Thursday 28 November 2013

All a bit mundane

Today Maputo smells distinctly of sewerage. No particularly pleasant and I can't pinpoint the source - seems generalised. Maputo has no main-line sewerage works that I know of. Every house or building has a series of septic tanks and the fondly named `poo-trucks' come and clean them out when they get full. It was the same in Oman. In fact I remember Muscat smelling much like today, on some hot evenings.
The local elections have come and gone and all seems well. There was pre-election trouble, I suppose predictably, up in Beira and some fifty people were hurt in clashes, but that's about it. The MDM was very vocal and issued copious warning about election fraud, to the point of telling their potential voters to bring their own pens (presumably to avoid rigged pens). Of course, Renamo, to all intents and purposes, boycotted the elections...so well, um , not quite sure what the results reflect. Any-way, so Frelimo is mostly still secure, although not  reportedly in as large a majority as before. And, predictably, the MDM are grumbling that all was not free and fair. So yup - nothing much to report. The elections have come and gone and not lived up to the fear and trouble we thought they might bring.
The kidnappings also seem to have come to a sudden halt following the execution style killing of a crime boss up in Matola. Much speculation about that one...
Worrying news from up North is that young men are apparantly being forcibley recruited into the armed forces. Not the actions of a government secure in its standing. So more to watch.
On the bright side, the recent tensions might mean that we have fewer South Africans coming in for December. (And this is going to sound awful to my South African friends...)December has traditionally been a high crime month in Maputo as criminals follow in the tourists. Armed robberies in public places, scarcely heard of the rest of the year, crop up like a rash in December. There is much speculation that the criminals are from over the border.... Which is not to say that the criminals won't take a chance on rich locals blowing money over the festive season. ..
So yes, all seems quite normal in Mozambique.

Sunday 10 November 2013

Ho-hummmm

And so here we are. Still. The sky has not fallen, Chicken Licken (how's that for a literary reference?) but expats do seem to be bleeding out of Maputo. Good friends have gone - we hope temporarily. And we are all completely stressed out.
But the word on the ground is that things are looking up. I hear that some families will be back in the next two weeks and that the government is making some sort of move to reassure it's citizens. Ho hum.
Things are not normal. We are all advised to be careful and not make unnecessary journeys. Travelling North is advised against. However, the rapper 50 Cent was in town last night and DB attended the concert, crawling in at 5:30 with the rather lame excuse that `I couldn't get my car out so I went to a bar until I could...' Ho-hummmm.
Talking of a lack of normality: the Chinese are attacking the beach with gusto. There is a full-fledged assault going on, with Chinese road builders dumping ton after ton of rock, not only in the creation of breakwaters, but in an effort to build the Marginal up against the sea. And there is a curious building up of the beach in the dumping of lots and lots of grey material, which looks suspiciously like cement. I have no idea how this is all going to work, but the `beach' opposite our complex is now sizeably wider. Any engineering types out there like to hazard a guess about what is going on?
It really has been road-builder vs Mother Nature (and Mozambican Nature)for a bit. When the serious assault on the beach began, a large area was fenced off with a 8 foot high steel fence. All sorts of safety precaution signs were attached to said fence. I'm sure the idea was too keep the locals out of the work area. It was therefore particularly funny to watch the local beach-goers simply walk off the road, down the beach and along the inside of the fence (apparantly good protection against the nutters driving on the Marginal and one in the eye for the Chinese work gang...)
So shade cloth was attached to said fence (presumabley to stop the locals seeing what was going on and to instill a sense of caution). The very same night, Mother Nature sent a strong wind to blow the fence down....
The fence is now up again, minus shade cloth ,and certain barriers have been erected on the beach itself, but by the amount of litter on the new surface, I'm pretty sure the beach is as Mozambican owned as ever.
Aaah. Mozambique. Not much in the way of rules...