Cahora Bassa: o processo e as implicações sócio - econômicas do reassentamento no posto administrativo de Chitima, 1967 – 1974

Abstract

The aim of the study was to describe and analyze the process and the socio-economic implications of population resettlement resulting from the construction of the Cahora Bassa dam in Chitima. Various research methods and techniques were used to carry out this study: consultation of written documents (primary and secondary), conducting semi-structured and structured interviews, collecting life stories and direct observation. The plans for the construction of the Cahora Bassa dam began to take shape in the late 1950s. The main objectives of this undertaking are: (i) production of cheap electricity for the apartheid regime in South Africa and (ii) political and strategic - military. Although FRELIMO, with the help of the international community, tried to make the construction of the Cahora Bassa dam unfeasible, it ended up being completed in December 1974. With its completion, more than 42,000 peasants were forcibly removed from their areas of origin to other areas. indicated by the Portuguese colonial authorities. Contrary to colonial propaganda, according to which the selection of “redevelopment” zones would take into account the existence of fertile soils and water sources, the peasants were resettled in areas with infertile land and scarcity of water sources. This sad reality caused the peasants to have huge economic, social and cultural losses (TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)