Tete’s governor himself, Alberto Vaquina, met on Wednesday with the population. This meeting didn’t end well, and according to the local inhabitants, Vaquina talked to them in threatening terms. Nevertheless, the hundreds of families warn that they won’t stop expressing their concerns and demands until they are heard. Today they live without basic services, warned activist Jeremias Vunjanhe, of Justiça Ambiental –Friends of the Earth Mozambique in an interview with Real World Radio.

Vale is the largest producer of iron ore and pellets, a key raw material for the iron and steel industry and the second largest producer of nickel.

Since 2007, the company owns the concession of a coal extraction project in Moatize, an area considered as one of the largest reservoirs of coal in the world. The project has been severely criticized by some national groups, among other things because 1300 families had to be displaced. In addition to the Cateme relocation center, the September 25th Center is home to 500 families.

Tired of Vale’s not keeping the promises made before the relocation in 2009, and of the fact that the national and provincial government are not responding, the over 700 families living in Cateme gave the company and authorities an ultimatum in December for them to address their demands by January 10th. Otherwise, they warned that they would mobilize.

The families didn’t receive any answer so they didn’t hesitate: on the eve of January 10th, over 600 people blocked the rail roads and roads of the area. A Vale’s coal truck was blocked during the demonstration. But then, a violent police repression against the peaceful demonstration ended up with several injured people. In addition, 14 people were arrested and according to Justiça Ambiental, several of them were even tortured while in prison.

But, what are the demands of the relocated families? Jeremias Vunjanhe travelled to Moatize to assess the situation of these families and to know what their claims are.

In an interview with Real World Radio, the activist of Justiça Ambiental said that the Cateme inhabitants have a poor access to water, to land for agriculture and to transportation to get medical attention. The issue of transportation is extremely sensitive in order to transfer the people that need to get to the provincial hospital in Villa de Moatize, 40kms from Cateme. Cateme’s Health Center can only meet some basic needs.

The population of this area understands that the relocation process was ill-managed and they complain about Vale’s broken promises, among them the ones referring to the maintenance of their homes for the first five years. They also demand the establishment of a water channel system that can ensure access to the resource for their daily needs. Also, the Brazilian company had said to the families that they would give them two hectares of land each for agriculture, and so far it has granted half of that amount.

“Vale committed to provide regular food aid during the first five years”, said Vunjanhe. “This is one of the main issues because now the population of Cateme is hungry, there are children with signs of malnutrition”, he added. The supply of food by Vale only took place once and the company stated that the Mozambican government doesn’t allow them to provide food for considering it a responsibility of the government.

The national authorities announced a few days ago that they’ve signed a memorandum of understanding with Vale so that the commitments of the company are met. "But we believe that this is just an attempt to calm down the people".

On Wednesday, Governor Vaquina tried to intimidate Cateme’s inhabitants, according to the activist, so that they stop demonstrating. But the people told him that they have other plans: they will only stop demonstrating when Vale’s commitments are met.

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