CORRUPTION IN MOZAMBIQUE KILLS COMPANIES, KILLS JOBS AND GUARANTEES IMPUNITY

Afonso Almeida Brandão"

THE The number of corruption cases in Southern Africa has been increasing, not only in the public sector, but also in large and medium-sized companies and in the funds that proliferate in the Capital Market (including the countries that currently constitute the PALOPs). The succession of widely reported cases ends up leading to their being forgotten, with the swindlers benefiting from prescriptions, easily obtained by good lawyers. Even the Justice system does not find it strange that the accused, the defendants, have the means to pay such expensive lawyers. The legislation of countries with African culture, including the CPLP, seems to have been designed to protect “white-collar” criminals, unlike what happens in South Africa, a country we know well, where many millionaires are in jail after short-term trials.

The situation in Mozambique is not very different from other African countries. And this is only because its economy and the volumes involved are slightly higher than average. And any “bonus” of less than Ten Million Meticais is not considered serious (not to mention the “coveted” currency of the “green notes” that are the USD Dollars).

 The involvement of the FRELIMO “Chuxa-listas” Left in Corruption has led to unbelievable distortions. We have the blatant case of Celso Correio regarding the “move” he made with the Caixa Geral de Depósito (CGD) of Portugal, worth 60 million American dollars. However, as we all know, it remains unclear to this day... And why is that?

And to counter other examples, we also have the scandalous “case” of the Hidden Debts, which involved embezzlement, theft and corruption of several Members of the FRELIMO Government, with successive trials in the BO tent, involving well-known figures of our Society — one of them the “son” of Armando Guebuza, at the time, President of the Republic of Mozambique — and who is currently in prison, as we all know.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that Corruption in Mozambique has recently gained some space in the main Media Organs linked to the Power, which do not cover past cases, perhaps in the spirit of complicity, as everything indicates, “offering” their “forgetfulness” under the guise of an ideological stance and of not reporting anything to their readers...

In fact, what is destroying the economies and (mis)governments of the CPLP, and perhaps of the countries that make up the PALOP countries, with Mozambique at the forefront — regardless of the scandals we know about — is not just corruption. We could give more examples of well-known large and medium-sized companies that emerged from the country's biggest debtors to, in half a dozen years of good management, become the most profitable among some of the capitals of the former overseas colonies of the Portuguese colonial period, now PALOP countries — and this at the level of the most diverse areas of the sector.

But, what really kills, even affronting Morality, in our opinion, is the Leftist Ideology of Parties like FRELIXO, in Mozambique, or the MPLA, in Angola — and this is to mention two flagrant examples, among so many known ones — to add that this unquestionably kills companies, kills jobs, corrupts and guarantees impunity to its own and “our” current Minister of Economy does not even know how to deal with the issue, as he is “at a loss” with so many Corrupt people “on the loose” and in activity...

Does anyone have any questions?■

2025/12/3