Newspaper selling in Maputo, once a reliable source of income for hundreds of street vendors, is facing a sharp collapse. In interviews with the Lusa news agency, the vendors themselves point to the rise of the internet, widespread disinterest in reading and the lingering impact of the pandemic as the main causes of this decline.
Jorge Francisco, 47, has been a newspaper vendor for more than three decades at the junction of Avenida 25 de Setembro and Avenida Samora Machel. He nostalgically recalls the times when he easily sold 150 copies of Canal de Moçambique and as many again of the daily Notícias. Today, he goes days without selling a single newspaper. “I’ve come here for two weeks in a row without selling a single newspaper, even Notícias, which is the people’s newspaper”, he laments.
The decline sharpened during the Covid-19 pandemic. Besides economic hardship and drastic cuts in print runs, rumours circulated that paper could transmit the virus, driving readers even further away. “We keep fighting, but other newspapers have fallen”, recalls Jorge, who now relies on selling mobile wallet services to survive.
Francisco Mutemba, 48, confirms the decline. A newspaper vendor since 1992, he now sells only a fraction of what he sold before the internet. “The internet is killing the newspaper business, because people get everything on the internet”, he says. He used to sell a hundred copies of Notícias a day and 70 of Magazine Independente. Today, he survives thanks to a few loyal subscribers and side businesses.
Celso Zandamela, 29, also feels the impact. A newspaper vendor for 13 years, he blames the problem less on technology and more on the lack of a reading habit, especially among the young. “Nowadays, people no longer read newspapers or books. They only remember when there’s a competition”, he observes.
Likewise, Bento Benedito, 34, says newspapers “have no future” and that young people prefer to consume information on their phones. Before the pandemic, he sold 100 newspapers a day. Now, it doesn’t reach 10. “The internet is killing it, it has truly killed it, we can only adapt”, he admits.
All the vendors interviewed are unanimous: the newspaper-selling business has become unsustainable. Most are already looking for other ways to make a living. And among them, all that remains alive is the stubbornness of those who persist out of passion, not for profit.
