Exploração mineira e o reassentamento em Cateme no distrito de Moatize - descaso ou prática de corrupção:

uma reflexão sobre as responsabilidades da empresa e as políticas governativas em Moçambique

Abstract

Mozambique has been the scene of a notable movement of large multinational companies seeking to exploit mineral resources, particularly coal mining in the province of Tete, district of Moatize, the country's main mining area. In this article, we propose a reflection on the responsibilities of the Brazilian company Vale, which conducted a resettlement process of the population of Moatize in 2009 to the town of Cateme, 40 km from the village of Moatize. This process was marked by numerous complaints and dissatisfaction, both from those affected and from Mozambican and foreign civil society organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, which considered it to be riddled with flaws. Through interviews and documentary analysis of reports from civil society institutions involved in the process, we adopted a critical perspective on the criteria for land expropriation and the methods used to resettle those affected, as well as the company's failure to fulfill its promises. This resulted in the violation of citizens' rights, in the face of silence from government entities, causing socio-environmental impacts that culminate in conflicts, as such impacts transcend their simplicity, and their consequences are currently being experienced. A qualitative and exploratory field study was conducted between September 2024 and February 2025, during which interviews were conducted with those affected and technicians from the provincial infrastructure services that oversee mineral resource services, in order to understand the contours and criteria used in the resettlement process. Two lessons or conclusions can be drawn: a possible disregard by Vale Moçambique for the precarious situation to which those affected by forced resettlement were subjected and, on the other hand, the exacerbated level of corruption in the Mozambican government, which remained immune to the atrocities and violations of the rights of those affected.

Keywords: Mining, resettlement, social inequality, social participation, conflicts.