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Mozambique |
ELECTIONS
Some background information for next year’s elections
After a long period of war, elections were held in 1994 in a free and fair atmosphere. Preparations for the 1999 elections started more than a year earlier, thus ensuring a smooth election period, although some pockets of disgruntlement were heard. Nation-building was indeed a preoccupation of former political antagonists.
2004 is just around the corner and voters will soon be queuing up and dying their fingers with ink, in a bid to choose a national leader to steer the ship of state for the next six years.
The ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) has a good reputation internationally, as Mozambique’s economy is reported to be continually growing since the end of the civil war. But at home, FRELIMO has been labelled as being corrupt and run by a den of political criminals who murder or intimidate their foes.
The «MaGerman» factor
Now the party is under scrutiny — not from the Opposition — but from some disgruntled party members who say they will not vote for criminals. What’s happened? In the early 1980s, about 21,000 young people were sent to the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) to work in factories, as part of the plan to promote Socialism. At the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, their contracts were unceremoniously terminated and they were progressively flown home.
Before returning to Mozambique, nobody told the young people that they would be entitled to certain social benefits payable in Mozambique by Germany once they arrived home. The money had been made available for them in 2001, but FRELIMO politicians, aware the prospective recipients hadn’t been informed about the benefits, «diverted» the money for their own projects.
Eventually the young people got to hear about how they’d been cheated, and a «money war» broke out. The group which suddenly became popular, were known as the «MaGermans», (the «Germans»), and started to demonstrate on the streets of the capital, Maputo, condemning the government, and calling them «robbers». Later, the group mobilised other people in provincial towns and their fight for payment became a national issue.
The government was ashamed it had been caught out and called for dialogue with the leaders of the group. It was revealed that the money had in fact been channelled to some projects, and the government would make amends by paying out the money in instalments.
Where’s the money?
The came the year 2002. At the May Day celebrations, tired of waiting for the money to be paid out, the MaGermans disrupted the official celebrations which President Joaquim Chissano was due to address. The MaGermans’ leaders were arrested and from then onwards, their demands entered the world of politics.
The matter was taken up by Parliament, and the opposition Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) led the campaign to have the MaGermans’ money released. In an attempt to gain votes from the disgruntled former workers (who were supposed to be FRELIMO supporters), RENAMO parliamentarians took the issue to Germany, where they made enquiries as to how much had been paid out and when. It soon became clear that Germany had sent the money to Mozambique a long time ago, and not all the money had been used in government projects, but had found its way to individuals’ pockets.
The countdown to next year’s elections has started and the MaGermans remain unpaid. The government has no money and is now disputing the number of former workers sent to the GDR. The authorities say there are 16,000 beneficiaries; the MaGermans claim their membership is 21,000. All this means the ruling FRELIMO could be heading for a shaky if not uncertain future.
- Frederico Katerere, Mozambique, July 2003 — © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment