The urban problematic in Mozambique : initial post-independence responses, 1975-80

Mozambique won its independence from Portugal in 1975, following a 10-year guerilla war led by FRELIMO (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique). Modelled on FRELIMO committees in liberated areas, neighbourhood 'dynamizing groups' organized against political and economic sabotage by departing settlers, and the urban population began to define the future of the neighbourhoods. By 1977, with the virtual collapse of colonial municipal government, People's Assemblies assumed political direction of the cities. In early 1979, the First National Meeting about Cities and Communal Neighbourhoods proposed a series of measures to consolidate people's power in local government. This paper examines the effectiveness of these resolutions in the face of continuing difficulties inherited from the colonial era, ongoing rural-urban migration, and class differentiation; and looks at Mozambique's continuing success in developing participatory structures.The research for this paper was made possible in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and grants from CUSO and OXFAM Canada