequently charged under an archaic piece of legislation passed in 1979, known as the State Security Act, under which it is a crime against the State to defame the head of state, leaders of political parties and senior government officials, among others.

The two co-accused are charged under the Press Law for having reproduced the article in various newspapers. The exact charge against the two journalists is labelled “abuse of press freedom”.

In response to these charges, MISA Mozambique is clear in its position that the State Security Act, in the aspects under which Castel-Branco is charged, is unconstitutional given that the Constitution of Mozambique (as amended in 2004), provides for freedom of expression, and as such there should be nothing illegal about criticising the head of state. It therefore follows that the charges against the two editors are also spurious and should be dropped forthwith.

Source: Media Institute of Southern Africa

WILDLIFE PRESERVATION

PRM release district administrator and nine accomplices caught poaching in Niassa

According to recent reports, the PRM apprehended the administrator of Chimbonila district (Niassa Province), Felisberto Muterua, for poaching in a reserve in Maua district. According to the information, the poaching incident occurred earlier this month.

The spokesperson for the Niassa Provincial Police Command, Simao Mate, stated that Muterua was heading a group of four suspected poachers when they were apprehended. The group was found to be in possession of a large quantity of game meat, a Mauser rifle and a state vehicle. The report did not specify which species of animals had been killed.

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Despite illegal implications, the PRM released the administrator, but formalised the arrest of the other poachers. The police cited “ethical reasons” for releasing Muterua – but if all the poachers were caught under the same circumstances, then all should have been arrested, regardless of their status.

In the administrator’s hunting camp, the police found another group of five people in possession of traditional traps.

Mate said that Muterua had admitted to owning the Mauser firearm. He said that he had ordered a hunt on that day because he needed meat to take to Cuamba district where he was going on holiday. He wanted to offer the game meat to his children in Cuamba.

Mate said that the police decided to release Muterua “because we respect his position as a representative of the government and of the State, although he does not enjoy any immunity”.

Muterua organised the poaching expedition on 4 August. He personally drove the state vehicle to Maua to hunt the animals.

The police gave the illegally hunted meat back to Muterua, but kept the gun – and the administrator’s nine hunting partners were thrown into jail.

On Thursday afternoon 13 August, a police spokesperson told reporters that the other poachers had later been released. The police had handed the case over to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for further investigation.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Ivory and rhino horns from Mozambique seized in Vietnam

Additional information has emerged regarding last week’s (13 August) seizure of over 700 kilograms of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horns, which are believed to have originated from Mozambique and South Africa.

According to reports, the illicit wildlife products were discovered in two containers on board a ship at Da Nang port on Thursday. The shipment comprised of 593 kilograms of ivory and 142 kilograms of rhino horn, hidden among a consignment of marble from Mozambique.

The ship carrying the containers had come via Malaysia, and the final destination of the ivory and rhino horn is believed to be Hai Phong, a port in northern Vietnam.

This is the second seizure in Vietnam in the space of two days. According to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), on Wednesday 12 August, 100 kilograms of wildlife products were seized as they were smuggled into Vietnam through the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi. No details were given, but unconfirmed reports suggest that the illicit cargo included ivory tusks and rhino horns.

Vietnamese citizens have been caught on several occasions at Maputo International Airport attempting to smuggle rhino horn out of the country. Since both species of African rhinoceros, the black and the white, are believed to be extinct in Mozambique, the horns are likely to have originated from animals killed over the border, in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

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Poachers have done irreparable damage to Mozambique’s elephant herds in recent years. The latest elephant census shows that the number of elephants in Mozambique declined by 48% in five years - from just over 20,000 in 2009 to 10,300 in 2014.

The seizures in Da Nang and at Hanoi airport come shortly after Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai’s visit to Mozambique in late July. Although the subjects under discussion were not made public, it is likely that one of the subjects would have been the illicit traffic in wildlife parts, particularly rhino horn, between southern Africa and Vietnam.

Rhino horn is in high demand in Vietnam because of claims that it is a miraculous cure for all ailments from hangovers to cancer. In fact, rhino horn is made of keratin, the same protein found in human hair and fingernails, and possesses no medicinal properties at all. The Vietnamese authorities have waged sporadic campaigns to warn the public that rhino horn cannot cure any diseases. Yet demand remains high, ensuring that rhino horn fetches a higher price than the equivalent weight of gold or cocaine.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Vietnamese national caught in possession of lion claws and teeth

A Vietnamese man, who was preparing to board a flight home from the Maputo International Airport, was subjected to a search by the local police and found to be in possession of 72 lion claws and 1.2 kilograms of lion teeth.

The man was unable to provide an explanation as to why he possessed such items, or where he acquired them from, and he was subsequently arrested pending payment of a fine - the size of which will be determined by the authorities in due course.

According to PRM spokesperson, Orlando Mudumane, in these situations, the citizen is only required to pay a fine, and the material is seized and retained by the ministry responsible for wildlife.

The police, however, strongly believe that this incident is directly linked to poaching. “Unfortunately, there are people who disregard calls made by various entities not to kill animals. Some malicious people enter conservation parks just to take animal parts”, Mudumane said.

Source: O País

18 poaching gangs neutralised in the first half of the year in Gaza Province

The Natural Resource Protection Unit in Gaza Province recently revealed that it had successfully neutralised 18 poaching gangs during the first half of 2015.

During the numerous operations in the province, the unit managed to seize six ivory tusks, 21 firearms and 44 rounds of ammunition.

The spokesperson for the Gaza PRM, Jeremias Langa, informed the public that the unit is working in collaboration with the South African and Zimbabwean authorities in a bid to neutralise the poaching networks.

Source: Rádio Moçambique

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OTHER

Mozambique tops African Freedom of Speech/Press list

According to the latest issue of the African Media Barometer (BMA), an initiative of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA-Mozambique) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation, released on Wednesday 12 August, Mozambique has topped the list of African countries when it comes to freedom of speech and of the press.

The data in the report stems from an investigation launched last year (2014), which indicates that freedom of expression and freedom of press are effectively guaranteed under the Mozambican Constitution and supported by ordinary legislation.

Commenting on the report the Chairman of the Governing Board of the MISA-Mozambique, Fernando Gonçalves, said that the barometer was a valuable tool in assessing guarantees relating to individual freedom.

Source: Folha de Maputo

President Nyusi calls for joint efforts on food security

On Friday (14 August) President Filipe Nyusi called for combined efforts

concerning all sectors within the agricultural sector, in order to improve food security and reduce the high levels of chronic malnutrition.

The President was speaking at a debate held at the presidential offices with agricultural experts, including former ministers of agriculture, which centred on how to eliminate hunger in Mozambique.

The latest statistics from the government’s Food and Nutritional Security Technical Secretariat (SETSAN) indicate that 43% of all children under the age of five are suffering from chronic malnutrition. The government also recently announced that over 137,000 people are suffering from food insecurity due to the drought affecting parts of the country. It is feared that the number of people at risk could rise to 792,000, if the drought worsens.

In an effort to deal with such problems, President Nyusi insisted that access to capital and to land, as well as improvements in the distribution network, must all be dealt with together to ensure full agricultural production.Other key factors include: better organisation, management, leadership and communication, as well as the use of improved technologies and

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agricultural extension services. Taken together these could ensure an effective chain of production.

“These are matters that have to be interconnected and synchronised in order for us to develop a sustainable agricultural sector”, said the President.

Agriculture Minister José Pacheco recognises that Mozambican farmers make little use of improved seeds, research services, technical assistance and basic services to support production. Agriculture also suffers from poor communication and poor distribution networks, as well as problems relating to electricity, logistics and storage. Minister Pacheco also pointed to inadequate access to agricultural markets and blamed this on “the lack of financial services, particularly in rural areas, and the poor network of roads linking the productive areas to the centres of consumption”.

Prominent academic Firmino Mucavele criticised the lack of co-operation among African countries with respect to agriculture. He also blamed the low productivity of Mozambican agriculture on an interruption in agricultural policies (which tend to last for only five years) and the lack of a strategy capable of stimulating the subsistence sector.

“There can be no strategies without policies”, said Mucavele, “and you can’t change agricultural policies every five years. We have to develop a state, rather than a government, agricultural policy which lasts for 10, 20 or 30 years”.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

President Nyusi inaugurates school games

On Saturday (15 August) President Filipe Nyusi declared that the country’s school games ought to become a permanent fixture so that young Mozambicans can occupy their necessary place in national sport, which is clamouring for quality and competitiveness.

President Nyusi was speaking in Pemba (Cabo Delgado Province) at the opening ceremony of the 12th Edition of the School Games. This year, there were 1,347 athletes from schools in all 11 provinces, competing in football, volleyball, basketball, handball, gymnastics, athletics, chess and traditional games.

The President invited Mozambicans to invest in school sports, since this is where future world class athletes could be found.

In the past there had been no follow-up to the school games. “We have a duty to understand why our national teams, in almost all sports, consist of athletes enlisted by chance, and are not the fruit of consistent and systematic follow-up of talents”, he said.

“From the first edition of the school games in 1978, the National Festivals of School Games are not just the display and climax of our school sports, but show that we really do have youth who are capable of offering the joy that Mozambicans always long for”, the President said.

He argued that school sport should be a permanent fixture from primary school to university, and that the value chain from

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the schools to the national sports federations must be cared for through investment in coaches, infrastructures and equipment.

President Nyusi added that young Mozambicans should draw inspiration from stars such as Chiquinho Conde in Football, Lurdes Mutola in athletics, Clarisse Machnguana in basketball or Lucas Sinoia in boxing.

He expressed his hope that young people would emerge from the games who, in a few years’ time, would be wearing the colours of the national team in various sports. For this to happen, those young athletes need to find the due attention and care from the government, from society and from their own parents. He suggested that the organisers of the games should, in two or four years’ time, check on the progress of each of the student athletes taking part.

After the inaugural ceremony, the games commenced, opening with a football match between the provinces of Gaza and Cabo Delgado. To the surprise of the audience, the teams had a few extra players.

President Nyusi himself descended from the podium to join the Gaza team, while the Ministers of Education, Jorge Ferrao, and of Youth and Sport, Alberto Nkutumula, joined the Cabo Delgado side.

Even though the President and ministers were only on the field for five minutes, they demonstrated that they were still physically fit.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

3,990 contaminated chickens incinerated

On Monday (17 August) the Mozambican customs service destroyed roughly four tons of frozen chickens that had entered the country illegally and were found to be unfit for consumption. The 3,990 chickens, each weighing 1.1 kilograms, were packed into 399 boxes. Customs seized the shipment in Namaacha district (Maputo Province), near the border with Swaziland, approximately three weeks ago.

The chickens had originated from Swaziland, however, reports suggest that the cargo had bypassed the official border crossing and had been smuggled into the country. When the smugglers realised that they were being pursued by an armed customs unit, they abandoned the truck and fled into the bush. Nonetheless, Customs was able to identify the owner of the merchandise, and sent him a summons, which has so far been ignored.

Tests on the chickens, undertaken in laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture, showed that they contained a high level of dangerous bacteria, and thus were unfit for consumption. Customs are of the opinion it had no choice but to incinerate the chickens.

The chickens had a customs value of MT403,700 (approximately US$10,600), and the owner should have paid around MT163,000 in customs duties. The importer of this illicit merchandise will be liable to pay a heavy fine, and the Customs Tribunal could even sentence him to a prison term.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

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Religious leaders to fight against child marriage

Mozambican religious leaders have stated that they are ready and willing to work towards reducing the degree of child marriage in the country.

Speaking at a Maputo press conference on Tuesday (18 August), Bernardo Ndimande, chairperson of the Inter-Religious Alliance for Advocacy and Social Development (AIRDES), said that 120 religious leaders are expected to attend the first forum on child marriage, due to take place in the southern city of Matola on 26 and 27 August.

The Forum will draw up a declaration formalising the commitment of the various religious denominations in the fight against child marriage. According to Ndimande, the aim is for religious bodies to actively spread the message among society, thus persuading parents not to allow their daughters to marry before the age of 18.

Mozambique has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, and this is regarded as one of the main reasons as to why young girls abandon their education. A report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) last year declared that 48% of girls in Mozambique marry before their 18th birthday, and a shocking 18% marry before they turn 15.

Child marriage leads to pregnancy at an early age, with all the risks this entails for the life and health of the mother and her baby. Ndimande believes that mobilising religious leaders against child marriage could have a major impact. “The role of the religious leaders is of fundamental importance because a

religious leader is always in contact with society”, he claimed. “In these contacts, he can leave messages, and appeal to the community against child marriage”. Ndimande wanted to see a tougher stance from the Assembly in drawing up the legal framework to fight against child marriage.

“All actions in the fight against premature marriage should have a uniform approach”, he said, “and if the Assembly were to draw up a law in their regard, that would be of added value”.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Moçambique

Endemic diseases decrease in Sofala Province

According to a statement made on Wednesday (19 August), following the seventh ordinary session of the Sofala government, over the past two months the province has recorded a decrease in the registered cases of endemic diseases (namely: malaria, diarrhoea, dysentery and meningitis).

According to the district medical chief, Cesaria Ribeiro, during the period under review 4,539 cases of endemic diseases were recorded, compared with 7,876 recorded cases during the same period last year – a reduction of 42%. In the meantime, the district recorded 1,536 cases of diarrhoea throughout the month of July, compared to 1,620 recorded cases in July 2014. With regards to dysentery 255 cases were recorded this year, against 314 last year.

In a bid to reduce the number of diarrhoea cases, the district authorities have intensified awareness campaigns

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for the adoption of basic hygiene measures, focusing specifically on Beira. With respect to malaria, the district authorities continue to routinely distribute mosquito nets and provide preventive treatment, specifically fansidar, focusing on pregnant women.

Source: Jornal Notícias

Mozambique’s malaria-carrying mosquitoes resistant to insecticides

According to a report published during the week 14 to 21 August, by the Malaria Journal, Mozambique’s malaria-carrying mosquitoes (i.e. female Anopheles funestus) are becoming increasingly resistant to insecticides.

According to scientists, the insect’s resistance “could seriously undermine control vectors if appropriate countermeasures are not taken”. The study, co-ordinated by the Global Health Institute of Barcelona in partnership with the Centre for Health Research in Manhiça, indicated that only five to 20% of the Anopheles funestus mosquitoes responsible for the spread of the disease die after exposure to insecticides.

Source: A Bola

Mozambique must end the confusion surrounding given names – government

The National Director of Registries and Notaries has stated that the government

plans to approve an official list of first names - something that has not been done since independence - as a way of addressing confusion in naming.

According to Carla Guilaze, the use of foreign and African traditional names, the use of which has not been standardised, has resulted in unfair treatment at Mozambican civil registry offices.

According to Guilaze, some registry offices refuse to register names with English spelling, or names which originate from local communities, because they believe them to be inappropriate for the child’s gender, while other registration offices may adopt the opposite position.

“In some cases, officials refuse to register a given name for a girl because they consider it to be a boy’s name, and vice versa, but the same name ends up being accepted in another civil registry office or by another employee in the same establishment”, the director added.

Due to ignorance, some children are given first names that are deemed offensive, a situation that will be addressed as soon as the official register of names is introduced, she said.

Source: Lusa

END