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Anti-Poverty Battle Can Only Be Won With Workers' Participation
Maputo, 4 May 2009 — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza declared on Thursday 30 April, that the battle against poverty can only be won with the "active and conscious" participation of all workers.
Speaking at a rally in the town of Cuamba, on the last stage of his visit to the northernmost province of Niassa, on the eve of International Workers Day, Guebuza said it is the workers who create the wealth that is indispensable for removing the scourge of poverty.
"The workers are the creators of this wealth. Poverty cannot be eradicated without their active and conscious participation", he said.
Guebuza told the crowd that after independence, in 1975, Mozambicans began to build wealth from the little they had, but these efforts were frustrated by the 16 year war of destabilization that ended with the peace accord of 1992.
Only then could the reconstruction of the country begin again. That, said Guebuza, was why the state budget is still insufficient to support all the basic needs of Mozambicans.
"We must end our dependency by working ever harder", he urged. "We shall solve whatever is possible. But the target is that we should have our own capacity to build tarred roads, and to ensure clean drinking water for everybody".
He mentioned these areas because Cuamba municipality lacks tarred roads and is facing a serious water crisis - problems that were raised by some of the residents who spoke during the rally.