MOZAMBIQUE: Returnees at a loss after fleeing South Africa

MAPUTO , 27 May 2008 (IRIN) - Orlando Pereira and Agostino Antônio Bila are two of the more than 26,000 Mozambicans who have fled South Africa and returned to their country of origin with little more than stories of hatred.

Pereira, 20, hawked washcloths and dishtowels in Jamestown, a small town in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, while Bila, 17, sold CDs in Pretoria, about 50km north of Johannesburg.

Both have now returned to Chamanculo, a sprawling township on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital, Maputo, driven home by an outbreak of xenophobia that has left 56 people dead, most of whom are thought to be Mozambicans.

The young men sat at a table in a small bar, passing around a bottle of locally produced gin, and told IRIN how their homes were burnt by mobs, and about their journey to safety.

"They invaded the suburb where we were and ordered us out, saying that there are no jobs for them because Mozambicans accept little money for a lot of work," said Bila, who was staying with his sister-in-law in Pretoria. "They said, 'We only want the Machanganas,'" a slang term used by South Africans for Mozambicans. He has since lost touch with his sister-in-law.

Asked about their future, the men shrugged and said they hoped to find work in Mozambique. "I'm not going back," said Bila. "I'm staying right here."

They invaded the suburb where we were and ordered us out, saying that there are no jobs for them because Mozambicans accept little money for a lot of work
Amid the blind hatred there were incidents of kindness: Donaldo Ramos Paz Amade, 20, said a South African neighbour allowed him to store his possessions at his house before his own dwelling was razed.

"My boss [in South Africa] gave me his phone number and said to call him if things get better and he will come pick us up," said Amade, who worked in construction for two years. "I'll go back to get my things, but to work, no."

Mozambicans have a long tradition of working in South Africa, even during the apartheid years, and are viewing the treatment of their fellow citizens with a sense of betrayal. "Ingratos" (ungrateful people) said the headline of the latest edition of a Mozambican weekly newspaper, Savana.

At a concert in Maputo on Friday, pop singer Stewart Sukuma denounced the xenophobic violence and referred to the high cost Mozambique bore by hosting South Africa's guerilla armies when they were fighting apartheid. The audience applauded when he asked: "Have they forgotten who helped South Africa in its struggle to free itself?"

But beyond the condemnation of South Africa's violence against foreigners, in which some people were burnt alive while those watching laughed callously, there was trepidation that the wave of returnees, who arrived with little more than the clothes on their back, would aggravate the problems at home.

Crime wave fears

The predominant concern of Maputo residents was that crime would increase, particularly in the capital's suburbs, where many of the returnees have arrived.

"It's necessary to know that unemployment is one of the premises that can put people on the path to practicing illicit acts for their survival, and we have to gather our forces so that this doesn't happen," Vice-Minister for the Interior, José Mandra, told the local news agency, MediaFax.

Antônio Bonifacio, spokesman for Mozambique's Institute for the Management of Calamities (INGC), which coordinated the transport for the returnees and set up a resettlement centre, said only 18 people were still there on 25 May. "It's just a transit centre," he said. "People arrive, get in a car and go home. We give them a ride and a meal."

According to MediaFax, even Mozambicans working on South Africa's mines and housed in compounds, fearing invasion by xenophobic mobs, were pleading with their employers to let them return home until the situation calmed down.

MediaFax reported that J.C. Gold Mine, on Johannesburg's East Rand, had suspended its operations and allowed 190 of its Mozambican miners to return home after mobs attempted to assault them at their compound on 18 May.

Mozambican government officials were reportedly in discussions with the owners of the East Rand Proprietary Mine (ERPM), in Boksburg, to repatriate another 700 miners, who were currently under police protection. An estimated 72,000 Mozambicans are employed in South Africa's mining industry.

Malawi and Zimbabwe

Jeffrey Kanyinji, principal secretary in Malawi's ministry of information, reportedly told an international news agency that "As of now, 3,000 Malawians have registered to return home. The number may increase, depending how the situation settles down in South Africa." The first busload of people arrived in Blantyre, the country's second city, on 26 May.

The International Organisation for Migration, quoting estimates by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said about 25,000 Zimbabweans had fled to Zambia to escape the economic chaos and political crisis in their home country, and thousands more were seeking refuge in other Southern African countries.

Estimates of the number of Zimbabweans in South Africa range from one million to more than three million; a consequence of unemployment rates of more than 80 percent and recent post-election violence.

According to reports, about 80,000 to 100,000 foreign nationals are thought to have been displaced by the outbreak of xenophobic violence 16 days ago in South Africa.

em/go/he




Theme(s): (IRIN) Economy, (IRIN) Migration, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs

[ENDS]

África do Sul/Violência: Mais de 29 mil moçambicanos fogem de ataques xenófobos - Governo

Maputo, 27 Mai (Lusa) - Mais de 29 mil moçambicanos, que escaparam dos ataques xenófobos na África do Sul, regressaram ao país, contra 27.234 que haviam sido contabilizados até segunda-feira, segundo um novo balanço governamental hoje divulgado.

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Segundo o director nacional adjunto do Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades (INGC), Casimiro Abreu, este número representa as entradas registadas nos postos fronteiriços de Ressano Garcia, Goba e Namaacha, na província de Maputo, sul, desde o início dos ataques de cariz xenófobo no passado dia 11.

Abreu indicou que deste total, 26.899 moçambicanos voltaram por meios próprios, enquanto 2.525 regressaram com auxílio do governo, que pagou transporte para as vítimas de xenofobia naquele país vizinho.

O número de moçambicanos mortos mantém-se em oito, das mais de 50 vítimas mortais de várias nacionalidades na perseguição contra imigrantes na África do Sul, protagonizados por grupos de vigilantes.

Aquele responsável afirmou que a violência xenófoba tende a reduzir, depois de as autoridades sul-africanas terem destacado novos reforços policiais nas ruas das principais cidades e dos bairros periféricos, onde a violência ocorre.

Contudo, o número de imigrantes moçambicanos que entram no país, fugindo aos ataques xenófobos "deverá aumentar", segundo o director-adjunto do INGC.

O governo de Maputo continua a manter contactos com o executivo de Pretória no sentido de acabar com a violência naquele território, onde residiam milhares de cidadãos moçambicanos de diversas províncias do país.

O presidente da Assembleia da República de Moçambique, Eduardo Mulembwé, assegurou que aquele órgão legislativo moçambicano vai pedir às suas congéneres da África Austral para pressionarem as autoridades sul-africanas a tomarem medidas para acabar com a violência xenófoba, de modo a "não minar os esforços da integração regional em curso na Comunidade de Desenvolvimento da África Austral".

Uma equipa do Ministério do Trabalho de Moçambique deslocou-se à África do Sul para manter contactos com os responsáveis pela empresa mineira de East Rand Property Mines, localizado na região sul-africana de Boksburg, arredores de Joanesburgo, no sentido de regularizar a situação dos 708 mineiros moçambicanos que lá trabalham.

Uma nota do Ministério do Trabalho de Moçambique hoje divulgada em Maputo sublinha que os referidos mineiros tiveram que pedir protecção da polícia devido aos ataques xenófobos contra estrangeiros.

Outros 190 moçambicanos que trabalham na mina de J.C Gold Mine, na zona de Primrose, foram dispensados do trabalho até à normalização da situação, depois de uma tentativa de assalto da mina na madrugada de domingo, indica a nota do Ministério do Trabalho.

MMT.

Lusa/Fim

Tribalismo Local e' o Fruto do Tribalismo Nacional

Reflectindo e analizando o conteudo da noticia que fala de apresentacao de problemas de tribalismo local em Balama ao PR Guebuza durante a sua visita naquele ponto do pais causou me dar a minha opiniao sobre a origem deste problema.

Resta me saber se o executivo Mocambicano sabe ou consegue identificar a origem do tribalismo local hoje exibita nos nossos governos local, districtal, provincial e nacional. Sim senhor, concordo com a Sua Excia PR Guebuza quando ele disse que a a luta armada cuja libertou o nosso pais das maos dos colonizadores teria sido iniciada na fundacao do espirito da unidade nacional. Ao mesmo tempo nao se pode esquecer que a disparidade dos poderes socio-economico e politico que se verifica em Mocambique e' o fruto do sistema tribalista implementada durante a luta armada por alguns camaradas sejam eles do Sul, norte ou centro do pais .

Depois da independencia nacional o sistema tribalista continuou em Mocambique e ate 1992 a pratica do tribalismo nos servicos publico era quase legal e essa situacao continua ate hoje.

Eu, sendo um cidadao cansado com este topico, acho conviniente que o PR da Repuplica e a Assembleia da Republica deveiam lever estas reclamacoes da populacao do Balama seriamente e pudessem introduzir legislacoes que classificassem as accoes de tribalismo no sector publico e na obtencao dos direitos publicos como um crime.

Por que nao fazer isso? Sim se pode porque qualquer accao que impede o desenvolvimento das condicoes economicas de cidadaos deveria ser considerada um caso serio.

Obrigado.

Mozambique: Guebuza Hears Complaints of Tribalism

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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

21 May 2008
Posted to the web 21 May 2008

Balama

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Wednesday declared that the great secret of success in the struggle against hunger and poverty, will be the unity of all Mozambicans, regardless of their ethnic origins, just as this had been key for victory over Portuguese colonialism.

Guebuza was speaking at a rally in the town of Balama, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, after citizens had complained of tribalism among the local political leadership.


One local resident, named Candido, told Guebuza that tribal criteria had been used in allocating the fund for local initiatives (a fund of at least seven million meticais - about 280,000 US dollars - from the state budget granted to each of the 128 districts for projects that will increase food production and create jobs).

He also alleged that anyone applying for money from this fund had to pay 600 meticais (24 dollars) first. "I don't understand why they're charging us this money", Candido said.

He claimed that tribalism was also to be found in the appointment to leadership positions in Balama, and that the District Consultative Council was nothing more than "a club of friends", whose members had been appointed without any consultation with the local population.

Candido claimed that no only was the district administrator from the neighbouring province of Nampula, but so were most of the other members of the district government.

Another citizen, Jose Mamudo, took the floor to declare "it's not worth lying to the President, telling him that everything's fine in Balama. We have to tell him the reality about what's going on".

Mamudo accused members of the police of stopping citizens on the streets for no good reason and extorting money from them. He also claimed that the concessionary companies that purchase cotton from peasant producers "swindle them" - which was why peasant were switching their efforts away from cotton to maize, groundnuts and sunflower.

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In response, Guebuza stressed that people who take tribalist attitudes "are wasting their time", and that tribalism "in no way helps us to fight against hunger and poverty". He stressed that without national unity Mozambicans would have found it much more difficult to defeat colonialism and achieve their independence.

He also stressed that people should always feel free to speak their minds about the problems they face, and no-one should feel intimidated.

Turning to the international food crisis, Guebuza declared that the solution must be to increase Mozambique's own food production. "Food is expensive and scarce", he said. "Unfortunately we are continuing to buy this food on the international market, even though we have sufficient land to produce for ourselves and even to export food".

Analysis: Clinton scores a win, Obama nears finish line

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Hillary Clinton won a landslide victory in Kentucky Tuesday, but momentum -- and a growing sense of inevitability -- is now firmly on Barack Obama's side.


Sen. Barack Obama has picked up a majority of the pledged delegates, according to CNN calculations.

1 of 2 He took Oregon last night, but it was his symbolic victory with pledged delegates that was the storyline.

The one-time long shot for the Democratic nomination has a majority of pledged delegates to the Democratic Convention and is now about 70 delegates shy of the finish line.

Obama had already been looking toward November before last night's split decision. He chose Iowa -- the site of his first win in this marathon primary fight -- to address supporters in what many observers viewed as a victory lap. It was also an indication of Obama's intent to fight for a number of battleground states lost by John Kerry in 2004.

"The skeptics predicted we wouldn't get very far," Obama said. "The cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope. And by the fall, the pundits in Washington had all but counted us out. But the people of Iowa had a different idea."

Despite the daunting odds of overtaking Obama in the overall delegate count, Clinton remained defiant and promised to stay in the race.

"You've never given up on me, because you know I've never given up on you," Clinton told supporters in Kentucky.

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Obama looking to November
Clinton's victory in Kentucky -- as in West Virginia last week -- was noticeable for its magnitude and breadth. As expected, she dominated Obama in a largely white, working-class state tailor-made for her increasingly populist message. Once again, she won both men and women. She carried every age group. She captured the bulk of voters in every income category, and at every level of educational achievement.

Kentucky voters also fired a warning shot across the bow of an Obama campaign that has largely turned its sights to the fall election.

Only one-third of Clinton's voters in the Bluegrass State said they would vote for Obama in a general election matchup against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. Almost 80 percent of Clinton's voters said they would not be satisfied if Obama wins the Democratic nomination. A majority of voters statewide believed Obama is not honest and trustworthy, and that he does not share their values. Watch what the analysts say after Kentucky and Oregon »

No Democrat has won the White House without carrying Kentucky since John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard Nixon in 1960.

Obama either has to find a way to convince these voters to support him or he needs to redraw the electoral map in November by carrying states such as Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia -- states which rarely vote Democrat on the presidential level.

Obama's favorable numbers in Oregon, on the other hand, reflected his strength with more-affluent, well-educated, secular voters in another critical region.

He defeated Clinton by an almost 2-1margin among men in Oregon. Perhaps more impressively, he drew her to a tie (at 50 percent each) among white women -- long considered to be one of the New York senator's core constituencies.

Oregon's largely progressive political tradition proved to be a boon to the Democratic frontrunner. Self-described liberals, comprising 57 percent of the state's electorate, backed Obama by 20 points, 60-40 percent. At the same time, however, he also managed to carry moderates and conservatives, albeit by much smaller margins.

Nearly four out of five Oregon primary voters were college educated, and they voted for Obama by more than 20 points, 61-39 percent. The smaller pool of non-college educated voters backed Clinton by nine points, 54-45 percent. Obama, however, surprised many observers by pulling nearly even with Clinton (48-51 percent) among white voters who did not graduate from college -- a group which has been largely unreceptive to his campaign in other parts of the country.

Finally, Obama benefited from the votes of the nearly 3 in 10 Oregon voters with no religious identification. While Protestants and Catholics split virtually evenly between the two Democratic candidates, voters who cited no religious affiliation backed the Illinois senator by 22 points, 61-39 percent.

The campaign now shifts to Florida -- a pivotal general election battleground whose delegates to the Democratic convention remain in a state of flux. Clinton and Obama have campaign stops scheduled Wednesday across the state.

Clinton, who desperately needs to have both the Florida and Michigan delegations seated in accordance with their January primary results, is demanding a resolution. Meanwhile, Obama says he is in favor of seating the disputed delegations, but needless to say does not agree with Clinton's proposed remedy.


The Democratic National Committee will address the delegation disputes when it meets on May 31 in Washington.

But with only two weeks and three contests remaining, Clinton's window of opportunity is quickly closing. Her fate -- as well as Obama's -- now rests with the dwindling pool of uncommitted superdelegates who will ultimately choose the party's nominee.
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