It’s all systems go for Mozambique’s elections. The country’s citizens have high expectations for the new leadership to be elected on Wednesday. They hope a new leadership will be able to deal with the high rate of unemployment and poverty in the country.
More than 50% of Mozambique’s population live on less than a dollar a day despite the vast coal and gas discoveries in the country.
Several locals, among them 35-year-old Cardoso Maposa wake up at first light every day to scavenge for metal at a dumping site in Matola just outside Maputo.
His efforts to find work in Mozambique and South Africa have allegedly failed. Despite his frustration, he says he will turn out for the polls on Wednesday.
He says the problem is that there are no companies and contractors, there is no place where people can work so that they can get money to maintain families.
He will vote for a government that will pay attention to the poor, at the moment he says “even if we are going to vote we don’t know what we vote for, because the government is not looking after poor people instead they are looking after the rich people”.
Over 10 million Mozambicans have registered to vote in Wednesday’s election. This is an increase of 1 million from the 2009 poll.
Given the challenges the country faces, editor of Verdad Newspaper based in Maputo, Erik Charraz, says there is not enough of a focus on issues. He says the rallies, especially for Frelimo, are all about charisma, “they all talk about the same issues, it’s almost as if one candidate hears the other talking and then he touches on it”.
The election could mark a turning point in the country’s fortunes. It now stands on the cusp of exploiting its huge coal reserves in the north of the country and its abundant natural gas off the coast.
The national elections commission is expecting a high voter turnout.
More than 130 000 staff have been deployed at voting stations across the country which will open from 7 am to 6 pm.
– By Busi Chimombe
