Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Much of the best vacant property was spoken for. Most of the posh districts, such
as Polana and Sommerschield, were quickly occupied by Frelimo officials and various
state institutions, or reserved for foreign diplomats and the many foreigners, Frelimo
sympathizers, who arrived in Maputo to volunteer their skills to the socialist cause
(Mendes 1989; Sidaway and Power 1995). Thousands of former Frelimo guerillas and
theirfamilieswereofferedapartmentsintherestofthecity,aswerethevictimsofflood-
ing earlier in the year. Officials of APIE, the state agency created to manage the newly
nationalized properties, became notorious for helping themselves, illegally, to many of
the best units (Zunguza 1984).
The rental policy was soon made more equitable, with rent pegged to income. Fam-
ilies earning less were charged less than higher income families, no matter where in the
City of Cement they were housed (Jenkins 1990). Yet, the formerly European core re-
mained privileged territory (Mendes1989).By1980,onlyabout8percent ofthehouses
and apartments of the country's Cities of Cement were occupied by people who were
officiallycategorizedas“workingclass”(Carrilho1987).Themajorityofunitsinform-
alized urban areas were occupied by people in the services sector (and the majority of
these were government workers) the relatively few who earned a decent wage in the
postcolonial order.
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As residents of the city recalled in interviews, rent wasn't the only cost to living in
Maputo's City of Cement. One also had to factor in the costs of electricity and water.
To cook the meals most people were accustomed to—and that they could afford—they
would need their large mortars and pestles to make corn meal. But you were prohibited
frombringingthemintoapartmentsbecausethousandsofpeoplepoundingcorncobson
verandahs would compromise the structure of buildings. Nor could one use a coal-burn-
ing stove.
People like Sebastião Chithombe never even considered a move to the City of Ce-
ment. By 1976, he was living in the shabby backroom of a shanty town cantina he had
purchasedatadeepdiscountfromadepartingPortuguesetheyearbefore.Hisfriendsin
thecompoundswerelaborers,andnotabletoaffordtherentinthecity.Therewassome
reluctance to make that move, even among those with greater means, people generally
from
assimilado
backgrounds for whom such a move was potentially possible. Helena
Macuacua, a young teacher living in the Aeroporto neighborhood, thought it was too
risky. “I couldn't put the money together for it,” she said in a recent interview. “I saw
the rent was going to be very high, and also my husband wasn't someone I could trust. I
preferredtoplantmyselfherewherethingswereaccessibleratherthangotothecityand
afterward suffer the consequences.” Benjamim Benfica, another schoolteacher, lived in
azinc-paneledhouseinChamanculothathisfather,atruckdriver,hadbuilt.Hechoseto
