Zitamar News

Good afternoon. Every few months, an official explains that the state cannot stop the plunder of Cabo Delgado’s forests because the insurgency has made the province too dangerous to police. The provincial delegate of the environmental agency (AQUA), Achimo Francisco, gave Notícias the latest version this week (see below): security risks have restricted field inspecti...

Good afternoon. Adriano Nuvunga’s open letter asks the Constitutional Council to defend the 437,921 people who voted for the Frelimo list led by Margarida Mapandzene Chongo as governor of Gaza. His political instinct is right, but his legal claim is weak. Mapandzene formally resigned, the provincial assembly declared a permanent vacancy, Frelimo selected Alfeu Cuna from among...

Good afternoon. This week the government authorised a technical team to negotiate the sale of part of the state’s 66% stake in Mozambique Telecom (Tmcel), the state-owned mobile and fixed-line operator. The decision is overdue. A cash-strapped government has little reason to keep funding a chronically loss-making company. Council of Ministers spokesman Inocêncio Impissa prese...

Dozens of fishermen, and maybe as many as 150, were abducted by insurgents on 6 August along the coast between the villages of Pequeue and Milamba, in the Quiterajo administrative post of Macomia district, Cabo Delgado. Some have since escaped after Mozambican and Rwandan forces carried out a bombing raid on the area, according to at least one local source.

Good afternoon. Mozambique's government is pressing the Tax Authority to collect every metical it can. It is rolling over Treasury bonds it cannot readily repay, and leaning on donors to pay for basic services. Yet it keeps granting tax benefits whose recipients are secret and whose benefits have never properly been tested. A new study by the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP)...