Mozambique: Manica governor threatens to sue companies which fail to meet their obligations – AIM

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Mozambique: Manica governor threatens to sue companies which fail to meet their obligations – AIM

9:43 CAT | 18 Oct 2022

File photo: Conselho Executivo Provincial de Manica

The governor of Manica province Francisca Tomás is threatening to bring to justice all companies failing to meet their obligations concerning social responsibility and channel their contributions to the local communities.

In Manica there are a number of companies exploiting natural resources and some to the detriment of the population without fair compensating for the damages causes to environment. This situation has been contributing to the impoverishment of the affected communities.

Current legislation establishes that any company operating in the Mozambican territory, especially in the exploitation of natural resources, including agriculture, must pay taxes with a 20 per cent being channelled to the benefit of the local population.

As part of their social responsibility many companies will build infrastructures for the population, such as health units, schools, improve access roads and fountains, among other projects.

Others simply channel 20 per cent of taxes to the population, which then invest in the construction of social undertakings.

In recent times, many companies are violating this legislation, a situation that is of major concern for the Manica governor, who wants to see this problem resolved.

In the exploitation of natural resources, the most noteworthy is logging, which despite the income, fail to channel the 20 per cent to the population.

“We are thinking of initiating legal action to ensure that this promise to the population is kept. We cannot accept these companies to continue to exploit our resources and carry out other activities to the detriment of our population. During the electoral campaign, we promised to better serve the population. Is this really what we are doing? questioned the governor of Manica province, Francisca Tomás.

“In addition to social responsibility, it is important to replace the species that were cut down. Reforestation should be carried out. I want the exploration to be done thinking about the future generations.

Tomás was speaking on Monday (17) during an extraordinary session of the district government of Báruè, the first of her two-day visit to that region to monitor the implementation of the government’s five-year plan (PQG), 2020-2024, where she called on the district governments to reverse this situation.

“Here we are not only talking about the district of Báruè. This challenge goes to all districts. We want these companies to start being serious and solve the people’s problem. We cannot tolerate things like that continue to happen in our province. The population cannot think that failure to enforce the law is due to lack of will from the government”, she said.

On Tuesday, second and last day of her visit Báruè, the governor will visit the administrative posts of Nhampassa and Nhassacara, where she is expected to visit a water supply system, agricultural fields and address a rally.

Source: AIM