A national dialogue in Mozambique? Imagine a surgeon who performs an operation on which his patient’s life depends. Just when I thought I had solved the problem, the patient’s heart stops. The heart failure leads him to realize that his patient’s disease is not the main problem, but that true ailment has not even been diagnosed. Think of the despair of the doctor, who now must discover the real problem, treat and save the patient.
The national dialogue in Mozambique could help us diagnose the true disease that the country already defines the roads to save. The other day, a friend showed me a video in which a Mozambiqueño bishop said that the nation was very sick. We can disagree with the seriousness of the ailment or about the real problem, but we know the symptoms, we see the wounds that remain open in the social fabric because they have not been treated and end up extending to all organs.
The national dialogue is a need that we have for years, but that we have delayed. However, as the Severino Ngoenha and José Castiano philosophers say, “the inability to dialogue among us led us, yesterday, to the sixteen -year war, with their horrible butcher shop.” Have we forgotten?
If someone in this society was not aware of the importance of dialogue, they realized how reconciler that the Mozambiqueño President Daniel Chapo, and Venâncio Mondlane sat at the same table. The impact of this meeting was much greater than the return of the latter to Mozambique. Although Mondlane’s return was highly anticipated, not only for her supporters, but also by the government and, above all, for the people, it was the dialogue between the two leaders that ended the post -electoral demonstrations and the chaos they created, allowing life to flow again, especially in the capital.
Mondlane and protesters have only uncovered the problems – diseases – whose solution has been postponed over the last 50 years. In the same way that the surgeon must discover the true ailment of his patient, if we want to save Mozambique – that was Mondlane’s slogan – we must identify the real problems and move quickly towards the reforms that the country needs.
João Feijó, one of the most popular analysts who reflects the most about the country, said that although the Constitution of the Republic establishes that Mozambique is a democratic state of law, we have never really been a democratic country. Since independence, decisions have always been centralized and their application has been imposed by the Chicote. In this sense, the political commitment signed in March 2025 by political parties for an inclusive national dialogue is one of the most significant achievements of the post -election crisis.
This idea of national dialogue is in line with the third way proposed in 2019 by Castiano and Ngoenha. These philosophers, who have thought of Mozambique, warned of the need to develop a new social contract that would be the result of what citizens define as their desire to live together, an objective that they intend to achieve in unity without endangering, in any case, the precious and unnegotiable political independence that has cost them so much to achieve. Do Daniel Chapo and Venâncio Mondlane do commitment and audacity to create a new social contract and save Mozambique?
In the upper image, dry from the Zambeze River (Mozambique). Photography: Pablo Ostos
