(  'lR  1945 (o   mark   Herr
. death.
"ELECTED"
As a man on the spot the Mozambique governor-general exercises very wide powers subject to
the Lisbon government. He is assisted by a legislative council which
has 24 members; 22 of whom are
either Portuguese officials or settlers and two assimilados.
Legislative authority over Mozambique is supposed to vest in the
National Assembly of Portugal
which is made up of 120 Deputies.
The Assembly, however, is a rubber
stamp for Toni Salazar who has
been in office since 1928.
Mozambique is entitled to three
seats on that bogus parliament.
Mozambican "elected" deputies are
usually   agents of the   Salazar re-
FOUR REGIONS
The administration of the province is carried out through four
regions as follows:
(I) The region of Sul do Save;
(II) The region of Zambezia;
(III) The region of Niassa; and
(IV) The region of Manica-Sofala.
The regional capitals are Lourenco Marques, Quelimane, Nam-
pula and Beira respectively.
The districts are in turn divided
into sub-districts each under an ad-
ministrator; and each sub-district
is redivided into one'to four administrative posts in which are the
post offices, police stations and so
forth.
The regions are headed by
regional governors who can be overruled by the governor-general.
A judicial system, comprising a
court of appeals and courts of
preliminary investigation in ten
judicial divisions, maintains separate
sections for African cases and
aplies the Codigo Civil (Portuguese).
A royal charter of 1891 authorised Companhia de Mozambique
to   exploit,   the   resources   of   the
18      VOICE OF AFRICA ■
region of Manica and Sofala, an
area of 59,315 square miles for a
period of 50 years.
The company had a capital of
£1.5 million, most of which was
foreign. It exercised sovereign rights
over the regions under its jurisdiction. Wlien the company's charter
lapsed in 1941 it was not renewed.
The regions were formally restored
to direct Portuguese administration
on July 19, 1942.
In Manica and Sofala the company had control of agriculture,
commerce, industry, mining, communications and transport, taxation
and customs. It issued its own
currency and postage stamps.
The Companhia do Niassa with
its capital at Porto Amelia, received
' a royal charter in 1894. It exercised
jurisdiction in the region north of
the Lurio river. The company's
main interests were in agriculture
and transport.
In 1929 the Portuguese govern-'
ment took over the administration of
the area.
Portuguese colonial policy has
like all other colonial policy, been,
directed towards robbing the African of his land, and of his human,
natural and mineral resources. It is
in this form tha the undermining of
national integrity and the overthrow
of national sovereignty took concrete shape.
In Mozambique colonial land
policy derives from the Law of May
9, 1901 laid down that all land,
which did not at that date constitute
private property in accordance with
Portuguese law, was the property of
the state.
A 1918 Decree for Mozambique
provides for the reservation of
certain area for the exclusive use of
the African people and provides
also that such lands may not be
alienated. Africans are not forced
to live these reserves. Land actually
occupied by Africans may not be
granted to Europeans.
Gunther states that 97 per cent of
Mozambique belongs to the Africans
while Flailey categorically states
that "Statistics are not available
regarding the Native area in Mozambique."
Large parts of the Zambezi have
been turned into settler prazos
(plantations) some of which are
hundreds of square miles in
exchange. These are now held as
concessions for 25 years.
A number of these prazos are run
by companies such as the Zambezia
and these may alienate them subject
to approval by the government.
The Mozambique Company is
reported to have alienated 6 per
cent of the lands under his control.
The Limpo River Scheme provides for the eventual settlement of
6,000 Portuguese and 3,000 African
families.
75,000 acres out of the total of
50,000 acres set aside for the project will be irrigated.
Flailey remarks that "the scheme
will admittedly involve some disturbance of the African population,
which is being resettled elsewhere."
And this remark makes nonsense
of the claim of the 1918 Decree that
"such lands may not be alienated."
It is only those Africans who have
become assimilados who can, in
theory, acquire real rights in land
or enjoy the benefit of the process
of inheritance, legacy or purchase.
In positive terms the position stated
thus far is that real ownership of
land in Mozambique is the prerc-.
gative of the Portuguese settler, the
Portuguese company and the Portuguese State.
In and outside the so-called
reserves the African enjoy the privilege of occupation but no right of
ownership. And even that privilege
he enjoys at the pleasure of his colonial masters.
The colonization of Mozambique
has therefore robbed the 6.5 million
Africans of real rights in their own
land. Land in Mozambique is, therefore, used to benefit the Portuguese
state, company and settler at die
expense of the African.
Until recently no adequate
mineral survey had been made of
the Mozambique mineral resources.
As far back as 1510 the Portuguese
entertained great expectations concerning the gold and silver output
of the land. Small quantities of gold
are   being   mined   near   Villa   de