Goat Republic Muse

The goat eats within that spot where it is confined- In fewer than ten words, the majority of Mozambicans express their views on one of the worst, most detrimental economic practices in the developing world.

The norm in Mozambique is a combination of nepotism and corruption. I'll include my clan in the group once I get a job. For the same right, the others are required to pay a fee.

If you work for a firm, whether it be governmental or private, you will need to gain something from it in extra to your paycheck.

Wherever it is tied, the goat eats. Anyone in need of employment must initiate contact with someone who might help them secure one. 

"Give me a slice before I secure you a job."

The danger of losing money, a goat or goats, or occasionally even cattle, does not discourage many from doing it.Better to take a gamble than not have a job, which is your daily bread . 

You need an xcellent hospital service?You must "reach out your hand" and see of the goat that is confined there even if you are gravely ill

In all of Mozambique's major cities roads and highways, there are some goats costumed as police officers inspecting traffic and patrolling the streets. 

They'll let you know that they're being fed where they're confined. "Hello, boss, would you mind getting me some water? “. In the form of some several bank notes , they  receive the "cold water"🥵

The drivers are aware of this, especially those who work in the public transit sector.

Why, you could travel anywhere, even if it meant operating a vehicle without any sort of driver's license at all, if you gave something to the goat dressed in police gear!

If a student wants to pass their exams, it really doesn't matter if they know the answers or not.If they simply "talk" to the teacher cher, they could "pass" and will even rank among the finest students.

You can shoot a man with a gun in broad daylight and it will be justified as "self defense," turning the victim into a defendant in the eyes of the law as long as you have the resources to feed the goat where it is tethered.

Even large goats feed from where they are restrained. After all, Joaquim Chissano, the second president of Mozambique, is credited of coining  "The goat eats where it is tied." tagline.

After all, a large goat ,is credited with having declared, "The goat will eat where it is tied."

The lesser goats can do nothing but imitate the largest Billies in the flock.

Therefore, the big goat as well as the small goat,is free to eat whatever, wherever, and  however he pleases . Why judge the other if you are walking the same road?🤣

One merely needs to be aware of the major "hidden debts" crisis that has been rattling the nation for some time!

Consider the following incident 

Close call in Mozambique with police corruption.. anyone had similar/tips?

This might be lengthy so bare with me - long story short/ TL; DR: we suspect cannabis was planted on us (2x f28) and I believe I very nearly ended up spending the night in a cell in Tofo, Mozambique. 

We are two white female travellers, who arrived in Tofo yesterday. We met two other white female travellers at the hostel, one living here and the other who travels back and forth for work - they insisted that the beach bars and Moz in general is safe in their experiences. 

We headed down to a bar on the beach, it was quite a dark walk and not well lit at all. Once the night came to a natural end at around 11pm for us, as we’d decided to take it easy, we got ready to leave. A local m29 said he could walk us up the dark point of the hill, his English was good and he seemed trustworthy (this may have been the first mistake!). On our way we passed a police station and were summoned over. Another local guy we had seen earlier that night was being searched, we were aware this guy had been smoking cannabis. 

My friend, call her Alice, and the local guy we were with, let’s call him Gus, were both searched and nothing was found. At one point they took Gus into a separate room but we could still hear them/vaguely see them (they were obviously speaking Portuguese, which we don’t speak). I then offer my bag to be searched, knowing I don’t have anything on me. I empty it out and there is nothing until an officer points to a tiny piece of plant matter and asks what it is. I say I have no idea and he picks it up, passes it to Gus and Gus smells it and confirms it’s cannabis. Genuinely this piece of plant could have come from my bag but I don’t smoke at all. 

It looked like a piece of plant and smelled of nothing. Gus looked genuinely distressed at this point and said we could be in big trouble. Alice and I stay calm, in my head I’m assuming they want money. I’m not used to encounters with the police, especially not in Africa. Gus translates and it seems they want my name, signature and passport. Alice and I had left our passports in the the hostel and only had about $10 in cash on us (second mistake). 

There is a back and forth for a while, we ask directly if they want money and that we are willing to pay (possibly the third mistake?). They insist that they don’t want money, and ‘this isn’t about money’. There seems to be no way out. They want me to get my passport and bring back the owner of the hostel so he can ‘take responsibility’ - I don’t even know who the owner is and don’t wanna drag them into it. They then say we need to sign something, which again I refuse to do. After approx 2 hours; I call the British Embassy. This seems to escalate things and Gus says now we have done that, the police won’t help us. 

The Embassy are fairly helpful, tell me not to sign anything or relinquish any docs. The consular officer speaks to the police, who say Gus is known for trafficking and drugs crimes and I’m not cooperating, so will need to go to Court. I then speak to the Embassy and they say they are going to email Alice solicitors but we will need to comply and I have to stay in a cell until the Court date (2 days later), as this is what the police are saying. It’s me and 5 male officers and they say Alice can’t stay with me. At this point, I start crying and hyperventilating. Alice stays calm and tries to reason with them. 

They agree a deal where I hand in my passport, to collect from the big boss 2 days later so I don’t have to stay in a cell. I speak to Alice alone and she says to go along with it. I’m nervous; as this is against what the Embassy advised. They say one of us can get the passport but the other must stay and then get guns out and start loading them. At this point, I totally freak out and start crying. They agree to put the guns away and drive us both to the hotel to collect my passport. Maybe at this point they felt bad. 

With a stroke of luck, when we get to the hostel, Alice runs into a couple with a baby as she goes to collect my passport. The guy is white Ozzie but they live In Zimbabwe. He pretends he is a diplomat and says he wants to speak to the boss alone (turns out during the chat he paid him $50). They then agree to let me go, if I call the Embassy on loud speaker, which they record, to say it was a ‘misunderstanding’. The guy we met has a pretend call with the Ambassador. They want a photo of my passport but I refuse and we settle on me giving my full name, passport number and parents names. 

Can they do anything with my details? I’m assuming it was obviously a set up, could Gus possibly be on it?

I’ve heard lots about bribes but nothing drug related. Anyone experienced similar? This went on for over 5 hours and they only got $50, why not just accept money at the start? They could’ve have an easy way out an hour in. 

Edit to add: walked down to the beach today (needed to eat, use the ATM etc.). We saw Gus, he said he’d spent the night in a cell and was going to pay $50 to resolve his crime and another $100 for our names to be ‘deleted from the system’ after speaking to his lawyer. Even pulled out his ‘lawyers’ details he’d written down. Then offered to drive us to Vilanculos to ‘get out of here’ - more certain than ever that he was in on it. Made a swift exit and will try to stay in the company of other tourists for the time we’re here!