State Discourse on Internal Security and the Politics of Punishment in Post-Independence Mozambique (1975–1983)

Abstract

This article explores state discourse on domestic security threats and the way the Mozambican party-state sought to counter them in the decade after independence. It analyses the ways in which government forces dealt with ideological enemies, crime and social disorder. It is argued that Frelimo's quest for hegemony and its obsessive aim of building a state-nation under the project of 'socialist revolution' led to harsh intolerance of all that was considered a hindrance to these objectives. As obstacles to the project arose from the outset, the party-state developed a political analysis of security that did not distinguish internal from external security threats. The result was the institutionalisation of a politics of punishment as a state instrument of power and social control aiming to repress, deter and educate partystate opponents and all individuals outside the realm of socialist and revolutionary principles defined by the party-state. The article demonstrates that much of this politics of punishment represented to considerable sections of Mozambican society a return to the 'old regime' insofar as the post-independence state reproduced some colonial mechanisms of punishment and social control.

Tenuous Belonging: Citizenship and Democracy in Mozambique

“…All political orders are systems of categorization. During socialism, Frelimo conflated political opposition, criminality, and social problems into an all-embracing category of 'enemy' (Machava 2011). To belong was to be within Frelimo's orbit; to be outside was to be a traitor (Buur 2010).…”

“…Thus, 'true' citizenship was a process in which, through an individual act of will, one joined the wider collective under Frelimo's leadership. Those who refused this definition ran the risk of being labeled 'enemies of the people' (Machava 2011).…”

‘No Smoke without Fire’: Citizenship and Securing Economic Enclaves in Mozambique

“…In Mozambique's early socialist and post‐independence period, from 1975 to 1986, the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique or Frelimo, the ruling party since 1975) resembled what Mbembe termed the ‘Theologian State’; that is, ‘a state which is preoccupied not only with practices concerning the distribution of power and influence, social relations, economic arrangements and political processes. It is also [a state] which aspires explicitly at defining for social agents the way they have to see themselves, interpret themselves and interpret the world’ (Mbembe, : 128, see translation by Machava, : 597). Thus, despite the lofty declarations of various constitutions, inclusion into the political community and being recognized as a national citizen has been dependent on political loyalty, social position and one's willingness to adopt the traits and behaviour that the party leadership officially affirmed.…”

Galo amanheceu em Lourenço Marques: O 7 de Setembro e o verso da descolonização de Moçambique

“…Embora muitos militantes clandestinos da FRELIMO em Lourenço Marques vissem o seu trabalho político como parte da luta de libertação encabeçada pela Frente de Libertação, quase todos desconheciam os alicerces ideológicos que se vinham consolidando na Frente, que desde 1969 -70 passara de um movimento puramente nacionalista para uma verdadeira frente revolucionária de orientação marxista (Brito, 1991: 138--153). Nos últimos anos da guerra, a FRELIMO passou a assumir posições cada vez mais exclusivistas e vanguardistas, que haviam de se confirmar e consolidar a partir dos primeiros anos da independência (Darch e Hedges, 1998;Machava, 2011 Luta clandestina e o imaginário político da elite africana de Lourenço Marques O nível de desenvolvimento de Lourenço Marques em relação ao resto do país possibilitou a existência de uma pequena elite africana urbana. A bifurcada cidade capital era dividida entre o moderno e ordenado cimento (ou xilunguine), exclusivamente reservado à população europeia, e o "caniço", labiríntico, sem saneamento, e de construções precárias onde se apinhava a maioria africana como reserva de mão -de -obra barata para o cimento (Penvenne, 1995).…”