Historic marginalisation of the Cabo Delgado province has allowed criminal networks to establish region-wide networks.The extent has come to light with the discovery of huge gas deposits that have attracted outside interest.Linos Mapfumo, in a study for Good Governance Africa, found that a significant heroin-trafficking economy had developed in the region, in addition to wildlife trafficking, human trafficking, illegal timber felling and gemstone smuggling. Northern Mozambique is a favoured transit route for Pakistani heroin (shipped by Dhow) bound for South Africa and Europe due to its largely unpatrolled and unprotected coastline. Drugs, such as heroin, are usually brought into Mozambique either through beaches or via container freight traffic, especially at the ports of Pemba and Nacala in neighbouring Nampula province, according to Mapfumo.“These illicit activities have f lourished, particularly within the precinct of Mocímboa da Praia, due to corruption and an attitude of indifference within the political establishment, and have seen the port of Mocímboa da Praia emerge as a hotbed of criminal activity where the arms trade and human trafficking thrive,” he adds.In August 2020 Jihadists took control of Mocímboa da Praia, which they held for two years before a Rwandan-reinforced task force retook the strategic port. The presence of troops in the area has done little to stop the smuggling, with new routes being opened, according to reports. Corruption in the north contributes to Mozambique ranking 142nd out of 180 countries in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index.This is, however, an improvement on the 158th position in 2018.Neighbouring South Africa is ranked 72nd, Zambia 116th, Zimbabwe 157th and Tanzania 94th. The International Monetary Fund sees corruption as a major constraint to economic development as it adds to the cost of doing business. On the positive side, it notes that “important reform effort and successful implementation has been happening in the areas of Public Financial Management, AML/CFT, financial market supervision, among others”. The private sector is itself not blameless.A study by Rafael da Cruz Macamo from Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique and Talatu Jalloh from the University of Ghana found that Mozambique was seen as a fertile ground for tax evasion, trade misinvoicing, and transfer pricing due to the volume of transactions involved in the extraction and export of these resources, as well as the corruption level.Losses to the Mozambican fiscus are estimated at over $600 million (R11.4 billion) a year.
