Land is fundamental to the lives of the people in this region because they survive fundamentally on what they produce in the machamba (the farm, or the land where they cultivate their harvest). Sadly, megaprojects come arriving claiming large areas of land that belong to the population. I say “belong to the population” since in Moçambique, in accordance with the constitution, the land belongs to the Republic, to benefit the people, and it´s because of this that the land which pertains to the state cannot be sold to or owned by a particular person or institution. These megaprojects can obtain a certificate to the approval and right to use this land for a determined period of time (DUAT).
In spite of the possibility of this documentation, customary right is also considered valid, where every national that makes use of the determined area for more than 10 years has the right to use the land and with guaranteed approval regarding its use. It so happens that with the lack of knowledge, the larger part of the population have been retired to their respective locations and the areas where they normally cultivate, by foreign businesses that arrive – the majority of times supported by the government or local authority.
By not knowing this right of theirs to the area, and for seeing that who arrives has “papers” that concedes the right of this land to that particular person, many times the population simply abandons the area and they are left without ways in which to react and without a place to work their sustenance. It´s because of that, in the past few years, the Diocese of Nacala, through the Commission of Justice and Peace, have developed a work of consciousitizing the population about the Law of the Land of 1997. Despite the antiquity of the law, so little is known or divulged about it, since there is no interest that the population of farmers knows their rights. Besides that, the Diocese also gives support in obtaining the community DUAT of the “regulados” (form of social organization of communities, where there is a local authority, namely the régulo, considered by the community to be the traditional person of responsibility in that area). This last Sunday, we were in one more community to present and explain to the population their rights about the land, with the presence of a Moçambican attorney to accompany the processes, to explain the way in which to obtain the document, as a major security for the customary right they already have to the land.
The interest is huge. It appears as though the populations are each time around more and more worried with the situations that are coming to pass. There were close to 190 people present, amongst them Christians, Muslims, and those of traditional religions. After all, these meetings are for the whole population, since everyone has a right to the land. And so, that community was given the first steps with which to follow through with the process. We will pray for all the people who suffer from the lack of land for their sustenance, and for that reality in our Brasil, and for those experiencing the same in several other countries. We will seek work so that the land can be used to benefit the people, and not just for the interests of a particular few. We are together, united in prayer and in mission! A huge embrace since Mozambique!
By Flávio Schmidt Brasiliam CLM in Mozambique
