Flooding in Matola
The Fomento neighborhood's drainage ditch, which gathers rainfall from nearby neighbourhoods, overflowed and filled with debris, making life unbearable for the locals.
Warning: Rainfall in the country's southern area is expected to continue.
Forecasts indicate that rain will continue for the next 12 to 24 hours, according to meteorologist Telmo Sumila.
Nevertheless beginning from Tuesday, the southern part of the nation should have better weather, according to INAM.
The province and city of Maputo have seen rainfall totaling about 150 millimetres in the past 24 hours, which is regarded as a significant quantity given the soil's absorption capabilities in this region of the nation.
Heavy rains wreak havoc to Matola and Maputo
Several neighborhoods in the cities of Maputo and Matola are flooded, due to the torrential rain that has fallen since dawn today in these two urban centers.
It is a situation that affects thousands of families, some of which are hit by floods for the second time, due to the recent passage of severe tropical storm Filipo.
The technician from the National Directorate of Water Resources Management, Isac Filimone, says that the situation results from the high housing density, combined with the deficient drainage system in the cities of Maputo and Matola.
The technician from the National Directorate of Water Resources Management recommends taking precautionary measures due to strong water currents in drainage systems as well as rivers in the southern region of the country.
The technician from the National Institute of Meteorology says that the heavy rainfall recorded follows the passage of a cold frontal system that crosses the southern region of the country.
Forecasts, according to Telmo Sumila, point to more rain falling over the next 12 to 24 hours.
Inam says that conditions in the country's south will improve starting on Tuesday. Over the past 24 hours, Maputo's city and province have seen about 150 millimetres of rain, which is a lot of rain for the soil in this area. Severe Tropical Storm Filipo recently passed through the country's centre and south, resulting in 20 fatalities. According to preliminary data, the storm also injured over 50,000 people.
In addition, 149 dwellings were totally demolished, 2700 partially damaged, and another 6800 homes were flooded as a result of the poor weather.
Along with impacting an area of 26,000 hectares of various crops, the storm also had an impact on 73 health facilities and 271 schools.
Rain brings suffering and devastation to Gaza's city of Xai-Xai.
According to Rogerio Manjate, multiple teams from the municipality of Xai-Xai are on the ground assessing the damage caused by the ongoing heavy rain.
Meanwhile, the Meteorological Services in Gaza point out that the rain scenario impacting the coastal area of the districts of Xai-Xai and Limpopo was previously predicted, and they propose preventative measures because it could continue to rain until Monday.
Mozambique: A conjunctivitis outbreak is impacting businesses' production.
Agostinho Vuma, head of Mozambique's Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), said on Friday in Maputo that the conjunctivitis outbreak in numerous regions of the country is harming business productivity.
"The epidemic of conjunctivitis is harming labour productivity. Companies have started laying off affected employees who have been at home for more than 15 days, impacting corporate performance," Vuma said during the Labour Consultative Commission's first ordinary plenary session, which also includes the government.
According to recent reports from the ministry of health, there are now almost 17,000 Mozambicans afflicted with the adenovirus that causes hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, mostly in the provinces of Nampula and Sofala.
"As a part of society, businesses have an obligation to care for the families who ensure that there will be a market for the goods they create in addition to the workers, who are their most valuable resource. In keeping with this, we would like to express our solidarity with the public being affected by hemorrhagic conjunctivitis and urge everyone to come together and follow the health authorities' guidelines to prevent the disease from spreading and to safeguard everyone's health," Vuma appealed.
On March 11th, according to the official to recent ministry of health data, about 17,000 Mozambicans have been infected with the adenovirus that causes hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, with the majority living in the provinces of Nampula and Sofala.
Conjunctivitis was reported in at least seven Mozambican provinces, with Nampula in northern Mozambique accounting for the majority of occurrences. Meanwhile, on 19 March, the Beira Central Hospital in Sofala province, the country's largest health unit, had seen 2,800 instances of conjunctivitis. Agostinho Vuma also cautioned of Mozambique's "two-speed" economic growth, with positive performance focused in the extractive industry, which is "less than optimal considering the lost value to the economy due to the successive difficulties that have afflicted the business sector".
Many companies have declared bankruptcy as a result of their financial challenges. In this context, it's worth noting that Mozambique's Tax Authority announced a few days ago that 3,000 enterprises had been declared insolvent, with severe consequences for employability, income creation, and the state's ability to collect money," stated the CTA president.
In the same speech, Vuma requested that the draft bill on private security, which "the private sector has been advocating for nearly ten years," be discussed before the Labour Consultative Commission "later this year."
"Unfortunately, insecure job connections have been a defining feature of this industry, which boasts one of the highest employment rates. We think that this situation of insecure work relations might greatly improve with the passage of the law," he stated.
Additionally, he stated that it is important to "emphasise the merits of the document and the benefits" that it "can bring to the fluidity of urban transport" within the "framework of the proposal for the staggering of service timetables," which has been put up by the ministry of transport and communications.
But in order for it to become a reality, the proposer needs to make sure that it complies with the recommendations made by this body's expert technical subcommittees, particularly with reference to the Labour Law.
President Nyusi: Cabo Delgado's future is not sealed with the withdrawal of SADaC forces
During his participation in the extraordinary summit of the troika of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the body for cooperation in the areas of politics, defence, and security, Filipe Nyusi drew attention to certain countries' expressed interest in forging bilateral cooperation to combat terrorism.
"Everything points to July 15th as a possible withdrawal date." In the meantime, we as a nation will continue to scale up our military efforts, and other countries have offered to collaborate with us on a bilateral basis."
The Mozambican politician emphasised that SADC, as a local alliance, is committed to assisting the country during times of need.