MOZAMBIQUE - Page 11.
of the respective ILO conventions and the introduction of numerous
changes in the legislation.
"The Committee heard many descriptions of the harsh way in
which workers were recruited, the pressures put on the indigenous
chiefs to supply workers and the inhuman punishment meted out to
those who failed to do so.  While the Committee recognizes that
these practices were not always sanctioned by the provisions of
the law as drawn up and enacted in Portugal, it nevertheless
cannot help but strongly condemn a system of administration in
which local authorities continue to display even today instances
of cruelty and lack of concern for human dignity which they were
wont to display so blatantly in the past.  It appears to the
Committee that although forced labour as an institution sanctioned
by the Government has been abolished, practices associated with
the institution of forced labour continue to exist.
"From all the information it was able to obtain, the Committee
finds that there has been little or no substantial change in the
daily lives of the indigenous inhabitants who remain restricted
and controlled in many ways in regard to their freedom to seek
work or to choose employers.  Furthermore, the great majority of
the indigenous inhabitants in the Overseas Territories...have no
wage bargaining machinery and do not enjoy the right to form
labour unions and are, therefore, powerless to make their voice
heard and to change existing conditions....The Commitee...would
like to stress that it considers immediate steps to be necessary
to give Africans a full share in the management of their labour
affairs through fully organized labour unions so that they may,
through peaceful means, fulfil their just aspirations in this
aspect of their lives."
SOCIETY
The social structure of the people of Mozambique is divided
according to race, ethnic origin, language and religious tradition.
The main lines of division between various groups are based upon
race.  In spite of statements by Portugal that there is no racial
discrimination in any of her colonies, Mozambique's social life
is based primarily on race.  In the first instance, the people are
divided into white and non-white.  The whites, being members of
the same race as the colonial power controlling the political and
economic affairs of the country, occupy the upper layer of the
pyramidal social structure, with the African black people occupying the base, while the Asians fall in between,  xi small group of
people of mixed ancestry, the mulattoes, exists which occupies
about the same position as the Asians,  as a whole, the lighter
the skin colour of a person the more likely that he will be accepted in the highest stratum of the society.  This is as true for the
Goans as it is for any non-African peoples.  The white man controls
the government, through the administrative machinery of Portugal
in which the highest posts are held by the colonist and those who
are racially akin to him.  The white man also controls the functioning of the main industries and commercial institutitons, while the
Asians carry out the actual trade of the country.
The Africans provide the raw material through their traditional agricultural and gathering activities and are the main source
of unskilled labour.  Therefore, the distribution of wealth is
limited by racial lines with the African poverty most evident.
There are no industries or trade organizations in the country
except as set up by the present colonial regime.  There are no
free labour unions since Portugal prohibits thuir existence.  In
Mozambique, as in all Portuguese territories, no associations exist v/hich are not directly controlled by the Government.