presents:
SIX STORIES FROM MOZAMBIQUE
© 1998 RADIO BRIDGE OVERSEAS TRUST

On the way to the market
Boarding the ferry to Maputo from the Catembe pier

"Bargaining at a market is an acquired skill, I thought to myself, as my colleague bought a shirt similar to that I had purchased the previous day for twice the amount."

RBO-reporter Fortune Ncube from Zimbabwe & his Mocambican colleague Emmanuel Camillo
on a market spree in Maputo

This is Maputo's "Mercado Municipale", the official one tourists get to know

Potentially rich Mozambique is still trying to get back on its feet. Until that time, its system of informal markets will remain as an important means of survival for many.

Camillo: "This market is called Straala, straala means star market. It started mysteriously. Somebody started selling things and another one joined in, after that the number increased to ten, eleven, twelve - up to fifty and since the market is in the middle of the city, the city council was not happy and they tried to chase away the people who were selling here and I think it was impossible to put it down. The police came here, people ran away and after that they called it Dumbanenge, dumbanenge meaning you have to rely on your feet because when the police comes you have to run and you have to be careful."

Fortune: "Music cassettes, wines and beers. Second hand clothes, fresh produce, farm implements and electronic goods of a wide variety. Jobs are hard to come by in the country because the war ravaged economy will take time to repair. More than 15 years of civil war was enough beating on the economy that formal private sector investment only started trickling in recently. But in the meantime, the national trade depends, to a large extent, on mainly imported goods.

...except for locally produced meals



Listen / STORY 6 - / 03'10"
"How people provide for themselves -The Straala Market in Maputo"

The local authorities have stopped chasing the marketeers away because selling is their only life line. They have been advised to set up infrastructures for these markets. In the meantime, its business as usual at Straala market, as usual as can be under such circumstances.


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THE RBO PRODUCTION TEAM:

Research & Interviews in Mozambique:
Victor Desajado, Emmanuel Camillo, Fortune Ncube, Klaus Juergen Schmidt
Scripts:
Victor Desajado, Fortune Ncube, Klaus Juergen Schmidt
RBO-Interns attached to research at Cahora Bassa:
Holger Bock, Olaf Krems, Morris Nyakudya
Presenter:
Victor Desajado, Fortune Ncube, Dadirayi Chigoya, Shorai Kariwa
Translation in Mozambique:
Victor Desajado, Emmanuel Camillo, Lucia Rodriguez, Christina Maria Patricio
Technical Supervision at RBO studio:
Norbert Irmer & Nenad Kuzmic
Administration & Logistics:
Jennifer Chiriga & Dadiray Chigoya
Managing Editor & Director:
Klaus Juergen Schmidt