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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Harnessing the Zambezi: how Mozambique's planned Mphanda Nkuwa dam perpetuates the colonial past
Authors:Isaacman, Allen F.ISNI
Morton, David
Year:2012
Periodical:International Journal of African Historical Studies (ISSN 0361-7882)
Volume:45
Issue:2
Pages:157-190
Language:English
Geographic term:Mozambique
Subjects:hydroelectricity
dams
government policy
ecology
Abstract:The Cahora Bassa dam, completed on the Mozambican stretch of the Zambezi River in 1974, the year before the end of Portuguese rule, was catastrophic for the people who depended on the river for their livelihood. The Frelimo government is commited, however, to a colonial-era plan to build a second dam approximately sixty kilometres downriver from the first. The authors examine how Cahora Bassa and Mphanda Nkuwa, as the dam project is called, are part of the same ongoing process: the harnessing of the Zambezi River largely to the detriment of the farmers and fishermen who depend on it. The article is in two parts. The first discusses the legacies of Cahora Bassa, the planning of Mphanda Nkuwa, the developmentalist priorities of Frelimo, and the role of environmentalists. The second part examines the community of Chirodzi-Sanangwe, whose residents will have to relocate. In the conclusion, the authors ask: do the benefits of Mphanda Nkuwa outweigh the very substantial social, economic, and ecological costs to the riverside communities and their environment? Are there more efficient and less costly ways to electrify the countryside and stimulate local economies? Political failure to address these matters will ensure that the residents of the Zambezi Valley will remain impoverished and marginalized. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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