Hard times for Inhaca island

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Hard times for Inhaca island

4:04 CAT | 22 Jul 2022

Photo: O País

Life for residents of Inhaca Island in Maputo are increasingly difficult following the breakdown of the only vessel facilitating the suburb’s connection with Maputo City.

This is the conclusion reached by members of parliament who visited Inhaca on Wednesday and Thursday to check on the daily life of the municipal district’s population.

The ferry connecting Maputo city and Inhaca has been out of service since July 1st, leaving residents no alternative but to make the trip in small boats, with all the attendant risks.

In a document sent to ‘O País’, the deputies say that “the breakdown of the popular ferry boat has increased the cost of living for the population, given that the existing boats are privately owned and charge up to 1500 meticais per trip, against the 300 meticais” charged by the ferry.

READ: Mozambique: Inhaca residents resort to sailboats to travel to Maputo, ferry awaits repairs

The situation, they add, has made life even more expensive for the population, since there is a shortage of food products in Inhaca, and those that are available are expensive. Another problem is that, due to the lack of a vessel, commercialization of products from the island, such as shellfish, is more complicated.

“It is heart-breaking that, only 32 kilometres from Maputo city, there are people lining in extreme economic conditions and with visible signs of poverty,” the deputies write. “In such a predicament, mothers are cutting firewood from the mangroves to sell in bakeries and for cooking,” they note.

The document also indicates that people are invading conservation areas and fishing reserves to guarantee the survival of their families, while girls are getting involved in premature unions in order to escape poverty. Boys who finish Grade 12, either for lack of employment or being unable to envision a better future, consume drugs and home-made alcoholic beverages to “relieve the pain”.

Unemployment among young people and the lack of higher education institutions are further problems, and the closing of the Pestana Inhaca Hotel in 2016 has exacerbated unemployment.

Residents are asking that the hotel be reopened, to boost tourism, and for the mobilisation of funding for youth projects. They would also like to see the installation of a higher education institution or an institution of technical and professional education on the island.

Inhaca Island has about 6,400 inhabitants, 21% of whom cannot read or write.

By Julieta Zucula

Source: O País