The reincarnation of Correa's theory of three meals for 3/100 with change clashes with the empty tables of Mozambican women

Paulo Vilanculo"

President Daniel Chapo's recent statement, according to which a Mozambican woman is able to manage one hundred meticais to ensure three daily meals and still keep some change, has brought back to the collective memory one of the most controversial statements made by the previous government. In 2023, the then Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Celso Correia, stated that 90% of the Mozambican population managed to have three meals a day. The so-called "three-meal theory," now reincarnated under a new formulation, demonstrates that politics may change protagonists, but the narrative does not always change.Reincarnation is a religious or philosophical concept in which, after the biological death of a living being, the soul or non-physical essence begins a new life in a different physical body. In Spiritism, it is interpreted as a divine opportunity for evolution where the spirit manifests itself in the knowledge of expressing, dealing with, and/or presenting past experiences.The critical parallelism between two public statements clashes with the Mozambican socioeconomic reality when a government official presents a scenario of food prosperity that does not correspond to the daily lives of citizens.

Although the President's reference to the role of women in managing the family budget implicitly acknowledges the extraordinary resilience of Mozambican women, a visit to any municipal market or commercial establishment reveals that the prices of rice, flour, cooking oil, sugar, fish, meat, and vegetables have increased significantly in recent years. Inflation on food products, the devaluation of purchasing power, high youth unemployment, low wages, and the predominance of the informal economy mean that thousands of families survive with enormous limitations. In many homes, three daily meals have ceased to be a habit and have become a privilege. Some families have reduced their food intake to two or even one meal a day, while others depend on support from relatives, small informal businesses, or humanitarian aid to ensure their survival. The capacity of these women should not be confused with an economic miracle. Women manage to stretch scarce resources through enormous personal sacrifices, reduced food quality, deprivation of their own needs, and creativity in managing poverty. Celebrating this capacity without acknowledging the structural difficulties could mean romanticizing poverty instead of combating it. As long as the tables of Mozambicans remain empty, any discourse about food abundance will inevitably be confronted by reality. Even considering rigorous management of the household budget, one hundred meticais hardly ensures a balanced diet for an average Mozambican family.

There are ideas that disappear with time, and there are others that, despite being discredited by reality, are reborn in new guises. The similarity between the two discourses lies not only in the content, but above all in the construction of an official narrative that seems to ignore the concrete indicators of the population's living conditions. When official discourses conflict with the daily experience of citizens, a crisis of trust arises between rulers and the ruled. Even more worrying is the impact of these statements on the credibility of public institutions. (Remember that Celso Correia...)The first 25 tractor units were delivered, although 66 were planned for 2,000 small producers in Nampula as part of the “SUSTENTA” program.Under the current government, 10 tractor units equipped with trailers for transporting people have been delivered, with plans to acquire and gradually distribute 100 more, and a future goal of expanding to approximately 400 units nationwide.

The repetition of narratives reveals an embodiment, a recurring pattern in the government's political communication: constructing perceptions of progress before the results are actually felt by the population. Governing requires hope, but it also requires rigor. Citizens' trust is not built with catchy phrases, but with public policies capable of reducing the cost of living, increasing family income, stimulating national production, creating jobs, and guaranteeing food security. The true measure of a government's success is its ability to ensure that families, without resorting to extreme sacrifices, can feed themselves with dignity, educate their children, access basic services, and live with hope for the future. The population does not expect optimistic speeches; it expects concrete solutions to equally concrete problems.

2025/12/3