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Mozambique: `Women Have Society in Their Hands'

Gala Goodwin

29 July 2004

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interview

Washington, DC — Ana Rita Geremias Sithole is visiting the United States on a three-week study tour with eight other female African leaders as a part of the U.S. State Department's International Visitor Program. The program was established to promote mutual understanding and to create a forum for cultural exchange.

Sithole is currenly a member of Mozambique's parliament and a candidate for re-election in the country's December elections. Looking forward to her upcoming re-election campaign, she spoke with AllAfrica's Gala Goodwin about her country's history, economy, and educational system. Excerpts:

Since the end of Mozambique's civil war and the flooding that destroyed so much of its economy and infrastructure, how has the country coped with the challenges of rebuilding the country?

Mozambique is known as one of the very successful experiences in post war development. We had sixteen years of civil war and in 1992 we had a peace agreement. Since then, Mozambique has been safe [and] stable, and the economy is flourishing.

In the past, the port of Beira has been instrumental in supporting the economic growth of Mozambique. Since the recent economic decline in Zimbabwe, has there been a parallel decline in Mozambique?

Mozambique has a long coast. We have three big ports: Maputo, Beira, Nacala. The Beira port is the one the inland countries of southern Africa rely on. That's Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. So if there is this kind of economic and political instability in Zimbabwe, it affects us. That's not the only one or the biggest one. One in the north of Mozambique and one in the south of Mozambique, but it does affect us.

What is the current status of Mozambique's economy? How are reforms in the cashew industry going?

We had a very big situation with floods in 2000. Our economy was growing in terms of rural development, road construction, public facilities, schools and primary health centers. Then we had these bad floods and everything was destroyed. The road network was affected badly; we had to start over again. This means all means we had for reconstructions and for other things were put back to road network reconstruction. I think we've overcome it. So things are going smoothly again.

The cashew problem has to do with [the World Bank and International Monetary Fund]: `You want funds for your economy, then you have to fulfill our requirements.' One of the objectives of this economic re-stratification program is privatization. We have to go on with this not only in the cashew industry but also in almost all the big industries in Mozambique. Cashews were affected the most. Many factories were being closed because the new owners of those factories did not agree with what was settled. Before there was a lot of labor, then they had to reduce to half or maybe one-thirds. So you find many Mozambicans were unemployed because of privatization of the cashew industry. And cashews were one of our major exports. It was affected for some time. Now, I think from the last two years, we've managed to control again the cashew industry. We're exporting again.

How have you been able to recapture those sales and return to exporting cashews?

There is a new policy of dealing with [the] private sector. We were looking at the public sectors only, and then the state is not able to do everything. We came to a decision that we have to combine private and public activities and give more emphasis in the private sector.

We find things are changing now. Most of the people are more interested in developing their own properties. Then, they create [the] situation of giving access to Mozambicans. You'll find that things are changing, in that you don't rely only on government like we used to do before. Now, it's market-oriented policy. So we have opened doors for nationals to develop - even starting from small business - but they are coming up. And women are on the rise.

You taught at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), which in the past was very discriminatory toward black Mozambicans. What was your experience?

I was trained in a system where blacks were a very, very big [majority] in my country. In 1975, Mozambique got independence. Less than one-third [of the] people in the university [were black]. From 1975-1977, the main objective of the government, in terms of education, was to open access in terms of enrollment for everybody to get to school. [There were] not enough schools [and] not enough teachers.

I was in my first year of college. Samora Machel was president at that time. He closed all the universities and high schools. Then the objective was secondary education for everybody. So that's when I had to be trained as a teacher. I started teaching from there on. I postponed my graduation for four years, and had to go to teach secondary school. Since I was doing engineering, I choose to teach science, and then I taught math, physics, and chemistry. After five years, the situation was almost calm. Then there was a decision from the government [that] those who postponed their graduation should go back and finish their degrees. I went back to my university and finished my degree in chemistry. Then I was sent to [the] UK for my master's degree in education. That's why I teach.

But you don't talk about a lot of discriminatory education in my country. Since then, there is nothing to do with whites or blacks or tribes - it's just a national plan. Of course, we don't have enough schools. Many people are sent abroad. In those days, we used to have eastern Europe, Russia and those countries. Cuba - our kids were sent there for secondary education. Most of these people are already back in Mozambique. They have different skills. We no longer have such a problem of lack of teachers in Mozambique. But we have lack of space for children. On the primary school level, we need to build more. Our growth rate is too big compared to the facilities we provide.

In Mozambique, the proportion of female students has gradually increased since 1992. Can you say that your involvement with the Ministry of Education has been pivotal to that increase?

Yes, there is a problem. According to data and research we made, we find that although the population of girls is higher than boys, they both start primary school. However, in the end of primary school less than 25 percent of girls finish. Boys go on to the university. There is a study we took with the Ministry of Education. We found that we have to change our national curriculum. We have to give more emphasis [to] girls' education. We have to take into account gender balance.

This is the third year the new curriculum has been set. We give priority to girls' education, but it means enrollment and retention and completion. We don't just talk about enrollment because we found out that many girls are enrolled, but then we have a big rate of dropouts. Why? Because girls are meant to help their moms at home with housework. With girls, they get married very early at the age of twelve or thirteen years and so forth. Now, we promote a lot of facilities for those families who guarantee that their daughters will remain in school until they finish either primary or secondary level, even higher education.

Along with building facilities and changing the curriculum, are there other ways that you think the government can place a greater emphasis on education?

In teacher training, we also have to pay attention [to] women. The way the syllabus works, we give more facilities for women teachers to come on the books. Before it was different - you rarely see women in that book. The more women get access to education, the more development [is] provided in that specific area. That's why we don't say it's only a problem of the government itself, but civil society. This is discussion that should be taken either through church [or] other influential ways that people will keep on saying, `We have to be educated! We need to get more girls in schools. We have to give facilities for single mothers.' They have to develop themselves, but they have to be sure that their kids go to school. Otherwise, they will have the same problem she has. So education is our main problem.

Can you elaborate on women's role in Mozambican politics?

We are known as the biggest percentage of women parliamentarians in our region, maybe in Africa, actually. I've been in Parliament for ten years now. We are having elections in December. This is the end of the second term. What I've found is that we can use our nature - feminism - to lobby in terms of influencing policies. We can use that power we have, but there is a hang up again. Uneducated women cannot promote change. You just sit there and clap hands, and you don't go straightforward.

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