The company Portos e Caminhos-de-Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) lamented this Wednesday, 4 December, the removal of rails in one of the sections along the Machipanda line, in the Central Railway System, the Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM) reported .
In a statement, the company explained that this was ‘an action carried out by former workers from the Machipanda Line Rehabilitation Brigade (BRLM), who had been hired as part of the Machipanda Line Rehabilitation project.’
In this sense, the CFM deeply regrets the attitude of citizens who ‘destroy’ what they helped to build just because they believe they should be integrated into the workforce, or have the right to compensation for the time they spent working at the BRLM.
In fact, according to the contract, the group of workers was included in the project and, at the end of the project (December 2023), their relationship with BRLM ended.
‘Thus, once the project and the Machipanda line, which has already been inaugurated, have been completed, CFM reiterates its willingness to clarify the scope of the relationship that that group of workers had with BRLM,’ the statement said.
CFM appeals to the common sense of its citizens to value the contribution they have made to the country’s development and that new and more opportunities will arise.
In brief contact with the company, AIM learnt that meetings are currently taking place with the workers mentioned. ‘Our stance is to avoid arm-wrestling those workers, as they may have taken that attitude because they didn’t realise the scope of the contract,’ said a company source.
Asked about the extent of the damage, the source promised more information as soon as it became available.
With a length of 318 kilometres, the Machipanda line connects the Port of Beira to neighbouring Zimbabwe. The line is crucial for the economy of the neighbouring country and for the central region of Mozambique. There are 14 stations and 29 wharves along the route.
