Gwaza Muthine
Celebration once again subdued by the pandemic
Written by: Hélder Massinga
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the disease has been challenging various sectors and segments of society, in Mozambique and in the world at large. Several branches of activity were literally forced to close, others were thrown into disarray, and many had to reinvent themselves. The pandemic prompted the adoption of far-reaching collective measures, and the Culture and Tourism sector was no exception.
This year, as in the previous one, the Marracuene cultural festival Gwaza Muthine did not have its usual flavour. An event traditionally celebrated with pomp and ceremony on the night of 2 February, the eve of Mozambican Heroes' Day, a national holiday, it used to draw a veritable swarm of people, with the number of participants growing steadily from year to year. According to Justino Cuna, Director of the District Services for Education, Youth and Technology, and spokesperson for Gwaza Muthine, more than 50,000 people attended in 2019.
Everything changed, however, with the outbreak of the pandemic. This year the traditional Marrabenta Train did not arrive, carrying musicians and audience, Mozambicans and foreigners alike. Constrained by the presidential decree, it drew few people and few food and drink stalls, with selected products. Without the effervescence and bustle that were so characteristic of this time, the town of Marracuene, to those who know it, looked like a moribund place, even though the theme chosen for this year was “127 years celebrating culture as the legacy of our identity”.
This year the traditional Marrabenta Train, carrying musicians and audience, Mozambicans and foreigners alike, did not arrive in Marracuene
This anniversary began to be celebrated in 1974, continuing in 1975 and 1976. There followed a long interruption, until 1994, but from that year to this, albeit with many restrictions in recent times due to the pandemic, the celebration has never failed.
Data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism indicate that the culture and tourism sector has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. According to Deputy Minister Fredson Bacar, in Mozambique more than nine thousand tourism and cultural businesses are closed as a result of Covid-19, and more than fifteen thousand workers have had their contracts suspended.
It should be recalled that Gwaza Muthine is the name given to a battle fought on 2 February 1895, near Marracuene, in which the Ronga forces demonstrated their capacity for organisation and their resistance to Portuguese colonial occupation. And Marracuene is the seat town of the district of the same name, located in Maputo province, on the right bank of the Incomati River.
