Mozambique: President advocates mandatory community consultation for land use rights

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Mozambique: President advocates mandatory community consultation for land use rights

1:31 CAT | 28 Apr 2025

Photo: Conselho Executivo provincial de Sofala

The president of Mozambique has advocated the mandatory consultation of communities before granting the Right to Use and Exploit Land (DUAT) to national and foreign investors, asking for the respective compensation to avoid “unnecessary conflicts”

“No one can have a mining license or a Land Use and Benefit Rights without consulting local communities, because they have been in these places for years and generations,” said President of Mozambique Daniel Chapo at the opening of the tenth National Land Consultation Forum.

The Mozambican head of state called on investors, both national and foreign, to pay due compensation to local communities as one of the important steps in the exploration of resources, stating that the action aims to avoid “unnecessary conflicts”.

“If we want to exploit mineral resources, be it coal, any other resource, gold, gas, any resource we have, it is important to consult local communities, respect the rights of these communities and deal with the appropriate compensation if necessary,” he said.

The 10th Land Consultation Forum is a space for seeking and sharing proposals that will guide the draft of the future Land Law of Mozambique.

President Chapo suggested a new land law in which the right to use and benefit from land without community consultation is illegal and said that the draft bill still under debate, which will later go to parliament, also opens up the possibility for investors to negotiate with local communities where they hold the rights, with the mandatory participation of the State.

According to the Mozambican president, the draft bill also provides for a legal framework that prohibits administrative and social practices that result in the “emergence of a free or obscure land market” and the exclusion of the most disadvantaged from access to land.

“For us, among other things, it is essential to prevent and combat criminal acts such as the sale of land, which results in acts of corruption in the granting of this right. As a nation, we must eradicate these harmful practices that undermine the development of communities,” concluded Daniel Chapo.

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