Mozambique alive and ready for commerce

Mozambique, to the east of South Africa, is a country just waiting for commerce. Travelling north from Maputo on the EN1, it becomes clear that new roads built for transport serve an entirely different purpose.

Jagged footpaths follow the roads for kilometres – almost impervious to the straight roads beside them. And where the paths meet the tar it isn’t uncommon to find little piles of fruit or vegetables for sale, lying on anything from mats to rickety cabinets.

An old lady behind the table signals 5 Metical (about 20 US cents) for the pile of tomatoes. As part of the 5MT transaction, the chosen pile is checked to see if it’s still as good for sale as it was when it was packed out. There are also piles of potatoes, onions and custard apples, an indication that Mozambicans – without plastic pre-packaging – have also embraced bulk retailing.

For a land surrounded by greenery, there is also an astounding amount of nursery stalls.

But it isn’t only in the sale of simple goods on the side of the road that trade is thriving. Where the road breaks deals are still to be made. The ferry may be temporarily out of service for repairs, but a large rowing boat will take passengers and wares across the river. Once across, local fisherman cast nets daily, creating one of the worlds few enclaves where sustainable fishing still thrives. And “sustainable” means catching trawling for consumption on the day of catch. There is little sense in freezing good fish.

Unfortunately, one of the world’s poorest nations is still beside Africa’s richest. The inhibitor to South Africa’s wealth benefiting Mozambique is perhaps the poorly managed border between South African and Mozambique. It doesn’t matter how many trade facilitation agreements are signed between SADC members, until the inefficiency of border posts is dealt with, little progress will be made. Firstly, there should only be one border post with clear signage in English and Portuguese to ease flow and minimise unnecessary duplication costs, and secondly clear channels for types of cargo need to be developed so that cargo trucks, public transport and private transport can be processed separately.