Mozambique: Lawyers applaud appointment of woman to head Matalane police school

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Mozambique: Lawyers applaud appointment of woman to head Matalane police school

7:39 CAT | 22 Jun 2021

FILE - Trainees at Matalane police school. [File photo: Comando Geral da PRM on Facebook]

Mozambican lawyers have called the appointment of a woman to head the Matalane Police Training School “a small step towards restoring confidence” in the institution, after it was shaken by suspicions of sexual crimes.

“By itself, the appointment of a female commander to head the school will not make the institutional environment safer for young women who want to become police officers, because exposure to abuse results from structural gender imbalances, but it is a small step towards returning society’s trust,” said Eulália Ofumane, executive director of the Mozambican Association of Women in Legal Careers (AMMCJ).

With Beatriz Tichala at the head of the school the “monopoly of power” of men in the institution will be reduced and a “friendlier context” will be created for young women entering the institution to train as police officers, said Ofumane.

“The submission of women to abuse results from structural imbalances in gender relations and these take generations to eliminate, because they also have a cultural dimension,” she added.

The presence of women in positions of power will decrease the scope for abusers to act, because they have greater sensitivity to inequalities and the risks this entails, she continued.

“There are typically female situations and needs that, if misunderstood, can increase the vulnerability and abuse of women, but this danger is reduced when we have female leaders with a different sensitivity to gender aspects than men”, stressed Eulália Ofumane.

The case of the Matalane Police Training School generated reactions from the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, and several public figures in August 2020, and is related to four female trainees who allegedly got pregnant by their instructors at the school, according to preliminary investigations.

Civil society organisations have criticised the silence of the authorities in relation to the outcome of the matter, with only two of the suspected instructors eventually expelled, without information about the others.

Three weeks ago, the Commander General of the Mozambican Police, Bernardino Rafael, was quoted as saying that instructors suspected of involvement in the scandal had been transferred to other services of the corporation, but he did not give details about the circumstances of that decision.

Source: Lusa