1 October 2008
Mabalane — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Tuesday called for better management of the water resources of the southern province of Gaza, to ensure that agricultural activities can thrive, even during the dry season.
Speaking in Mabalane district, on the first stage of a working visit to Gaza, Guebuza said the province has great agricultural and tourism potential, as well as water resources such as the Limpopo river which, when better used, can mitigate the effects of drought which frequently affects the Gaza interior.
At the rally he addressed in Mabalane town, Guebuza called for unity and determination of all to fight and defeat poverty. Just as in the past Mozambicans had united to fight against the poverty caused by the human phenomenon of colonialism, so today they can overcome poverty caused by natural adversities such as drought.
This, he stressed, would involve improved access to education, to technical and professional training, and to technology, to ensure the better exploitation and use of natural resources, and placing them at the service of the country's development.
"Today, the creation of wealth depends on us", said Guebuza.
He added that the government's strategy also hinged on improving health care, through the training of more doctors, the building of more health centres, and greater access of citizens to health services.
The government was also investing heavily in expanding supplies of clean drinking water, the electricity grid, and telecommunications networks. He pointed out that Mabalane now has mobile phone contact with the rest of the country, and indeed the rest of the world.
As part of its strategy of decentralization and of empowering the districts as poles of development, the government now allocates at least seven million meticais (about 290,000 US dollars) every year from the state budget to each of the 128 districts.
The money is supposed to be lent to individuals and small business with credible projects for increasing food production and creating jobs. A further two million meticais goes to each district annually to be invested in local infrastructures.
"In the district, there is no longer any reason for us not to act in solidarity with each other in the fight against poverty", said Guebuza. He warned that the investment funds for the districts were not just handouts of money.
They were supposed to generate wealth and employment, and the money must be repaid so that it could form a rotating fund which could help other people committed to the fight against poverty.
Guebuza also confirmed that part of the money needed to repair the Massingir dam, on the Limpopo tributary, the Elephants river, damaged in an accident in May, has been guaranteed (by the African Development Bank). An estimated 15 million dollars is required. Without the repairs the dam will be unable to play its role in irrigation and flood control.
In a report presented to Guebuza, the Gaza provincial governor, Raimundo Diomba, said that overall production in Gaza grew by 15 per cent between 2004 and 2007 - from 9.56 billion meticais (about 39.7 million US dollars) in 2004 to just under 11 billion meticais in 2007.
Agricultural production, added Diomba, had risen from 611,700 tonnes in 2006 to 828.951 tonnes in 2007.
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