Mozambique: INAE suspends bottling plant – AIM report

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Mozambique: INAE suspends bottling plant – AIM report

8:20 CAT | 21 May 2021

Source: Carta de Moçambique

Mozambique’s National Inspectorate of Economic Activities has suspended a company in Maputo province bottling mineral water, due to lack of hygiene and its poor location.

Cited by the independent newsheet “Carta de Mocambique”, INAE spokesperson Tomas Timba did not name the bottling company, but said it was located next to an establishment selling automobile spare parts and accessories. Despite this, the bottling company had been duly licensed.

Timba gave few details about the hygiene situation in the plant. He said the inspectors found that “this industry does not possess a testing laboratory to check the quality of the water during treatment. The workers are also not properly equipped in line with the requirements imposed by law for this type of activity”.

Earlier this year, he added, INAE suspended two other bottling plants for the same reasons, one in Maputo city and the other in the central province of Manica.

Although INAE refused to name the latest culprit, a little detective work by “Carta de Mocambique” found that it is Jugas Waters, which belongs to businessman Luciano Miambo, also known as “Majugar”.

The bottling plant is in the neighbourhood of Machava, in the southern city of Matola, and is indeed located next to an establishment selling automobile parts, which also belongs to Miambo.

“Carta de Mocambique” sent a reporter to Jugas Waters, who found that although INAE suspended its activities on 10 May, it is continuing to operate in defiance of INAE’s orders. It is selling what it describes as “purified water” to its clients, who are mostly Machava residents.

One of these clients, Alberto Macamo, told the paper he drinks this water because it is cheap and of supposedly good quality. He buys water from the plant almost every day, and did not know that INAE had suspended its operations.

Jugas Water sells five litres of mineral water for 25 meticais (about 43 US cents). A ten litre container costs 55 meticais, and for 110 litres, a client pays 350 meticais. These prices are indeed cheap, when compared with reputable brands of Mozambican mineral water.

Source: Carta de Moçambique