Mozambique, a country located in Eastern Africa has a tight connection to colonialism, first as part of the Portuguese colonial empire and more recently as an example of what many call “neo-colonialism”. 2024 has been an important year for Mozambique as the October presidential elections sparked massive and violent protests across the nation that continue to this day.
The results of these elections, held on the 9th of October, were unexpected. A new party gained significant popularity during the electoral campaign: the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (also known as Podemos), led by Venâncio Mondlane. Mondlane has recently become an influential figure among the younger generation which makes up two-thirds of the nation’s population. Podemos was going to disrupt the classic bipartisanship that has prevailed in Mozambique since the civil war in the 1970s. Nevertheless, the historic Frelimo party, which has governed since the early 2000s, won again with 70% of the votes, while Podemos reached only 20%. But what is the connection between the Frelimo party and neo-colonialism, and has it been detrimental to the nation?
From hope to disillusionment
Hope, resources and development— these were the words on everyone’s minds during the early 2010s. The optimism slowly faded, giving its place to hunger, stagnation and corruption. This change can be attributed to poor governmental practices and corruption from the Frelimo party.
To better understand Mozambique’s political situation, it is crucial to introduce two important terms: neocolonialism and the resource curse. Neocolonialism can be understood as another level of capitalism where international corporations have the power to dominate and exert control over a nation through the power of investments and flows of capital. The resource curse applies when a country rich in natural resources fails to achieve the level of development expected from the economic value of these resources.
Mozambique has been suffering from the resource curse for over a decade, with the Frelimo party failing to address this issue and even exacerbating the consequences of it. The problem can be traced back to 2010, in a region of Mozambique called Cabo Delgado where large gas reserves were found. This discovery attracted the massive interest of international corporations in the country, marking the beginning of neocolonialism in Mozambique. These corporations instead of being concerned in socially, economically and environmentally developing Mozambique, were just focused on maximising the profit from these extractivist activities. For instance, this year TotalEnergies, a French energy company, has been accused of assassinating close to 100 people in Cabo Delgado.
This general instability caused by the government neglect and amplified by the extremely low wages offered by the international corporations in the area even led to an Islamic insurgency in Cabo Delgado in 2017. This insurgency has since caused hundreds of deaths and thousands of displaced people. Unable to control the insurgency, the national government requested military assistance from Rwanda, which was paid through extractive agreements in Cabo Delgado. This intervention has not improved the situation in the region and has left civil society to suffer from hunger and poverty while the region’s resources are only benefiting external powers and a privileged few.
If selling the nation’s resources to the highest bidder was not enough to illustrate the damage caused by Frelimo’s governance, the party has also been involved in a massive corruption scandal. This scandal was made public in 2016 and regarded borrowing $ 2 billion from a Swiss bank for a non-existent fishing industry. Instead of helping develop the country, the funds were redirected to pay bribes while the debt was hidden from the parliament. When this information was finally revealed, international economic aid to Mozambique was suspended, leading to a default on its own sovereign debt, and the collapse of the entire economy of Mozambique. The nation after nearly ten years is still trying to recover from this economic disaster, but it is still extremely poor with 65% of the population living under the poverty line.
What does the future hold?
After a quick analysis of the poor governmental choices made by the Frelimo party, we return to the elections of October 2024. The electoral results were received with widespread anger and disappointment sparking massive protests and strikes led by Mondlane from the Podemos party. The authorities have responded with violence against the protesters, journalists and activists. Attacks against the freedom of expression and association were found even throughout the electoral campaign causing a decrease in the quality and trust of the electoral system. This criticism against the electoral system is supported by a European Union Election Observation Mission which stated that “irregularities during the counting and unjustified alteration of elections results” were found at “polling station and district level”.
It is still unknown how long these protests will last, but it can be said that if Frelimo does not transition to a less corrupt and more socially engaged government that addresses society’s needs, instability will persist in the country. The question we must wait to see answered is: will Frelimo prioritize Mozambique’s population, or will it continue to be subjugated by neocolonialism?
A previous version of this article was published on Jordens Vänner on the 4th of December 2024.
Relevant articles:
- https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2024-10-24-assassinations-fraud-and-intimidation-mark-mozambiques-2024-elections/
- https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/10/31/ready-to-dieprotesters-face-bullets-for-political-change-in-mozambique