Land activist transformed Mozambique
July 17, 2005 Edition 1
Caroline Hooper-Box
José Negrão, the hero of Mozambique's poor, has died in Johannesburg.
Negrão, the national co-ordinator of the "land campaign" in his country, had a profound effect on the future of the rural agricultural people, and helped to improve the quality of life of many.
Negr‹o was recently diagnosed with a suspected aneurysm. His condition quickly deteriorated and he was transferred to a hospital in Johannesburg for treatment. His condition did not improve and he died of a brain haemorrhage.
Five years ago, Mozambican peasants without title deeds were unprotected from private-sector land claims. Today, because of the revolutionary Land Law passed in 1997, rural people can lay claim to their land. Negrão led the popular movement that advocated the passage of the law.
Sue Mbaya, the director of the Southern African Regional Poverty Network, of which Negrão was a board member, said he was unique in his deep and multifaceted understanding of poverty in Africa.
"He dedicated his life to the struggle for our continent. His contribution was as intellectual and academic as it was practical and grassroots oriented."
Negrão, a professor of development economics at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, wrote a paper in the early 1990s questioning why the state did not recognise the oral testimony of land-holders.
In an interview with Oxfam earlier this year, Negrão described how he got involved with the land campaign: "Several civil society organisations read the paper... I started receiving calls, and when it came to the press, several people called me and said 'we are interested in developing these ideas'. And that was the moment when it started.
"A lot of organisations followed suit, and we went to parliament and won. It was a lot of lobbying. More than 50 000 people in this country were conducting a land campaign.
"One day I woke up and said, 'I'm afraid! I'm not supposed to have 50 000 people behind me. It's incredible!'
"Even today there is always someone who recognises me... I was not expecting it. The movement was much bigger than any initiative on my side, the movement was theirs."
