Maputo, Mozambique — Private businesses in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza have complained bitterly about delays in funds promised for post-flood rehabilitation.
When Gaza, on the Limpopo River, was devastated by massive flooding in February last year, foreign donors, notably the US Agency for International Development (USAID), promised easy credit to help the private sector to recover.
But over a year later, the businessmen say they have not seen any trace of the promised assistance.
Gaza provincial director of Industry and Trade Joao Macucha conceded that "beneficiary lists published by USAID contain the names and companies we don't know," adding "they're not on our records as economic operators in Gaza, much less as companies affected by the floods."
Businesses also protested that the banks seemed determined not to allow access to credit, despite an undertaking signed between the government and USAID.
Under the contract there are various forms of guarantee (including simple insurance) that companies applying for the USAID funds can give the banks.
A representative of the Austral Bank said the agreement with USAID allowed banks to accept what was convenient for them.
The municipal authorities in the provincial capital, Xai-Xai, also came under attack, with one businessman affirming that about 60 per cent of activities in downtown Xai-Xai were still closed - including the municipal market, branches of banks, shops, government offices, schools and health posts.
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He claimed that it was "lack of will" by the Municipal Council that prevented the revival of that part of the city.
The council was accused of not even cleaning up the stagnant pools left by the floods, which have become a perfect breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
Gaza governor Rosario Mualeia said he was also concerned about the delays in releasing funds intended for flood-stricken businesses, but cautioned against too many illusions about donors.
"It's not worth deceiving yourselves into thinking that the international community would create special funding conditions for Gaza," he said. "It's more than a year since the floods, and if they wanted to create those conditions, they would already have done so."
The fundamental cause underlying the delays, he said, was "the inflexibility of the international community when it comes to disbursing money."
Mualeia thought it urgent that USAID now abide by an earlier promise to negotiate contracts concerning access to the credit it has offered.
