Centros de Reeducação, 1974-

Dossier MZ-0318

In the 1970s and 1980s, relatively little was published in the contemporary Mozambican press about the so-called Campos de Reeducação, which Frelimo preferred to term Centros de Reeducação. This reticence can presumably be attributed mainly to a concern for security. Although their origin is unclear, the Centres seem to have originated in a plan to re-educate prostitutes from the cities in rural labour camps, but their function broadened out quite rapidly. The original plan was announced in late 1974 by the then Minister of Internal Administration under the Transitional Government, Armando Guebuza, who estimated publicly that there were 75,000 prostitutes in the capital alone, although this number may have simply referred to independent women who lived by themselves – Frelimo was notoriously puritanical in the early years of independence about the supposed decadence and corruption of urban life in general. Guebuza’s announcement seems to have been first reported in the Daily News in Dar es Salaam on 19 November 1974, in a story that was picked up by A Capital [Lisbon] the next day, 20 November.

From the basic idea, the centres expanded to accommodate all kinds of people who were considered to be “anti-social” or “marginal elements”, from petty embezzlers to armed rebels. At least two official seminars on the centres were held, the first in November 1976 and the second in January 1980, but do not seem to have been extensively reported. The centres were severely criticised in the contemporary foreign press for human rights violations of various kinds – at least some inmates had simply been arrested and sent off by the police, without any kind of trial or due process. It is sometimes alleged that the centres actually fostered discontent and effectively acted as recruitment centres for Renamo, a plausible but still unsubstantiated claim. It is unclear whether the centres were closed down, or were eventually simply overrun or abandoned.

Decoration

◊ 20 November 1974
Frelimo cria campos de reeducação. A Capital [Lisbon], 20 November 1974. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 88 kb.

Ricardo Rangel, O ultimo pao, 1975, detail

Above: Two Frelimo soldiers escort a woman accused of prostitution, «a última irmã desviada» in Calane da Silva’s words, sometime in 1975. Many such women were sent to Centros de Reeducação. Detail from Ricardo Rangel, O Último Pão, 1975.

◊ 3 November 1975
[No title]. Daily News [Dar es Salaam], 3 November 1975. Several thousand men and women accused of vagrancy, drug dealing and prostitution were arrested in five cities and towns, and will be sent to ‘centres in the provinces for re-education’. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 98 kb.

◊ 17 May 1976
Samora Machel. Une interview exclusive du President Samora Machel: «Notre tâche principale, batir une société». Afrique-Asie [Paris], no.109, 17 May 1976, p.iv-xi. On page x, Samora Machel replies in some detail to a question regarding the legality of re-education centres. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 1.8 Mb.

◊ 17 May 1976
Pietro Petrucci. Le repaire du «monstre». Afrique-Asie [Paris], no.109, 17 May 1976, p.xii-xxi. Petrucci visits a reeducation centre and describes the inmates as living in ‘semi-liberty’. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 1.2 Mb.

◊ 13 August 1976
Centro de Reeducação de Msauíze: transformar pelo trabalho marginais da sociedade colonial. Notícias [Maputo], 13 August 1976, p.4.

◊ 13 August 1976
Como encerar a prostituição. Notícias [Maputo], 13 August 1976, p.4. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 52 kb.

◊ 3 June 1977
Marion Duncan. Mozambique: Machel re-education camps teach a tough lesson. To the Point [Johannesburg], 3 June 1977, p.54. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 199 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. Ramalho reports that the Roman Catholic bishops have sent a memorandum to the President asking for reeducation centres to be closed down. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 334 kb.

◊ 24 June 1979
Alves Gomes. O que hoje somos: dois factos. Tempo [Maputo], no.454, 24 June 1979, p.20-22. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 448 kb.

◊ 27 January 1980
Trabalho de reeducação foi positivo, constata II Seminário efectuado em Maputo. Tempo [Maputo], no.485, 27 January 1980, p.2. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 238 kb.

◊ 7 May 1980
Jay Ross. Mozambican re-education camps raise rights questions. Washington Post [Washington DC], 7 May 1980. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 192 kb.

◊ 9 May 1980
No Niassa, ex-desertores da Frelimo trabalharão nas Aldeias Comunais. Notícias [Maputo], 9 May 1980. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 55 kb.

◊ 14 August 1980
Brevemente, famílias de ex-reeducandos no Niassa: regresso dos primeiros jovens brigadistas daquela província. Notícias [Maputo], 14 August 1980. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 70 kb.

◊ 18 August 1980
Com grande emoçaõ e alegria, ex-reeducandos no Niassa receberam as suas famílias: 45 jovens brigadistas chegaram a Lichinga e 100 regressaram às suas províncias de origem. Notícias [Maputo], 18 August 1980. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 115 kb.

◊ 28 August 1980
Jay Ross. Mozambique re-educates prisoners in remote camps. Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles], 28 August 1980. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 148 kb.

◊ 29 August 1981
António Souto. Reeducação e legalidade fabricam homem novo. Notícias [Maputo], 29 August 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 177 kb.

◊ 28 September 1981
António Souto. Libertados 684 reeducandos: medida de clemência ordenada pelo Presidente Samora em Cabo Delgado. Notícias [Maputo], 28 September 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 85 kb.

◊ 6 October 1981
Machel’s speech on unjust detentions in re-education camps. Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.ME/6846, 6 October 1981, p.B/1- . Click here to view or download a PDF, size 278 kb.

◊ 11 October 1981
Sol Carvalho. Reeducação: uma realidade complexa. Tempo [Maputo], no.574, 11 October 1981, p.22-27. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 895 kb.

◊ 19 October 1981
Inspection of re-education centres in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. Summary of World Broadcasts [London], 19 October 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 90 kb.

◊ December 1981
Mozambique’s re-education camps. The Review [International Commission of Jurists] [Geneva], December 1981, p.14-15. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 244 kb.

◊ 17 December 1981
Familiares de ex-reeducandos brevemente no Niassa. Notícias [Maputo], 17 December 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 28 kb.

◊ 11 June 1982
B. Mavanga. Nos ex-centros de reeducação, trezentos lares reconstruídos no Niassa. Notícias [Maputo], 11 June 1982. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 289 kb.

◊ 12 August 1982
Seis meses a três anos para um vadio. Notícias [Maputo], 12 August 1982. A homeless man was sentenced to serve time in a re-education centre for vagrancy. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 42 kb.

Reeducandos em Chaimite

Above: Reeducandos at a public meeting in the Centro de Reeducação de Chaimite, in Cabo Delgado province.

◊ 2 July 1983
Marracuene: reeducandos produzem para auto-suficiência, José Moiane visita Centro de Reeducação de Jafar. Notícias [Maputo], 2 July 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 300 kb.

◊ 21 September 1983
Centro de Reeducação para prostitutas no Distrito de Moma, propõe Conferência Distrital da OMM. Notícias [Maputo], 21 September 1983, p.3. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 57 kb.

◊ 27 March 1984
Ex-reeducandos postos em liberdade em Ruarua. Notícias [Maputo], 27 March 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 48 kb.

◊ 4 January 1985
Para o centro de reeducação só se vai depois de julgado e condenado. Notícias [Maputo], 4 January 1985. An interview by António Souto with Mário Mangaze. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 235 kb.