Mozambique: Guebuza lambastes corruption in justice system

Source: News reports & clippings no. 89 from Joseph Hanlon ([email protected]), 14 November 2005

GUEBUZA LAMBASTES CORRUPTION
IN JUSTICE SYSTEM

President Armando Guebuza made what AIM called “his strongest criticisms
yet of corruption, sloth and ineffectiveness within the country's judicial
system, which was effectively denying the rights for which the liberation
struggle had been fought”, in a speech to senior legal figures on 5
November.

To turn the system around, Guebuza said, "we cannot continue tolerating
indifference and apathy in our administration of justice, using the
pretext that a huge amount of work has accumulated - when we know
perfectly well that the greatest problem is the spirit of ‘don't bother’ -
expressed in the lack
of timely orders to undertake specific actions, or, if they are ordered,
failure to check that they are carried out".

Justice Minister Esperanca Machavela recalled that in March Guebuza had
warned that lack of justice "leads to frustration among those seeking the
restoration of rights that have been violated and weakens the democratic
authority of the state". But she admitted that "the message reaching us
from the communities” is that little changed in the subsequent six months.

Isabel Rupia has been relieved of her duties as head of the
anti-corruption unit (UAC). The official reason is that the UAC no longer
exists; under recently approved legislation, it has been replaced by the
Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC), which will be
headed by Rafael Sebastiao. But this is little more than a change of name.
Like the UAC, the GCCC will operate under the office of Mozambique's
Attorney-General, Joaquim Madeira. Both Rupia and Sebastiao are assistant
attorney-generals No explanation has yet been given as to why Rupia has
been replaced, but she was seen as lacking a clear strategy and had not
brought many successful prosecutions.

Meanwhile, various senior people accused by the media of corruption have
been dismissed in recent weeks:
+ Vicente Veloso, chairperson of the Mozambican publicly-owned electricity
company, EDM, was dismissed on 8 November. He denied charges of corruption
levelled against him in the press, but has not brought any libel actions
against the newspapers.
+ The Labour Ministry delegate in South Africa, Pedro Taimo, was sacked
without warning on 17 October, after 14 years at the post. "Mediafax" said
the decision was taken "after noting various irregularities in his
performance, including financial mismanagement". Because of the large
number of Mozambican miners in South Africa, the post is politically and
financially important.
+ Aguiar Mazula resigned as chairman of the board of the
corruption-riddled National Social Security Institute (INSS) in late
October. AIM notes that “resignations are very rare in Mozambique.
Presumably Mazula believed that his position at the head of an
organisation that has been racked by scandal in recent months was no
longer tenable.” Mazula's resignation follows the sacking in August of the
INSS chief executive, Elina Gomes, accused of serious mismanagement of the
funds of the institution. Mazula formerly held posts as Minister of State
Administration, Minister of Labour and Minister of Defence.
+ Jose Solomone Coss was dismissed as chairman of the board of the
Mozambique Airports Company (ADM) on 25 October.
+ Daniel Fumo was sacked as chairman of the board of the National
Engineering Laboratory (LEM) in July. "Mediafax" reported that Fumo was
accused of extremely poor relations with the laboratory's workforce.
Complaints against Fumo date back to 2002, but the workers say that the
previous minister, Roberto White, paid no attention. Workers also say they
failed to receive backdated pay rises and that the money has gone missing.
Fumo was sacked by Minister of Public Works and Housing, Felicio Zacarias,
who earlier removed three directors of the National Roads Administration
(ANE), and the head of the state housing fund. In September he dismissed
senior housing officials in Maputo and Nampula, saying "there are serious
problems of theft" in the state
housing agency, APIE.

Meanwhile, Jorge Microsse, the director of the Maputo central prison, was
murdered on 21 October. The press reported he was killed by Paulo
"Dangerman" Estevao, an inmate of the top security prison who is awaiting
trial for his part in the attempted murder of lawyer Albano Silva in 1999.
It is claimed “Dangerman” left the prison on the afternoon of the crime,
disguised as a policeman, and accompanied by two prison guards. There have
been other press reports over recent years of top security prisoners being
released to carry out assassinations. As the Mozambican news agency AIM
points out, if the stories are true, ”this raises the terrifying
possibility that a top security prison has been converted into a reservoir
of hired killers with the full complicity of some of the police guards.”