Grafex, Limited Mining company part of the TRITON MINERALS group, is pushing the Provincial Government to commit illegalities on its behalf in the Cabo Delgado Province
The center of the problem is the caos created by the greed mining company to grab the Land already granted to by state toMozambican citizens , in the area where it wants to extract graphite to sell to the European market
The Province has more than 15 minerals and concessions, which do not benefit the locals, but ministers, generals, directors and others connected, to the Mozambican political nomenclature that without financial capacity snapped up the lands waiting and/or looking for an investor.
In 2015, the Cabo Delgado provincial goverment , following the materialization of the presidential initiative to increase production and productivity on its electoral manifest, granted Land Use and Benefit Rights to national citizens in the Districts of that Province, for implementation of several development projects, focused on the areas of Agriculture and Livestock, with a aim to mitigating hunger and creating sources of income for Mozambicans.
However, the execution of those projects was seriously hampered with the start of the terrorist attacks, in October 2017, causing deaths full of evil refinements, forcing thousands of people to take refuge in safe places. Incidentally, the terrorist attacks, which quickly spread to almost all of the districts in the north and center of Cabo Delgado, forced the powerful French giant TotalEnerge to suspend all its activities at the mega project located on the Afunge peninsula.
It turns out that part of the DUATS granted by the Provincial Government of Cabo Delagado for agricultural and livestock projects, now at the origin of the dispute, are located in the District of Ancuabe, close to the village of Nandule, which, as you know, did not escape terrorist incursions, fact that made it impossible to carry out any project.
With the improvement of the security situation in the Province of Cabo Delgado, and the announcement of the resumption of activities of the TotalEnerge mega project, the DUATS holders intend to relaunch their activities as they always wanted.
However, Grafex appears. Limited, claiming to have discovered large amounts of graphite, with a very high potential in terms of characteristics required in the market, and intends to extract that raw material and sell the electric vehicle industry in the European market, taking into account that the European environmental protocol, in the context of mitigating the effects of climate change, it imposes that by 2030, all or most vehicles in circulation in Europe must be powered by electricity. In order to be the holder of mining concession nº 9132C and extract graphite, in the District of Ancuabe, and sell it to Europe and the United States of America and profit thousands of US dollars, Grafex, Limitada was notified by the Provincial Service of Geography and Cadasters of Cabo Delgado, as recommended by the rules, of the existence of DUATS granted to Mozambicans in the area he wants. This is how, in May 2023, Grafex, limited held negotiation meetings with the holders of the DUATS whose copies are in our possession, with a view to the transfer process, having presented a proposal of 350MT (three hundred and fifty meticais) per hectare of the DUAT where he intends to extract graphite, a proposal that was promptly rejected by the holders who consider it humiliating.
Strange, while Grafex, limited rehearsed negotiation meetings, at the same time it developed demarches with the Governor of the Province, alleging that the holders of the DUATS prevent the materialization of their graphite extraction project for sale in Europe, defending that their project higher than the practice of agriculture and livestock in the region that led to the granting of DUATS by the State.
According to our sources, this argument moved the Governor of the Province, who, without wasting time, on June 10, 2023, went to the field, having guided the constitution of a multisectoral team with the objective of carrying out inspection and inspection of the plots with authorizations of DUAT.
It is in this context that the holders of the DUATS are being notified by the Provincial Service for the Environment of Cabo Delgado, to be present in their respective plots, on June 22, 2023, allegedly, to carry out the inspection or inspection, in a clear attempt of the Provincial Government to cede western interests to the detriment of national ones, without, however, ignoring the situation of force majeure caused by terrorist attacks that made it impossible for the timely implementation of the projects. It seems that for the Government of Cabo Delgado, TotalEnerge can invoke force majeure and suspend its mega project, but Mozambicans cannot invoke the same fact.
Valige Tauabo/Governor of Cabo Delgado
Breaking the law!!
According to jurists specializing in matters of land legislation contacted by Moz24h, they warn that any precipitation by the Government of Cabo Delgado to extinguish the Rights of Use and Enjoyment of Land that it has legally attributed to national citizens, to satisfy unconfessed interests, could drag it to court.
They clarify that the legal regime of Land Use and Benefit in areas not covered by urbanization plans, is regulated by Law nº 19/97, of October 1st – Land Law, and by the respective Regulation approved by Decree nº 66/98, from the 8th of December.
They point out that one should not lose sight of the fact that the acquisition of the DUAT is similar in nature to the fundamental rights provided for in arts. 109, 110 and 111, CRM, insofar as it impacts the legal sphere of the respective holder, who is now in full enjoyment of the constitutional guarantees listed in art. 253 of the CRM, on equal terms with other citizens whose rights and interests are affected by administrative acts.
The extinction of the Right to Use and Benefit from the Land, provided for in arts. 18 of Law nº 19/97, of October 1st and 19 of Decree nº 66/98, of December 8th, does not operate automatically, as the text of the law may imply.
They end by clarifying that, for the same purpose, the Attorney General’s Office requested the successive inspection of the constitutionality of the norms related to the automatic or unofficial extinction of the DUAT, and the Constitutional Council, by way of Judgment No. 4/CC/2016, of 1 September, declared to be unconstitutional the automatic extinction or revocation of the Right of Land Use and Enjoyment. (Moz24h)
