Legal Pluralism in Mozambique – Authority Boundaries between the Local State and Traditional Authorities in Mossurize District

Abstract

Mossurize is a Mozambican central-western district in the border with Zimbabwe. This border has always been porous since it was established in 1891. During the colonial period the population escaped through the border whenever they felt threatened. The same happened after independence, when the ruling party (FRELIMO) decided to remove the rule of traditional authorities. FRELIMO’s attempts to remove chiefs have proved to be useless, so it was decided to set chiefs as mediators between the government and the communities. Chiefs now have to “dispute” power at local level. In other parts of the country the boundary-marking in legal orders and domains of authority is set between the state (law/crime), chiefs (traditional cases) and the FRELIMO organizations (community rules and social cases). Is Mossurize any different? Does the border influence chiefs’ authority? This paper will look at these questions and relate them with the evolution of legal pluralism in Mozambique. It is part of an ongoing PhD research about the dynamics of legal pluralism in Mossurize district and it is mostly based in literature review in order to articulate the author’s preliminary empirical findings with works already produced on the same issue in Mozambique (Alexander, 1997; Florêncio, 2005; Kyed, 2007).