Mozambique: Marcos crosses the war every month to raise his pension

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Mozambique: Marcos crosses the war every month to raise his pension

10:18 CAT | 28 Oct 2021

File photo: DW

Marcos Tandika, 77, has been crossing the war zone in Cabo Delgado every month to collect his retirement pension – and that of other Mozambican ex-combatants.

Tandika is from the village of Mandela, south of the district of Muidumbe, and fought for independence against Portuguese colonial troops.

For a year now, he tells Lusa, he has been forced to dodge attacks by rebels in Cabo Delgado province, following “alternative routes” to escape the insurgency and reach the provincial capital, Pemba, some 150 kilometres away in a straight line – many more along the winding paths he takes.

Since 2020, only in Pemba has he been entitled to withdraw his pension of 8,500 meticais (€115 euros), because of the impossibility of public services paying pensions in the districts affected by the conflict – especially in Muidumbe, where insurgents have destroyed most state infrastructure.

Marcos Tandika travels just over 200 kilometres in three days, first leaving Mandela on foot and passing through Nkoé – an area that the rebels attacked – to the town of Nguida, and then to the district headquarters of Macomia, where he finally embarks on road transport.

As far as Macomia, the trip is made on foot and with no guarantee of success.

Tandika says he is always afraid of falling into a “terrorist ambush”, but “Fazer oquêt?” [“What can I do?”]. “I need money. I can no longer work the land,” he says in Shimakonde, one of the most widely spoken languages in Muidumbe and Mueda.

Even in a war-torn area, essential goods can still be bought.

If Macomia is under fire, as has happened, the ex-combatant uses the Meluco route, another district headquarters, but this route forces him to pay 1,500 meticais (€20) to motorcycle taxi drivers, a hole in the budget which “dnão ajuda” [“doesn’t help”].

If he has to go through Meluco both on the way there and back, it’s 3,000 meticais, leaving just 5,500 meticais (€74) of his retirement pension.

“I once slept for two days in the woods because I could hear the noise of people crying up ahead of me,” he recalls. Later, he heard that “seven people from the village of Paz, near Macomia, had been kidnapped”.

“I take risks because it is my only source of income. My age no longer allows me to work hard (in the fields),” – the only source of livelihood in those parts.

The veteran’s journey takes place at the end of the month and starts at cock-crow. In his bag, he carries dried manioc mixed with sesame and roasted and crushed corn, and water in a calabash, an old one that still keeps the water cold.

“The distance is hard, it reminds me of the times we used to go to the Nachingwea camps,” he laughs, alluding to the training camps in Tanzania where the Frelimo guerrillas trained to face the Portuguese colonial troops.

In addition to the insurgency, Marcos Tandika has faced bad weather and floods, especially along the Messalo river, which forced him once to travel on a log, which the young people along the banks of the river use as canoes.

“Once, I fell in, but, thank God, the current was not strong and I managed to save myself”, he relates.

On each trip, he goes not only for his own pension, but also takes the documents of pensioners who do not have the courage to cross areas that were once occupied by rebels.

“I take the risk because life is a challenge,” he concludes.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but has been terrorized since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

The conflict has already cost more than 3,100 lives , according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and displaced more than 817,000 residents, according to Mozambican authorities.

Since July, an offensive by government troops with the support of Rwanda, which was later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has increased security, recovering several areas once held by rebels, including the town of Mocímboa da Praia, which had been occupied since August, 2020.

Source: Lusa