Not so grand: Election posters seen behind people at the Grande Hotel in Beira on October 12. Photo courtesy: AFP
About 4,000 people living in the sprawling slum of the once-glorious Grande Hotel in the Mozambique city of Beira hope this month’s election will bring change to their difficult lives.
Most of the election posters scattered on the blackened walls of the gutted seaside building call for votes for the long-ruling socialist Frelimo party in the October 9 elections. Some opposition parties, including the centre-right Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM), have controlled Beira Municipality for the past 20 years.
The results, expected in more than a week, are expected to keep Frelimo in charge of the impoverished southern African nation, which it has ruled since the end of Portuguese rule half a century ago.
The hotel, with sweeping views of the Indian Ocean, reflects the desperation of Mozambique, where about 75% of its 33 million people live in poverty and the wounds of a 16-year civil war are still green. Its crumbling walls are splattered with graffiti, its furniture, windows and fixtures are long gone, while grass grows just steps from the ocean in its Olympic-sized swimming pool. The people living here are desperate for a better life.
“We live in the shadow of what this place once was,” said Toris Anselmo, 30, who has lived in the ruins of the hotel most of his life. “We have been waiting for change for years. I hope this election will bring better opportunities for all of us.”
colonial past
The hotel and its grand staircase were built in the Art Deco style in the 1950s, when Mozambique was still a colony of Portugal.
It was abandoned by its owners in 1974 as the Portuguese left after a 10-year war led by FRELIMO. In its crowded spaces, tensions run high among residents and makeshift security systems represent the ever-present threat of theft.
Ellaria Ribeiro Puente, 56, who gave birth to all three of her children there, said she struggles with daily life in the building’s cramped spaces. “It is difficult to raise our children under these circumstances, but we are surviving. We need decent housing, not just promises,” she said.
Every corner serves a purpose: people live in basements, old cold rooms or old elevator shafts.
Women clean fish or rest in the corridors and drain water from stagnant ponds. Thin curtains divide rooms, turning spaces into makeshift kitchen and living areas.
Fernando Jose, 37, was born in the hotel and now raises his family there. “I have a wife and child, but nothing special to show for it,” he said.
“Jobs are scarce, and there is little support. We are hopeful that this vote will bring change.”
The civil war that erupted after independence resulted in approximately one million deaths and displaced millions, some of whom took refuge in Beira, one of Mozambique’s largest cities and about 700 kilometers northeast of the capital, Maputo.
The Marxist Frelimo government used the hotel as a military base when they were drawn into the civil war by the anti-communist RENAMO, a rebel group at the time.
Officially as of 2019, armed conflict still looms over Mozambique, while jihadist attacks in the north have dashed hopes of a windfall from the discovery of vast gas reserves in 2010.
Hasanido Arcancu, a teenage football fan who lives among the ruins of the Grande Hotel, said he dreams of a brighter life as a professional player.
“I love soccer, but we don’t have anywhere to practice. Maybe one day, I’ll play for a big team and leave this place behind,” he said.
published – October 16, 2024 07:46 am IST