Offering money or sex are some of the recurrent corruption practices in rural Mozambique in order to obtain a document that gives the Right to Use and Enjoy Land (DUAT), according to the Center for Public Integrity (CIP).

O report from CIP on corruption for land acquisition in rural areas analyzed three provinces (Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Manica) and reveals that in addition to bribes for the procedural processing of DUAT, there is sexual extortion of women in exchange for a DUAT title, denial of land use and benefit rights to women and youth, exclusion of communities from negotiations for the concession/acquisition of land between private investors and local authorities.

These practices also include expropriation and unfair compensation; over-invoicing of DUAT acquisition fees; undue charging of users; deliberate loss of processes/submissions; manipulation of legal procedures to incite users to suggest bribery; and the use of informality in the processing of processes.

The CIP adds that these are by no means the only forms of corruption, as "[their] hidden nature" kept the other practices out of the eyes of the investigation.

The report found that when it comes to deals to acquire land for investment, most notably agriculture and mining, areas over 200 hectares "are more prone to corruption" in those zones.

"Business for large-scale land acquisition/concession and land administration and management services the two areas most prone to corruption risks in the rural land sector," it reads.

Among the cases analyzed by the IPC is an injury to peasants of more than 10,000 hectares in an area where 600 families were forced to give up their land for "large investments.

According to the organization, it is common for peasants to receive promises of money and jobs, and see nothing more than an empty horizon.

For example, Green Resources' subsidiary Lúrio Green Resources has "promised jobs, building schools, hospitals and other infrastructure for the communities" since 2009, but to date nothing has been seen.

Colluding with these kinds of promises without action are local administrators, CIP reveals, who even warn the populations in intimidating terms.

"Water when it is spilled cannot be recovered. You better keep quiet or you will be burned," these being the words that may have been uttered by the Administrator of Mecuburi (Nampula) during a meeting in 2019, according to local people cited by CIP.

In general, multinationals, politically well-positioned companies, local authorities, investors, and SPGC/SDAE technicians contribute to the occurrence of these acts of corruption in rural areas.

The IPC recommends that communities be effectively consulted and properly informed about the nature of investments and their implications, and also that they be properly compensated in cases of expropriation, and eliminate spaces for bribes and informal payments.