Mozambique: Gazene, less than an hour from the centre of Maputo – Photos

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Mozambique: Gazene, less than an hour from the centre of Maputo – Photos

7:58 CAT | 16 Jul 2023

Photos: luisa Nhantumbo/ Lusa

Afonso Xerinda has been waiting for 30 minutes for the only boat that provides access to Gazene, a community of more than 200 people isolated by a branch of the Incomáti River, 30 kilometres from the centre of the Mozambican capital.

“When the tide is high, we are forced to use the boat. But when the tide is low, we really cross the river by walking,” Afonso Xerinda, 33, tells Lusa on the bank, waiting for more people living inside the community to arrive so that the only precarious boat that makes the crossing makes the first trip of the day.

It’s almost 9 a.m. and, today, the tide is relatively low.

Some residents are already taking their risks on a journey on foot [across the water], carrying their bundles on their heads and children on their laps to cross, always careful not to slip in the mud on the banksof each diversion of the 287 kilometres that make up the [total] length of the Incomáti River in Mozambican territory.

“The boat stops at 4 p.m.. There are many people who are not yet home at that time, which is usually high tide […] Children who have to go to school are the ones who suffer the most. They arrive at school dirty and with wet books when the tide is high,” Ângelo Chichava, another Gazene resident, explained to Lusa.

Gazenen.lusa_

When the sun goes down, getting in and out of the community is impossible, even in emergencies, explains fisherman Alberto Timane, a resident of the neighbourhood since 1978.

Timane.lusa_

“When my wife became pregnant, close to giving birth, I went to leave her at a relative’s house in town. I couldn’t run the risk of her labour starting at night and us not being able to leave here for the hospital”, the fisherman told Lusa.

On today’s first trip, the boat, whose only guarantee of safety is a rope stretched between the two banks, leaves with five people, but the tide is very low, and the boat ends up stuck in one of the sand dunes.

Gazene.lusa_

The young crew members, fishermen from the neighbourhood, have to climb down to push the boat to the other shore, while Afonso and other passengers help to remove the water that is invading the boat, which is visibly degraded.

“It’s a really precarious boat, and I don’t see safety as the best. Fortunately, we haven’t had any accidents so far. But it is something worrying “, Ricardo Leite, a resident of Portuguese origin who settled in Gazene almost two years ago, told Lusa.

Luigazene.lusa_

But the dilemma for those who live in Gazene is not just the crossing, the neighbourhood, located in the district of Marracuene, is isolated from the rest of the Mozambican capital: there are no hospitals, schools, drinking water, or a police station.

The apparent quietness that dominates the community, far from the typical bustle of the capital’s urban centre, does not hide the despair of the families who live at the mercy of their fate in Gazene, in a paradox in which the misery of abandoned populations in the middle of nowhere mixes with the natural spectacle offered by one of the many beautiful beaches that Maputo has.

“The government is aware of the situation, but these problems are years old […] It seems to me that Gazene is forgotten,” says Zita Pedro, a local trader.

Gazenetr.lusa_

The authorities admit that they are aware of the difficulties of the community’s residents but point out that the lack of resources to finance infrastructure is a common dilemma in the 154 districts that make up the Mozambican territory.

“We have spoken to some operators and some investors to support us in creating conditions. Even the issue of the bridge, which is necessary, we have already taken to the district administrative structures,” Pires Manhiça, a counsellor of the administrative structure, told Lusa.

While the solutions do not arrive, when the sun sets, the more than 200 families living in Gazene will remain isolated from the rest of the world, even though they live less than an hour from the centre of Maputo, the Mozambican capital.

Gazenee.lusa_