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Mozambique: Residents protest against landfill construction in Matlemele
3:56 CAT | 14 Jul 2025
Screen grab: Nádio Jaime Taimo
Residents of Matlemele neighbourhood, in the southern Mozambican municipality of Matola, on Sunday took to the streets to protest against the construction of a landfill without their consent or any public consultation.
According to protesters, who approached the location where the landfill is being built, the authorities ignored the citizens’ opinions and it is worrying to know that a landfill is being built in a residential area.
The local residents accuse the authorities of ignoring the tragedy that took place in 2018, in Maputo city, when after heavy rains, part of the enormous rubbish dump in the neighbourhood of Hulene collapsed. It slid downhill, burying houses in filth and slime, and killing 17 people.
“The government did not listen to the residents when it decided to build a dump in this area. We deny it, we do not want any dump here. We have seen enough tragedy in Hulene dump. Who made this decision? Or is it a sabotage of the current government?”, a resident said.
Over the last year, the Matlemele Residents’ Association achieved a partial victory, when the landfill construction was postponed by the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.
The Assembly had ordered the Municipal authorities to launch a public tender for the construction of a landfill in a location yet to be identified, because it should not be built in residential areas, with a large population.
However, opponents of the landfill say that the parliament decision has been ignored and activities to build the landfill under way.
“The authorities should hold a public hearing before proceeding with the construction of this landfill. We demand that they come and talk to the population, because we don’t understand where the order came from for the work to resume. Suddenly, we started hearing the machines working and we had no explanation. There are houses three meters away and we have a school nearby”, said one of the community representatives.
The landfill in question would be an alternative to the foul smelling eyesore of the gigantic municipal rubbish dump in Hulene. Successive Maputo mayors have promised to close the Hulene dump, but it is still there, towering over the houses around it (mostly built illegally).
The Matlemele project is headed by the National Sustainable Development Fund and Matola Municipal Council.
Municipal officials told the independent television station STV that the landfill is a modern design and poses no danger to the public. They say there is no comparison with Hulene, where there is no landfill, and where rubbish is simply dumped in the open air, posing an obvious threat to public health.
Está a gerar tensão a construção de um novo aterro sanitário em Matlemele.
Moradores contestam o projecto, alegando falta de consulta pública e receios quanto aos impactos ambientais e sociais.
#matlemele #stvnoticias #gruposoico
Detalhes em https://t.co/3GxkwFtECZ pic.twitter.com/GxXwkkMZZj— stvnoticias (@stvnoticias_mz) July 14, 2025
Source: AIM
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