The Nacala Integrated Logistics Corridor (CNL) is due to appear in court in Nampula on Thursday (23) to give evidence for dismissing a worker who contracted an illness in the workplace, failing to pay compensation and cutting off health insurance.

According to the newspaper The CountryIn 2016, CNL hired an employee whose medical and fitness tests carried out by the company proved that he was fit to work as a port mechanic. In April 2021, CNL learned that its employee had developed two large herniated discs and had lost 30% of his physical capacity. In 2022, writes the newspaper, CNL announced the "expiry of the employment contract due to supervening incapacity". CNL also decided not to compensate its former employee and to stop continuing his health insurance coverage.

The routine work of the port mechanic, now 27, consisted of carrying metal components weighing between 25 and 35 kilos on his shoulders, climbing ladders to ensure the movement of ships carrying coal from the Moatize mine in Tete.

The former worker's illness is at an advanced stage and requires urgent surgery. Doctors found that the herniated discs were caused by the type of activities the port mechanic carried out at CNL.

It should be noted that disc herniation is a disease that article 224 of the Labor Law, in conjunction with article 20 of Decree 62/2013 of December 4, does not assume to be an occupational disease, since, in its light, it only covers diseases of a toxic or biological nature resulting from professional activities.