The community of Maganja, in Palma district, Cabo Delgado province, accuses the French multinational TotalEnergies of unilaterally breaking the land compensation agreement.

A complaint made to MZNews by people affected by the natural gas exploration project led by the oil company says that this is a commitment made by TotalEnergies when it acquired the project from Anadarko.

The agreement with Anadarko provided for compensation with new land, money and motorized vehicles (tricycles/txopelas) for all the people in the Maganja community affected by the project, i.e. who "lost" their fields.

TotalEnergies backed out of the agreement and, by unilateral decision, decided to pay only 210,000 meticais to each beneficiary. Those targeted will no longer have access to new land and transportation.

Meanwhile, according to our source, the land/machambas now under the garrison of private security companies, Rwandan troops and Mozambican military comprise a vast expanse from the seafront to the interior of Maganja.

The land that was promised is located in the community of Mangala, which is more than 20 kilometers from Maganja.

SE complaint National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC)

After a recent meeting between TotalEnergies representatives and the community, the latter asked for the oil company's top leadership. To the displeasure of the local population, the Permanent Secretary of the Palma district, Laurinda de Fátima, was the top official who went to try to settle the case.

D'Fátima was disappointed with the reception, as the Maganja community refused to talk because they didn't know her and whether she wanted to belong to TotalEnergies. For this reason, the community suggested making copies of their documents and taking photographs of them so that they could confirm their legitimacy to deal with TotalEnergies' leadership.

The situation led the Permanent Secretariat to file a complaint with the local SERNIC against ten young people involved in the "talks".

The young people were summoned by SERNIC to appear on Monday (13). There is no information on the prosecution of the case, but one of our sources says that it is "a strategy that has been widely used to intimidate communities that say no to megaprojects in Mozambique".