7 - Mozambique: The Rise of a Micro Dual State

Abstract

The decade from 1990 to 2000 was a period of sustained political activity in Africa, leading towards democratisation. Under this scope, Mozambique is widely seen as one paradigmatic success story. Yet, the country's multiparty democratic system remains challenged by a strong authoritarianism that hampers open deliberation in political public discourse. This paper discusses some reasons for this democratic hold-up in Mozambique's political and social transition within the broad and ongoing democratisation process in Sub-Saharan Africa. With an emphasis on the analysis of the political situation in the northern town of Angoche, this article argues that the persistence of central government authoritarianism is a reminder of a political liberalisation without democratising the political systems. Indeed, local municipal officials are now elected and receive revenue transfers, but remain limited by other measures.2 The central state successfully resists attempts to devolve broader decision-making authority to municipalities. Far from the ideal Weberian type of state bureaucracy, public administration is highly politicised in the sense that the building up of the administrative capacities of the state are seen as a way of consolidating the political leverage of the ruling party -Frelimo. The paper defends, however, that indeed, a detailed analysis of the public political actions at local level, between distinct political structures, shows that successive authoritarian regimes have not totally erased the freedom of speech and thought, even if they have relegated opposition to ever more marginal spaces. RésuméLa décennie 1990/2000 a été caractérisée en Afrique par une activité politique soutenue orientée vers la démocratisation. Dans ce cadre, le Mozambique est plutôt vu comme une réussite paradigmatique. Or, ce système démocratique de multipartisme continue à afficher des velléités d'un fort autoritarisme peu propice au relèvement du niveau de la réflexion dans le discours politique public. Cette étude s'interesse aux raisons de ce blocage démocratique du processus de transition politique et social au Mozambique dans le cadre plus général du processus de démocratisation en cours en Afrique au sud du Sahara. En s'appuyant en particulier sur l'analyse de la situation politique de la ville d'Angoche, située au nord du pays, l'étude estime que le fait que le gouvernement central persiste dans l'autoritarisme est assez révélateur d'une libéralisation politique non suivie de la démocratisation des systèmes politiques. En effet, si les fonctionnaires municipaux locaux sont maintenant élus et reçoivent des fonds de transfert, ils restent, en revanche, limités par d'autres mesures.2 Le gouvernement central résiste avec succès à toute tentative d'élargir le mandat des municipalités en matière de prise de décision. Loin du modèle idéal wébérien de bureaucratie d'Etat, l'administration publique est fortement politicisée, en ce sens que le renforcement des capacités administratives de l'Etat est perçue comme un moyen de ren...

Negotiating identity and heritage through authorised vernacular history, Limpopo National Park

“…The debate could fill up a number of papers on its own, and there is no space here to explore this issue more than in passing: In Mozambique, also in LNP, local governance is a heterogeneous political landscape where traditional authority, colonial re´gulos and politically appointed village secretaries crossed each other in various roles and functions; though state formalisation of authority may bring accountability, state formalisation may also stifle heterogeneity and reduce the actual possibilities of public participation (see also Kyed, 2005, 2006;Meneses and de Sousa Santos, 2009). …”

“…More recently, in 2002, Decree 15/2000 legally recognised traditional authority and, by extension, traditional leaders as local governance (Buur and Kyed, 2005;Gonc¸alves, 2006). The aim of Decree 15/2000 was to decentralise governance, yet there is still little actual mobilisation of local participation in planning and governance (see discussion in Buur and Kyed, 2005;Meneses et al, 2006, Meneses andde Sousa Santos, 2009).…”

“…During the colonial period, particular traditional leaders were appointed as administrative chiefs, or re´gulos. Thereafter, the post-Independence Frelimo government attempted to dismantle traditional authority by appointing party and/or village secretaries (Buur and Kyed, 2005;Gonc¸alves, 2006;Meneses and de Sousa Santos, 2009) while the opposition party, Renamo, used traditional authority to mobilise resistance against Frelimo (idem.). More recently, in 2002, Decree 15/2000 legally recognised traditional authority and, by extension, traditional leaders as local governance (Buur and Kyed, 2005;Gonc¸alves, 2006).…”

Sisyphean Dilemmas of Development: Contrasting Urban Infrastructure and Fiscal Policy Trends in Maputo, Mozambique

“…The influence of Frelimo and its Central Committee orienting Frelimo policy cannot be underestimated here. It is because of the concentration of political power that participatory reforms rarely empower the most vulnerable segments of society in Mozambique (Meneses and Sousa Santos, ). Indeed, here I argue that such reforms are token prizes for the poor, a sort of Trojan horse (Swyngedouw, ), continuing the myth of the state (i.e.…”

“…Indeed, municipal inequalities grow in this context under a thin veil of nominally progressive reform. As Meneses and Sousa Santos () argue in their discussion of politics in Mozambique, the ‘danger of formal spaces of participation is that they effectively shut down other initiatives to engage the government critically’. I detail the experiences of Maputo and argue that the participatory budget represents such a dangerous formal space, effectively channeling extant KaTembe residents' attention toward the determination of ordinary infrastructure projects, while the national government's plans for large‐scale aspirational infrastructure and real estate on the same land moves ahead (without their participation).…”