12 March 2008
Maputo — A total of 4,979 houses destroyed or damaged last year by the explosions at the military arsenal in the Maputo neighbourhood of Malhazine have now been rebuilt, according to the government spokesperson, Deputy Education Minister Luis Covane.
2,790 of these houses are in Maputo, and the remainder are in the adjacent city of Matola.
The total number of houses that were affected by the explosions was around 12,000 - 9,377 in Maputo and 2,785 in Matola. In the reconstruction, priority was given to the 243 houses that were completely demolished. Covane said that these have all been completely rebuilt and delivered to their owners.
The Mozambican Cabinet, at its meeting on Tuesday, analysed the work done by the Reconstruction Support Office (GAR), the body set up by the government to supervise rebuilding and assist the victims of the explosions.
As for the promised payment of death benefits, where a family lost one of its members in the explosions, or invalidity pensions for those who were maimed, Covane admitted that this is going very slowly. So far only 49 applications for pensions and benefits have been submitted to the GAR.
The problem is that many of the residents of poor neighbourhoods affected by the disasters have no find of identification document. "There are victims who don't have an identity card, or a passport or any other form of document", said Covane, and this was making it difficult for the state to compensate them.
The explosions resulted in 107 deaths and 515 people injured, some of them losing limbs.
The report from the commission of inquiry into the disaster appointed by President Armando Guebuza showed that it was caused by gross negligence. The obsolete weaponry that exploded, showering artillery shells, rockets, mortars and other devices across Maputo and Matola, had been kept in a warehouse without a roof and hence with no temperature control.
Manuals for this ageing Soviet bloc ordnance were not available, and no proper inspection of the state of the decaying munitions had been carried out. Despite this, nobody in charge of the arsenal has been charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence or any other offence.
Mm/pf (367)
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