On 17 April several hundred brickmakers blocked the entrance to the Vale open cast coal mine in Moatize, halting the transport of coal by rail. They had all been resettled, to make way for the mine, and were protesting that Vale has not paid them the promised compensation.
So far Vale has paid 785 brickmakers the sum of 60,000 meticais (slightly less than 2,000 US dollars) each, which they regard as derisory. The brickmakers claim that the promised compensation was between 90,000 and 120,000 meticais each.
After initially declaring that there was no question of paying any more, Vale has issued a press statement saying that it will meet with representatives of the brickmakers, and of the government in order to seek solutions together. This would involve initiatives to increase the production and income of the brickmakers on a “micro-business” level.
Vale has thus decided to play it safe, faced with threats by the brickmakers to further disruption of coal production and transport.
The NGO Academic Action for the Development of Rural Communities (ADECRU) has claimed that the brickmakers’ representatives in negotiations and their households have suffered intimidation and manipulation.
At a meeting held on 19 April, Vale and representatives of the police, according to ADECRU, warned the brickmakers that they could be held liable for the losses suffered by the company during the period it had to paralyse its activities.
The brickmakers, however, claim that they have not been able to work since 2009. “We have families to feed and support. But instead of focusing their attentions on the questions we have raised, they preferred to speak of the impacts and damage caused by the protests”, said the brickmakers’ representatives, cited in the ADECRU release.
ADECRU went further and claimed that Vale is exercising excessive power over government representatives at all levels. The NGO alleged that public interest and national sovereignty are being subordinated to the private interests of a small political elite in connivance with transnational corporations.
Post published in: Africa News