Portuguese Ultra-Colonialism in
Mozambique
by Franz J.
T. Lee
Article in
“Review of
International Affairs”, Vol. XV, No. 334, Belgrade, March 5, 1964
Pandemonium Electronic Publications,
Mérida, Venezuela, 1999
The Portuguese
colonisation of Mozambique started at
the beginning of the 16th century. In 1505, on his voyage to India,
Almeida set
up a factory at Sofala on the east coast of Africa. He also built a
fortress at
Kilwa. In 1507 a fortress and factory were built on Mozambique island.
In 1531
and 1544 Sena and Quelimane were founded, respectively. Portugal hoped
to
discover important sources of gold and silver in the African interior.
However,
neither metal was ever found in substantial quantities, hence
Portuguese
penetration of the hinterland was limited and superficial.
By 1700 only the
Zambesi valley as far as Tete had
been occupied. Portuguese population along the coast did not exceed
1,000. With
the collapse of the spice trade and the Asian empire, the Portuguese
lost
interest in the East Coast. The whole area declined, the interior and
the coast
of Sofala became deserted. By 1810 the Portuguese coastal occupation
was the
same as in 1600, consisting of forts and trading posts from Ibo to
Lourence
Marques.
Only in 1885 -
scarcely 80 years ago - with the „Great
Push for Africa“ by the great imperialist European powers did Portugal
become
seriously interested in Mozambique again. Below, we analyze what
happened in
the 80 years thereafter and the events that led to the present terror
and
slavery.
From 1895 to 1896
a campaign under Antonio Enes and
Mousinho de Albuquerque reduced Gazaland in Southern Mozambique. In
1897
Coutinho occupied the coastal area north of Quelimane. In 1902 to 1904
the
Zambesia Company „pacified“ the area from Tete to Nyasaland frontier.
In 1906
the northern sector opposite Mozambique Island was subdued. In a series
of
campaigns from 1908 to 1912 the Yao tribes off Lake Nyasa were brought
under
control. This ended the period of military conquest.
Up to 1890, the
major victor of the new imperialism,
the chartered company, was almost non-existent in Portuguese Africa,
although
from 1891 onwards concessionary companies did exist in Mozambique. By
1900 the
Mozambique Company (1891), the Nyassa Company (1891-1893) and the
Zambesia
Company, between them controlled two-thirds of Mozambique’s economy.
These
companies were very small in comparison with their English or German
counterparts in Africa. At this time the Portuguese economy was archaic
and
bankrupt. It was scarcely touched by the commercial and industrial
expansion of
Western Europe in the 19th century. It could not convert an extractive
to a
transformer imperialism. This factor is the root determination of the
structure
of the present Portuguese colonies.
About 1930, the
white and mestizo population of
Mozambique were 17,800 and 8,350 respectively. The total population was
about
3,500,000. From 1940 onwards emigration figures began to show a major
increase:
1940, 27,500; 1950, 48,000; 1960, 80,000.
From 1950 onwards
some 5,000 families have been
settled at Guiga in the Limpopo valley. These settlers received up to a
total
of 10 acres per family and some 60 acres of non-irrigated land for
grazing
purposes from the Government, in order to raise the living standard of
the
Europeans. At present there are about 12,000,000 Africans in Mozambique.
Missionary
activity was carried on mainly by
Portuguese Dominicans. Despite intensive campaigns, proselytisation was
wholly
ineffective and impermanent. In 1825 there were just 10 priests and of
these 7
were Goans. By 1850 there were just four along the coast and not a
single
missionary in the interior. About 1900 there was an iflux of foreign
missionaries - mainly German friars, French Montfort and Salesian
fathers, and
Italian Consolate friars. These missionaries were supported by Portugal
in
their campaign of bringing the Christian religion to the natives and
„barbaric
races“. The African had to be civilized to become an obedient slave, at
the
same time making sure that he did not become competent or initiative.
Today the
Salazar regime, under the official rubric of „Faith, Family, Toil“, is
intensely Catholic.
In 1950 Mozambique
had 210,000 Catholics and 60,000
Protestants (census figures). A third of the Christian community is
thus
heretical, despite the non-existence of any Protestant minority in
Portugal. In
1957 there were 310 Catholic and 200 Protestant priests (or ministers).
Missionary
activity is a symptom of a wider élan. At
the dawn of European Imperialism Vasco de Gama said: „I seek Christians
and
spices“. Ever since, missionary activity has always been one dimension
of the
total colonial enterprise and as such suggestive of all the others.
In 1956 out of a
total population of 6.000.000 (census
figures, although this figure was probably much higher) only 284,000
(including
whites) received education. In 1954 there were 183,092 pupils in
rudimentary
schools, being reserved almost exclusively for Africans. Of these only
3,595
took the final examination (after three years) and of them 2,774
passed. In
1955 there were 212,428 pupils in Catholic rudimentary schools; of
these only
2,761 passed to continue their education in the primary schools. In
1954 there
were 120 Africans in commercial, industrial and secondary schools in
the whole
of Mozambique. In the elite Liceu - the preparatory school for
university level
- there were 5 Africans and 800 (eight hundred) white students; no
African has
ever completed the whole Liceu course. There is no university in
Portuguese Africa.
All higher education has to be acquired in Portugal or in other
countries. The
outcome is that less than 1% of the Africans are officially reckoned to
be
literate (1950 census). This is an important factor in explaining why
political
organization and revolutionary work are of such a low level in
Mozambique (see
later).
Any observer can
attest the most flagrant and classic
type of discrimination in Mozambique. Hospitals have black and white
wards;
restaurants have notices stating: „Admission Reserved“; the hotels
employ an
all-white staff; in buses and trains, in parks and gardens, all over
there is
strict discrimination. A bus-ride in Lourenco Marques costs the quarter
of an
African daily wage. Pricelevels seal Africans off from white
commercial, social
and entertainment centres. Specially designed rents impose separate
white and
African townships. In Lourenco Marques, just like in Cape Town or
Johannesburg,
there is a permanent curfew for Africans after nine o’clock in the
evening. The
African is forced to carry a pass - a „cadernato“ - in order that he
can be
controlled and efficiently enslaved. One sees the whole Apartheid and
Baasskap
policy of the Herrenvolk of South Africa here at work.
The panorama of
foreign capital in Mozambique is
impressive, but there is a lack of ‘truthful’ figures and inadequate
research
on this matter by modern writers. The following may suffice to give us
a
picture of this „covert condominium“.
In 1959-60,
Mozambique exported mainly cotton, cashew
nuts, tea, sugar, copra and sisal. British capital owns two of the
large sugar
concessions (the third is Portuguese), including the famous Sena
states. The
Matola Oil Refinery, Procon, is controlled by England and the United
States. In
1948 the petroleum concession was given to the Mozambique Gulf Oil
Company. At
Maotize coal is mined; the industry is chiefly financed by Belgium. 60%
of the
capital of the Compagnie de Charbons de Mozambique is held by the
Societe
Miniere et Geologique Belge, 30% by the Mozambique Company, and the
remaining
10% by the Government. Of the three banks in Mozambique, only the Banco
Nacional Ultramarino is Portuguese, the other two are Barclay’s Bank,
D.C.O.
and the Standard Bank of South Africa. Nine out of the twenty-three
insurance
companies are Portuguese. 80% of life-insurance is still in the hands
of
foreign companies. Lately the Lourenco Marques Oil Refinery was
established by
the Sociedade Nacional de Refinazao de Petroleo (SONAREP) - a
Franco-Portuguese
syndicate. In the sisal plantations Swiss capital is invested. In copra
concerns, a combination of Portuguese, Swiss and French capital is
invested.
Judged from the
above, it is quite clear what a stake
most of the countries of the „free world“ have in the continuation of
exploitation and oppression of the millions of toiling African masses
under
Portuguese slavery.
The Freedom
Fighter (Ghana newspaper) of November 21,
1963, published the following: „People are being drowned alive; people
are
being buried alive; people are being burnt alive; people are being
skinned
alive; - all in the 20th century, in Mozambique! Slavery is Rampant.“
To show
that this is no exaggeration. I wish to repeat the acts of which the
Liberian
delegate at the United Nations accused Portugal lately: (1) Drowning
Africans
in her territories, (2) Burying Africans up to their shoulders in the
ground
and crushing their heads with bulldozers. Africa or Southern Rhodesia
are being
kidnapped and Southern Rhodesia at 2 pounds sterling a head. She
produced first
hand evidence that 10,000 African workers were being sold each year to
South
Africa. And Portugal is a member of NATO!
Mozambican freedom
fighters who have fled to South
Africa or Southern Rhodesia are being kidnapped and maltreated by the
Portuguese secret police (PIDE) with the assistance of Welensky and
Werwoerd,
and vice versa. Some examples are: the kidnapping of Edward Ngubeni and
Philip
Sebral from South Africa, and of Jaime Sigauke from Salisbury, in April
1962,
and their return to Mozambique. Lately Filipe Madzodzere and Alfred
Amargo were
kidnapped.