We continue to believe that the destiny of Mozambique is in the hands of a single man, as if the tenant of Ponta Vermelha were a messiah who could change the social order with miracles. But can one man determine the destiny of a country?
I have listened to a podcast in which the philosopher Severino Ngoenha talks with the Mozambican academic of Italian origin Luca Bussoti about the reconstruction of Italy after World War II. Both agree that Italian public opinion was fundamental to saving the country. The reconstruction and destiny of the nation were not placed in the hands of Mussolini or Eurico de Nicola, but rather public opinion, aware of the abuses of the State, denounced them before a judicial system that was a real power.
Is Mozambican public opinion strong enough to put our country back on track? Although I do not know for sure, I am aware that he has not stopped denouncing violations of the Constitution and other laws. In fact, the discovery of the well-known “hidden debts”, which triggered the largest and most publicized trial in the country, was the result of complaints that appeared in the press, which also mobilized society through the Yo no Pago movement.
On what paths will we guide the nation? We don’t seem to know where we are going, who we are and what our values are. What links us? One of the few times we came together as a people was on the occasion of the aforementioned trial. We did it because we did not accept the debt imposed on us and we wanted to know who was responsible. In 1974, Samora Machel said that “in the past, the exploitation, oppression and humiliation inflicted on us by the colonizer united us and put us on the path of struggle, where we committed ourselves as a people with the goal of liberating the land and men.” As a nation, Machel pointed out, “we must assume the need to consolidate these objectives” and the values that we had as a people in construction, based on unity, work and vigilance. These principles have never been more necessary than now.
Today it is necessary to monitor the internal enemies of the country (those who violate and trivialize the laws or those who promote corruption), without neglecting the external ones, which the violence suffered by Cabo Delgado forces us to do. This region shows us that work is a “duty.” In the genesis of the nation, work was a “slogan” to which we must now continue. If in post-war Italy the complaints of public opinion were backed by a solvent judicial system, we also need strong institutions, and only work will give us that.
For the new political cycle, it is not necessary to believe in prophecies spread by false theologians and improbable messiahs, but rather we must walk with the conviction that “the task of rebuilding a modern country and moving forward is the responsibility of an entire people committed to work.” Among other things, as Machel said, because “Mozambique’s progress will not be the result of any miracle, but rather the effort of each one of us.”
In the image above, a public school worker in Nacala folds the flag of Mozambique. Photography: Gianluigi Guercia/Getty
