Mozambique: MRM presents 2024 environmental and social management plan
File photo: O País
On the sidelines of the launch of the ninth Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative report, representatives of the communities where mining projects operate have criticised the companies’ abandonment of local communities.
A space had been reserved for comments on the EITI report, but that was not why community representatives stood up. Among the people who rose from their seats was a gentleman who did not hide his intention to complain about what he calls the suffering in the area where he comes from; Moatize, in the province of Tete, where Brazilian mining company Vale mines mineral coal.
The man claims that the company has put the villages on one side and is not concerned with meeting the communities’ expectations, giving as an example the houses built, which, according to him, are inadequate.
“These houses, even before we went to live there, had problems with cracks. In addition, we also have 50 families who do not yet have the ‘machambas’ [agricultural fields],” they were supposed to receive under the resettlement project agreement.
The communities of Topuito, in Nampula, around the Kenmare concession area, also say they are missing their machambas, and have been deceived by the firm.
“They promised an area where we could go and clear, but we have yet to see it. Last year, two families died of hunger,” a lady representing the Topuito communities said.
But that is not their main complaint. The Topuito community says that Kenmare’s activities in that part of the country are putting an end to their sources of income.
“Nowadays, there is no fishing in Topuito, and we do not have agriculture. Finally, it destroyed all the plants we had there, through which we survived. When we tried to find out what happened, they only said they had bought the land from the government,” she recounted.
In Inhambane, the community complains that Sasol is not doing anything for its benefit. The representative from that province, attending at the invitation of the government, revealed that the community thinks that Sasol has rehabilitated the Pambara-Mangungumete section National Road Number 1 only for the benefit of its workers living in Vilanculos.
“If it were up to us, it would be convenient [to rehabilitate] from Pambara to Save, because both districts are gas producers,” he complained.
In addition, communities complain that the management of the 2.75% of revenues that should be used for their benefit is not transparent.
The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy says that he is already aware of the problems and that he is working with the companies operating in these areas to improve those aspects of activities raised by the communities.
By Afonso Chavo
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