Three Weeks in Mozambique

Sailboat - Inhaca Bay

Mozambique is a unique nation in that its cultural influences are a combination of African and Latin, having been a substantial colony of Portugal for 450 years.   Portuguese is the official and most widely spoken language, but the food, music, art and architecture, and social norms reflect both distinct cultures.

Maputo Promenade

The country gained its independence from Portugal after a ten-year struggle back in 1975 when 250,000 Portuguese – the majority in Mozambique – opted to leave after the colonial regime fell.  But a short time later the country was embroiled in a 15 year long civil war in which over a million Mozambique citizens perished.  Although Mozambique gained its independence around the same time as many other former western colonies, the war has held back the country’s development and progress.

Maputo Bay

The leaders of the revolution subscribed to the Communist/Socialist ideology of the Soviet Union as a minor client state until 1990 when the country became, technically, a democracy and embraced the fundamental tenants of capitalism.  The country has just recently begun to aggressively join the global economy as it promotes foreign trade and investment in the country, which has tremendous potential given the discoveries of massive coal and natural gas reserves.  A notable juxtaposition to the government’s 180-degree turn towards capitalism, are the major streets in the capital, which bear the names of Socialism’s most famous founders.  Perhaps it is ironic or a cruel joke that the US Embassy’s large “American Cultural Center” is located at the corner of “Mao Tse Tung” and “Vladimir Lenine” avenues.

For the last decade, Mozambique has been one of the world's top ten for annual average GDP growth, but it still has one of the lowest rates of GDP per capita, one of the worst human development index scores, one of the highest rankings in terms of inequality, and the world's lowest life expectancy.

Ferlimo - Mozambique's dominant political party

Mozambique is ruled by a single, dominant party, making it similar to many African nations in that it is “democracy light”.  The current regime is seen to be overtly corrupt and having a hand in every aspect of governance and foreign business and trade.  This slows down but will not stop the country’s gradual integration into the world economy.  The mineral deposits underneath its earth are too lucrative for foreign companies and nations to be deterred by poor governance, corruption, lack of accountability and transparency.  I would argue that the influx of foreign capital and executives seeking returns will do more to eventually bring around more robust democratic ideals and institutions than economic isolation would, and will certainly do more good than foreign aid from the US and Europe, which makes up 40% of the government’s overall national budget annually.

Mural - Maputo Church

While I was in Maputo, Nobel Economist Joseph Stiglitz was on a barnstorming speaking tour to packed conference halls where he railed against the formal and informal institutions of globalization including his former employer, the World Bank, for contributing to the widening disparity of opportunity in the country.  Stiglitz also warned audiences of the “resource curse” that has so often hobbled the economies of other nations upon the discovery of vast natural resource wealth.

China’s growing influence can be seen upon arriving in Maputo, the capital, as the entrance/exit to the airport – which the Chinese government built as a “gift to the people of Mozambique” – has a name banner in Portuguese, Chinese and English.

Inhaca Island

The capital itself is dusty and dirty with many more buildings in disrepair than shiny and new.  The newest and most recently remodeled buildings are the two hotels catering to foreign business people, diplomats, and aid agency officials.

Polana Hotel - Maputo

The avenues are wide and tree lined although the roads are full of potholes and the sidewalks in a serious state of disrepair as you dodge large pieces of broken concrete and holes.  The train station has become fairly useless for trains, so at night it becomes a bar and dance club. Sundays are eerily quiet leaving primarily building and ATM security guards alone on the street as they doze in plastic lawn chairs.

Maputo

On quiet afternoons I park myself at a café near where I am staying.  On the third day, the owner introduces himself and we make conversation.  He’s a white Mozambique citizen of Portuguese decent and struggling to keep his business above water.  He laments the current government for its corruption, waste, and ineptitude as well as its lack of interest in improving the every day lives of its citizens.  He waxes on about the “good old days” of Colonial rule when things were better under white minority rule.  The blame, he says, is in giving poor people hope that they too can move up the economic ladder, which breeds discontent and eventually a social rift that will tear the country apart.  “There was solidarity in poverty,” he says.  “Now everyone is just out for themselves.”

Inhaca Island

The growing economic disparity is readily apparent, but the singularly dominant political party’s grip on all facets of government and, increasingly, strategic pieces of foreign-owned businesses, change is unlikely to come through formal channels.  The country is war weary after a long internal struggle.  As in so many young nations whose people yearn for real democracy, it is still many years away and only likely once a large middle class emerges and demands a more accountable government.

Flying a kite - Inhaca Island

Hotel Pool - Inhaca Island

A fascinating dynamic in Mozambique is the reappearance of Portuguese citizens who are returning in droves – 100 a week – seeking work and hoping to emigrate.  The economic stagnation throughout much of Europe has swelled the rolls of unemployed.  This time Mozambique’s former colonists are armed with CVs rather than with guns, looking to be hired rather than to fire.

The guesthouse where I stayed – Mandala – is owned by a couple of Portuguese and Mozambique decent.  They often cater to the Portuguese seeking to relocate or just vacation as well as other foreigners.  Their warmth and friendliness was a godsend, even on those nights when I just wanted to sleep and they dragged me onto the porch to drink and talk into the wee hours with them and their friends.  My sleep may have suffered, but I was thankful for their unrelenting kindness.

Low Tide - Inhaca Island

One of the other guests was a young Portuguese gentleman who was an unemployed civil engineer.  He said that since nothing was being built in Lisbon these days, he was hoping to find work in Mozambique and move his young family to the country.  After only two weeks of looking, he landed a good job and plans to return in a matter of weeks to begin the process of uprooting his life in Europe and move to Africa.

Maputo Bay

With one of my rare days off, I traveled by boat to Inhaca – a nearby island – to absently stroll its beaches.  Because of the tides, to get from the boat to the shore, you had to walk a fair distance in the water.

Disembark - Inhaca Island

Rowboat

Morning Stroll - Inhaca Island

Shipwreck - Inhaca Island

From Maputo, I flew to the northern region to a city called Tete.  A small, dusty place far, far away from the relative comforts and metropolitan influences of the city, it is at the center of Mozambique’s economic future.  Large coal deposits were discovered some years ago, and since 2005, two of the world’s largest mineral extraction companies have begun operations in the surrounding areas while dozens of other concessions to other companies have been granted.  This will not only transform the region, but promises to deliver substantial returns to the country as tens of billions of dollars pour into the coal industry in the next few years.

The town is bursting at the seams with massive coal trucks, cars, buses, and all other forms of transport sharing the same small road and bridge squeezing over the Zambezi River.  In only a few days I saw two separate accidents on the same patch of road including a man who had been hit by a passing truck and lay dying in the sweltering sun while people stood by helplessly waiting for emergency services.

Soda cans as a toy

Infrastructure and services in Tete have fallen dramatically far behind the pace of commercial activity in the area, creating difficult conditions for the town’s long-time residents.  Land prices have shot up, food and basic goods are well beyond the price range of locals, and the government seems completely incapable of managing the breakneck pace of growth on its streets.

Tuk-Tuk

Lasting impressions of Mozambique include the ubiquitous warmth and kindness of strangers, the country’s vast economic potential, the consistently missed opportunities to build a more equal and egalitarian society, and the profound meaning of the influx of Portuguese – the former colonial power – to Mozambique as emblematic of a fundamental global paradigm shift that will continue apace.

Next Story:  Short Stops in Harare, Zimbabwe and Lusaka, Zambia