Good afternoon. The absence of the state is a constant condition of life in rural Mozambique. Outside the cities, there is little sign that local government is acting to look after the interests of ordinary people. Very often, the responsibility for paying for public services like community healthcare, or public works projects like building a road, is assigned either to donor-funded NGOs or to a local business, typically working in mining or other natural resources. It reinforces the sense that, despite 50 years of independence (the anniversary is tomorrow), Mozambique remains dependent on wealthier countries and corporate interests in some ways.
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From the Zitamar Live Blog:
Fifty years on, Mozambique continues to struggle with stubbornly high poverty (the poverty rate has been rising in recent years, not falling), high inequality and poor provision of infrastructure and public services. Of course, much of that is due to lack of resources, but it is also arguable that resources are not always allocated in the most helpful way. Mozambique still bears many hallmarks of a highly centralised and authoritarian socialist state: district administrators lack the funds to undertake even modest public works projects in their area, like repairing a road or the roof of a school. Too often, they are reduced to merely making impotent statements to the media, weakly urging or pleading for money.
