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Transforming Mozambique’s Rural Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Allen Isaacman
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Extract

On June 25, 1975, Mozambique became independent. The transfer of power from Portugal to FRELIMO (The Mozambican Liberation Movement) marked the first phase of national liberation. FRELIMO, unlike many nationalist movements whose exclusive concern was to capture the colonial state, emphasized that independence marked only the beginning of a longer process to dismantle exploitative institutions and transform basic economic and social relationships. The new era of “People’s Democratic Revolution” based on socialist principles envisioned “the construction in Mozambique of a society ... where the material living conditions of the people are constantly improving and where their social needs are increasingly satisfied.”

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Spring 1978 , pp. 17 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1978 

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References

Notes

1. I would like to thank Barbara Isaacman, Harry Boyte, Gerald Bender and Sue Rogers for criticism of an earlier draft and Aquin Braganca for the valuable instruction which he provided.

2. “Documentos do 3o Congress,” Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (A.I.M.), 9-10 (1977), p. 9.

3. Quoted in Direccao Geral de Comercio External, Mocambique: Economic Survey (Lourenco Marques, 1975), p. 1. Although high priority is placed on agriculture, the government is also attempting to revitalize and diversify industry which in the long run “will be the dynamizing factor” enabling Mozambique to reduce its dependency. For a discussion of the changes taking place in the industrial sector see Allen Isaacman, A Luta Continua: Creating a New Society in Mozambique (Braudel Center, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1978).

4. See Tempo 333 (1977): 34-47, for a discussion of FREUMO’s economic strategy.

5. For the purposes of this paper it is argued that the broad distortions in the economy occurred during the twentieth century although the roots of underdevelopment clearly antedate this period.

6. Cited in Martins, Elisio, Colonialism and Imperialism in Mozambique (Denmark, n.d.), p. 120.Google Scholar

7. Direccao Geral de Comercio External, Mocambique, p. 17.

8. Financial Times, March 1, 1975.

9. London Times, September 25, 1974.

10. For a discussion of forced agricultural labor see Marvin Harris, Portugal’s African Ward (New York, 1958).

11. Interview with Joao Nduvane on August 20, 1977; Interview with Jose Gomes on August 20, 1977; Interview with Francis Šumali on August 22, 1977; Interview with Sarifa Amati on August 21, 1977; Joint interview with Conta Malapri and Marcelino Tete on August 27, 1977; Mondlane, Eduardo, The Struggle for Mozambique (Baltimore, 1969), pp. 76–98.Google Scholar

12. Interview with Jose Gomes; Mondlane, The Struggle for Mozambique, p. 86. Van Dongen, Irene S., “Agriculture and Other Primary Production,” Portuguese Africa, A Handbook, eds. David Abshire and Michael Samuels (New York, 1966), pp. 283–84.Google Scholar For a brilliant study on European immigration in Angola, see Bender, Gerald, Angola Under the Portuguese: Myth and Reality (California, 1978).Google Scholar

13. For a study of the political economy of the Cabora Bassa Dam see Middlemas, Keith, Cabora Bassa: Engineering and Politics in Southern Africa (London, 1975).Google Scholar

14. United Nations General Assembly, A/AC.109/L.388/Add.2, “Territories Under Portuguese Administration,” pp. 14-15, 21-22.

15. Interviews with Joao Nduvane, with Jose Gomes.

16. This figure is necessarily an estimate since the exact number of Mozambicans working in the gold mines has not as yet been documented. Conservative estimates place the figure at between 100,000 and 150,000, although there are some suggestions that the number might have exceeded 200,000. In addition, a recent U.N. report placed the number of Mozambicans working in Rhodesia in 1975 at about 80,000, a substantial decline from the 122,000 workers in 1966. (See United Nations Economic and Social Council, E/5812, “Assistance to Mozambique,” p. 20; United Nations General Assembly, A/32/96, “Assistance to Mozambique,” p. 10.)

17. Direccao Geral de Comercio External, Mocambique, p. 17.

18. United Nations General Assembly, A/Ac.109/L.388/Add.3, p. 17; United Nations Economic and Social Council, E/5812, p. 23; Direccao Geral de Comercio External, Mocambique, p. 21.

19. At the time of independence it was estimated that 95 percent of the population was illiterate.

20. Washington Post, April 9, 1976.

21. Information provided by David Martin on August 12, 1977.

22. United Nations General Assembly, A.32/96, p. 22.

23. United Nations Economic and Social Council, E/5812, p. 24.

24. FRELIMO, “The First Steps,” Mozambique Revolution, 51 (1972): 15-21; FRELIMO, “Economic Development in the Liberated Areas,” Mozambique Revolution, 52 (1972): 22-24; Saul, John S., “FRELIMO and the Mozambique Revolution,” Essays on the Political Economy of Africa, eds. Giovanni Arrighi and John S. Saul (New York, 1973), pp. 378–405.Google Scholar

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid.; Interview with Armindo Barradas on August 30, 1977.

27. Interview with Teresa Veloso on August 27, 1977; Geoff Watts, “What to Do When the Doctors Leave,” World Medicine (January 26, 1978): 17-18.

28. United Nations General Assembly, A/Ac.109/L.919, “Mozambique,” pp. 10-11.

29. Interviews with Joao Nduvane, Jose Gomes, Francis Sumali and Manuel Armando Machay on August 21, 1977.

30. Noticias, June 9, 1977.

31. Interview with Jose Gomes, Francis Sumali and Manuel Armando Machay.

32. Noticias, June 24, 1977.

33. For a long account of the organization of early communal villages including Rumba-tsa-tsa, see Tempo, 283-84 (1975).

34. See Carole Collins, “Mozambique: Dynamizing the People,” in this volume for a detailed discussion of the organization and operation of the dynamizing groups.

35. Interviews with Bernardo Maguierigue, Almirante Francisco, Irene Tivane and Joao Nduvane; Tempo, 341 (1977): 45-51.

36. See, for example. New York Times, July 25, 1976.

37. See, for example. Tempo, 348 (1977): 36.

38. Throughout my travels in four rural Mozambican provinces, I repeatedly observed communal villages and privately-owned land adjacent to each other.

39. Noticias, August 3, 1977.

40. Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, 5 (1976): 9-13.

41. Interviews with Bernardo Maguierigue, Almirante Francisco, Joao Nduvane, Francis Sumali and Manuel Armando Machay.

42. Interview with Francis Armando Machay.

43. Tempo, 283 (1974): 42.

44. Le Monde English Section of the Guardian (London), September 5, 1976. Reprinted in Monthly Review, 5.28 (1976): 25-40.

45. Interview with Sarifa Amati. On a number of occasions I observed women pounding grains and was informed that this is “their work.” These vestiges, however, tend to exist in the private sphere. In the public sphere work is distributed without regard to gender.

46. Interviews with Joao Nduvane, Manuel Armando Machay, with Conta Malaprai and Marcelino Tete, Francis Sumali, and with Irene Tivane on August 22, 1977.

47. Ibid.; Joint interview with Vasco Cubai and Elias Cubai on August 22, 1977.

48. Joint interview with Vasco Cubai and Elias Cubai.

49. Africa, 72(1977):43.

50. Interview with Marcelino Dos Santos, Minister of Economic Development and Planning, on August 30, 1977.

51. Interviews with Joao Nduvane, Manuel Armando Machay, with Conta Malaprai and Marcelino Tete, Francis Sumali, and with Irene Tivane on August 22, 1977.

52. Interview with Custodio Machava on August 20, 1977, and with Egan Peter, August 31, 1976.

53. In Gaza Province alone, more than fifty communal villages have been established during the past year, all of whom have had an increase in membership (Tempo, 383 [1978]: 5).

54. Washington Post, January 2, 1978; Interviews with Tockho Ranguelos on August 23, 1977 and with Christiano Tiago Theela on August 26, 1977.

55. Tempo, 356 (1977): 33-39.

56. New York Times, November 20, 1977; Interview with Tockho Rangueloz and Christiano Tiago Theela.

57. Interview with Tochko Rangueloz.

58. Ibid.; New York Times, November 20, 1977.

59. Tempo, 356 (1977): 33-39; New York Times, November 20, 1977.

60. Ian Christie, “Mozambique,” article forthcoming in Africa Guide, 1977-1978.

61. Interview with Tochko Rangueloz; Government projections presented at FACIM Exhibition, Maputo, August 1977.

62. Interview with Tockho Rangueloz.

63. New York Times, November 20, 1977.

64. Interview with Christiano Tiago Theela.

65. United Nations General Assembly, A/32/96, pp. 7-11; United Nations General Assembly, A/32/268 S/12413, pp. 11-13.

66. New York Times, November 12, 1977.

67. U.S. Department of State, “Foreign Economic Trends and Their Implication for the United States—Mozambique,” no.78-011, p. 4.