Mozambique’s faded hotel squatters hope for change after vote

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BEIRA – In the sprawling slum of the once glorious Grande Hotel in Mozambique’s city of Beira, around 4,000 people living in squalor hope that this month’s election will bring change to their hard lives.
Most of the scattered election posters on the blackened walls of the gutted beachfront building call for votes for the long-ruling socialist Frelimo party at the polls held on October 9. 
A few back the opposition centre-right Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), which has controlled the Beira municipality for the past 20 years.
Results due in more than a week are expected to keep Frelimo in charge of the impoverished southern African nation, which it has governed since the end of Portuguese rule half a century ago.
The hotel, with sweeping views of the Indian Ocean, mirrors the desperation of Mozambique, where around 75 percent of the 33 million people live in poverty and the wounds of a 16-year civil war are still raw.
Its crumbling walls are scrawled with graffiti, its furniture, windows and fixtures are long gone, while grass grows in its Olympic-sized swimming pool just steps from the sea.
The people squatting here are desperate for a better life.
“We live in the shadow of what this place once was,” said Toris Anselmo, in his 30s, who has lived in the ruins of the hotel for most of his life. 
“We’ve been waiting for change for years. I hope this election brings better opportunities for us all.”
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 following 10 years of war led by Frelimo. 
In its overcrowded spaces, tensions between residents run high and makeshift security systems reflect the ever-present threat of theft. 
 
– ‘We need houses’ –
 
Elaria Ribeiro Punte, 56, who gave birth to all of her three children there, said she struggles with daily life in the building’s cramped spaces. 
“It’s hard to raise my children in these conditions, but we survive. We need proper housing, not just promises,” she said.
Every corner serves a purpose: people live in the basement, former cold rooms or old elevator shafts. 
Women clean fish or rest in the corridors and draw water from the stagnant pool. 
Thin curtains divide rooms, transforming spaces into makeshift kitchens and living areas.  
Fernando Jose, 37, was born in the hotel and now raises a family of his own here. “I have a wife and child, but nothing much to show for it,” he said. 
“Jobs are scarce, and there’s little support. We’re hoping this vote will lead to change.”
The civil war that erupted after independence caused around a million deaths and displaced millions more, some of whom sought refuge in Beira, one of Mozambique’s largest cities and about 700 kilometres (435 miles) northeast of the capital Maputo.
The Marxist Frelimo government used the hotel as a military base when they were drawn into civil war by the anti-communist Renamo, then a rebel group.
Officially over since 2019, the armed conflict still overshadows Mozambique while jihadist attacks in the north have scuppered hopes of a windfall from the discovery of vast gas deposits in 2010.
Hasanido Arcancu, a teenage football enthusiast who lives among the ruins of the Grande Hotel, said he dreams of a brighter life as a professional player. 
“I love football, but we have nowhere to practice. Maybe one day, I’ll play for a big team and leave this place behind,” he said.
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By Zinyange Auntony
AFP