VULNERABILITY AND VIOLENCE IN RESETTLEMENT PROCESSES: CASE OF THE MAPUTO-KATEMBE BRIDGE

Abstract

In this study, we investigate to what extent the resettlement process resulting from the construction of the Maputo-Katembe Bridge affected the lives of the resettled families, the level of changes faced by the families, and the social effects from the process of removal from the Malanga neighbourhood in Maputo City to the process of settling in the Resettlement neighbourhood in Mahubo, Boane District. The research has a qualitative approach, supported by semi-structured interviews and systematic observation. The data were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis technique and concepts of territory and theories on violence. We analyzed the resettlement process of the families affected by the construction of the Maputo-Katembe Bridge in three moments: the territorialities during the stay in the Malanga neighbourhood; the process of deterritorialization, the departure, breaking of ties with the Malanga territory; and the process of reterritorialization, the creation of new ties in the Resettlement neighbourhood. The three processes are analysed using two dimensions of territory as criteria: political-economic and symbolic-cultural. We understand that the processes of de(re)territorialization, which involve breaking ties and fighting to create new ties with the territory, have led to acts of violence against families removed from the Malanga neighbourhood to the Resettlement neighbourhood in Mahubo, as a result of the construction of the Maputo-Katembe Bridge. Thus, contrary to the legal objective of a resettlement process, this process has not resulted in an improvement in the living conditions of the affected communities. Quite the contrary, the case under study is an example of the degradation of the living conditions of the affected families: less access to services such as health, education, transportation, water and loss of sources of income.