Punishment in the Judicial System, 1979-1991

Dossier MZ-0319

Judicial punishment in Mozambique after independence came to have three explicit objectives – to educate, to deter and, significantly, to repress. Punishments became much harsher in the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, as Frelimo took severe strain successively and in combination from Rhodesian attacks, South African destabilisation and the MNR-Renamo rebellion. Frelimo began to argue that common and economic crimes were fundamentally political in nature, and therefore essentially counter-revolutionary. The precipating events seem to have been Rhodesian-planned attacks on economic targets, particularly in early 1979. Under Law 2/79, passed by the Assembleia Popular in March, capital punishment was re-introduced, and executions of citizens and others found guilty of crimes such as sabotage began.

In early 1983 a second period of rapid change started, as Frelimo came under increasing pressure from the armed MNR insurgency. In January, four MNR rebels were being presented to 2,000 people in Macia (Gaza Province) by Lt.-Gen. Sebastião Mabote, when the crowd began to demand that they be executed there and then, and Mabote acceded to the demand, although there was clearly no legal basis for doing so. The four men were shot on the spot. In February, President Machel made a speech at a public meeting in Chibuto in which he forcefully equated banditry and economic crimes such as black-marketeering, and demanded that they receive the same harsh treatment. Soon afterwards, the penalties for candonga and other offences under Law 2/79 were increased, and a new law 5/83 was passed to permit flogging. Both Machel and the then justice minister, Teodato Hunguana, made speeches to parliament defending the new policy. The President also announced the closing of the university law faculty. In April 1983 several offenders were publicly executed by firing squad in front of a large crowd, under the revised legislation. One of the condemned had earlier been found guilty of what amounted to smuggling offences.

Law 5/83 re-introduced flogging with the colonial chicote or hippopotamus-hide whip, and quite soon this form of corporal punishment had become widespread and was being imposed for minor offences, especially candonga or blackmarket speculation and petty theft. Some sentences were obviously abusive and illegal and were reported as such. The introduction of both public executions and the chicotada aroused international condemnation. Flogging sentences gradually diminished in the 1980s, and the punishment was finally judicially abolished in 1989.

Several of the reports in this dossier concern poor conditions in Mozambican prisons, mainly at a time when food rationing was universal for all urban residents.

Decoration

◊ 8 July 1971
How Africans are tortured. The Nationalist [Dar es Salaam], 8 July 1971. The use of flogging in colonial times. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 31 kb.

◊ 1 March 1979
Lei dos Crimes contra a Segurança do Povo e do Estado Popular. Maputo, 1979. (Assembleia Popular. 4a. Sessão. Documentos; 4). Apart from the full text of the law, this pamphlet, 20,000 copies of which were printed, includes an introduction and a 24-page Explicação do Conteúdo da Lei. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 2.4 Mb.

◊ 9 March 1979
Mozambique: new law strengthens Frelimo grip. To the Point [Johannesburg], vol.8 no.10, 9 March 1979, p.33. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 51 kb.

◊ April 1979
Death for sabotage. New African [London], April 1979, p.40, 42. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 159 kb.

◊ 17 April 1979
Four Rhodesians executed. Daily Telegraph [London], 17 April 1979. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 64 kb.

◊ 24 May 1979
Mozambique executes three. Washington Post [Washington DC], 24 May 1979. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 26 kb.

◊ 1 June 1979
José Ramalho. Mozambique: alarm spreads as executions continue. To the Point [Johannesburg], vol.8 no.22, 1 June 1979, p.35. Includes a box entitled "Scissors gangs ridicule Machel". Click here to view or download a PDF, size 334 kb.

◊ 20 July 1979
Machel's prisons: rape, brutality and starvation. To the Point [Johannesburg], vol.8 no.24, 20 July 1979. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 296 kb.

◊ 24 October 1980
Three Mozambicans executed, Maputo says. Washington Post [Washington DC], 24 October 1980. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 19 kb.

◊ 3 December 1982
Jorge Madeira Mendes. Condições de detenção em Angola e Moçambique. O Jornal [Lisbon], 3 December 1982. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 49 kb.

◊ 15 January 1983
Na Macia, em Gaza, pena de morte exigida para bandidos armados: execução em comício popular. Notícias [Maputo], 15 January 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 60 kb.

◊ 15 January 1983
Por exigência do povo, fuzilados bandidos num comício na Macia. Notícias [Maputo], 15 January 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 180 kb.

◊ 17 February 1983
Com a mesma violência revolucionária, punir bandidos, punir candongeiros. Notícias [Maputo], 17 February 1983. The result of the demands made by Samora Machel at this comício was the passing in mid-March of revisions to Law 2/79, which sharply increased the sentences that could be imposed on market speculators (candongueiros), up to and including capital punishment. Click here to view or download a JPEG image, size 2 Mb.

◊ 18 March 1983
No espírito do comício do Chibuto, penas mais violentas para candongeiros: violadores e assaltantes à mão armada abrangidos pelas novas disposições legais . Notícias [Maputo], 18 March 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 141 kb.

◊ 19 March 1983
Alterações à Lei dos Crimes contra a Segurança do Povo e do Estado Popular: novos disposições referem-se ao capítulo II. Notícias [Maputo], 19 March 1983. In accordance with the orientations of Samora Machel at the comício in February 1983, the revision increased the penalty for candongueiros from the former 8-12 year prison sentences, to 12-30 year sentences and, in some circumstances, the death penalty. Includes the full text of the new chapter II. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 510 kb.

◊ 23 March 1983
Suspenso funcionamento da Faculdade de Direito, determina Presidente Samora Machel. Notícias [Maputo], 23 March 1983. In his remarks to the 11th session of the Assembleia Popular, during which he announced the closing of the faculty, Samora discussed "the forms that punishments must take on to fulfil their triple function of education, deterrence and repression" adding that "a knowledge of the different social and cultural realities" was fundamental. He also criticised defence lawyers for being "poor imitations of defenders under capitalism". Click here to view or download a PDF, size 139 kb. (The Faculty re-opened in 1987).

◊ 2 April 1983
Lei sobre penas mais severas contra inimigos da revolução. Notícias [Maputo], 2 April 1983. Complete text in Portuguese of Law 5/83 which re-introduced flogging with a chicote [sjambok], an animal-hide whip, for crimes against the security of the state, candonga or speculative trading, armed robbery, gang membership, theft and child-rape. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 195 kb.

◊ 2 April 1983
Penas mais severas para inimigos da revolução: Lei da Comissão Permanente da Assembleia Popular divulgada ontem em defesa do poder popular. Notícias [Maputo], 2 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 189 kb.

◊ 3 April 1983
O não exercício do poder subverte a ordem social: Ministro Teodato Hunguana na 11.a sessão da AP. Notícias [Maputo], 3 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 285 kb.

◊ 4 April 1983
Editorial: chicote para os bandidos. Notícias [Maputo], 4 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 172 kb.

Use of the chicotte in the colonial Congo

Above: The chicote (French: chicotte) being applied in the colonial Congo – its use was by no means restricted to Portuguese colonies. This brutal punishment was strongly associated with colonial oppression, and its re-introduction by the Frelimo government in Mozambique in the 1980s was probably a sign of desperation.

◊ 4 April 1983
Lei sobre penas mais severas contra inimigos da revolução. Notícias [Maputo], 4 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 208 kb.

◊ 7 April 1983
No próximo sábado em Maputo, manifestação em apoio à lei da chicotada. Notícias [Maputo], 7 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 119 kb.

◊ 8 April 1983
Joseph Hanlon. Floggings. Guardian [London], 8 April 1983. This report appears to refer to Samora Machel's mid-session speech on the topic of harsh punishment to the 11th session of the Assembleia Popular, not included in this dossier, and to Teodato Hunguana's speech, which is included. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 551 kb.

◊ 10 April 1983
Cumprida vontade popular, bandidos punidos exemplarmente. Domingo [Maputo], 10 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 84 kb.

◊ 10 April 1983
Lei no. 5/83: instrumento efectivo do poder popular. Tempo [Maputo], no.652, 10 April 1983, p.6. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 100 kb.

◊ 10 April 1983
No Bairro do Hulene, bandidos executados. Domingo [Maputo], 10 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 43 kb.

◊ 11 April 1983
Em Maputo, fuzilados perante o povo reis de candonga e banditismo. Notícias [Maputo], 11 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 237 kb.

◊ 11 April 1983
Em Quelimane, pena de chicotada aplicada pela primeira vez. Notícias [Maputo], 11 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 61 kb.

◊ 11 April 1983
Povo defende-se punindo bandidos: Gaspar Zimba no acto de execução de seis sentenciados à morte. Notícias [Maputo], 11 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 281 kb.

◊ 11 April 1983
Six executed. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 11 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 203 kb.

◊ 11 April 1983
Six executed in Mozambique. New York Times [New York], 11 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 67 kb.

◊ 17 April 1983
Pela primeira vez, pena da chicotada aplicada em Maputo. Domingo [Maputo], 17 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 68 kb.

◊ 17 April 1983
Joseph Hanlon. Maputo gets tough with trade crime. Guardian [London], 17 April 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 71 kb.

◊ 17 April 1983
Fernando Manuel. Lei 5/83: resposta às preocupações do povo, afirmado em comício no Bairro da Liberdade. Tempo [Maputo], no.653, 17 April 1983, p.7. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 286 kb.

◊ 7 May 1983
Aplicadas nos CFM-Sul chicotadas a ladrões. Notícias [Maputo], 7 May 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 167 kb.

◊ 12 May 1983
Para repor a Justiça, Tribunal Superior suspende sentença. Notícias [Maputo], 12 May 1983, p.8. A candonga-related sentence was sent for review after it was discovered that the accused was a minor figure and the "big fish" (tubarões) had evaded trial. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 112 kb.

◊ 13 May 1983
Em Nampula, aplicadas penas de chicotada a ladrões e candongueiros. Notícias [Maputo], 13 May 1983, p.2. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 50 kb.

◊ 15 May 1983
Mozambique: crackdown on crime, Asian community wary. Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social, and Cultural Series [Exeter], vol.20 no.4, 15 May 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 81 kb.

◊ 18 May 1983
Manifestação de apoio ao Congresso: população de Gaza não teme a enxada, salientado em comício. Notícias [Maputo], 18 May 1983. A ruling that a flogging of 35 chicotadas could not be applied at one time, but had to be divided in two; the crowd at the comício, however, wanted the whole sentence carried out. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 275 kb.

◊ 28 May 1983
Na província do Maputo, chicotadas para ladrões de gado. Notícias [Maputo], 28 May 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 59 kb.

◊ 6 June 1983
Nampula: prisão e chicotadas para quatro candongueiros. Notícias [Maputo], 6 June 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 49 kb.

◊ 13 June 1983
Delinquência infantil preocupante na capital: de Janeiro a Maio 25 por cento dos detidos são menores. Notícias [Maputo], 13 June 1983. Includes a police statement that the application of corporal punishment before due process is illegal. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 305 kb.

◊ 14 June 1983
Pela primeira vez, aplicada no Ibo, Lei da Chicotada. Notícias [Maputo], 14 June 1983, p.2. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 104 kb.

◊ 14 June 1983
Quarenta chicotadas e prisão maior por crime de extorsão. Notícias [Maputo], 14 June 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 313 kb.

◊ 21 June 1983
Chicotadas no distrito de Chókwè. Notícias [Maputo], 21 June 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 264 kb.

◊ 18 July 1983
Em Tete, chicotadas e prisão para quatro vendedores. Notícias [Maputo], 18 July 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 121 kb.

◊ 14 December 1983
Abdul Carimo. Quadrilha do aeroporto: prisão e chicotadas para 14 dos 20 acusados. Notícias [Maputo], 14 December 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 254 kb.

◊ 5 April 1984
Batoteiros chicoteados. Notícias [Maputo], 5 April 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 27 kb.

◊ 9 April 1984
Chicotadas para violador de mulheres. Notícias [Maputo], 9 April 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 19 kb.

◊ 9 April 1984
Trinta chicotadas para ladrão de patos. Notícias [Maputo], 9 April 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 34 kb.

◊ 13 April 1984
Drogado e ladrão chicoteados em Palma. Notícias [Maputo], 13 April 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 43 kb.

◊ 5 August 1985
Por assaltar mineiros, tribunal condena milicianos em Bandue. Notícias [Maputo], 5 August 1985. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 48 kb.

◊ 10 December 1985
Castigo para candongueiros. Notícias [Maputo], 10 December 1985. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 27 kb.

◊ 14 November 1987
Jerónimo Francisco Marrule. Carta do leitor: BI caducado dá direito a chambocadas? Notícias [Maputo], 14 November 1987. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 32 kb.

◊ 30 November 1987
Em Manica, reclusos envolvidos em actividades produtivas: instituição quer tornar-se auto-suficiente. Notícias [Maputo], 30 November 1987. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 136 kb.

◊ 30 January 1988
Ao abrigo da Lei do Perdão, mais 43 moçambicanos postos em liberdade, anuncia Ministério da Justiça: três cidadãos portugueses beneficiam dos efeitos da lei. Notícias [Maputo], 30 January 1988. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 222 kb.

◊ 3 June 1988
Nigerian depicts Mozambican prison hardships. Foreign Broadcast Information Service [FBIS] [Washington DC], no.AFR-88-107, 3 June 1988, p.14-15. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 166 kb.

◊ 1 March 1989
Mozambique to end flogging law. SouthScan [London], 1 March 1989, p.71. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 22 kb.

◊ May 1989
Prisoners get new conditions. MozambiqueFile [Maputo], May 1989, p.19. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 58 kb.

◊ 27 June 1989
Mozambique: budget increase after prisoners die of starvation. Radio Moçambique broadcast of 27 June 1989, reported in the Summary of World Broadcasts [London]. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 106 kb.

◊ 19 September 1989
Flogging abolished. Guardian [London], 19 September 1989. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 14 kb.

◊ 25 September 1989
Moçambique revoga «lei das vergastadas». Século de Joanesburgo [Johannesburg], 25 September 1989. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 56 kb.

◊ 3 November 1991
Guardas atiram contra presos em Moçambique. Público [Lisbon], 3 November 1991. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 43 kb.