Mobilidade Profissional como Fator de Entreajuda e Apoio ao Desenvolvimento

Feliciano Dias – Ordem dos Engenheiros de Moçambique

Moçambique

• Mozambique comes from the name of an Arab sheik named Mussa-al-bique, of whom very little is known.

• The country was "discovered" by Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama on his famous trip to India in 1498. + - at the same time as Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered Brazil.

• It was colonized by Portugal for a period of almost 500 years.

• In 1975, Mozambique proclaimed national independence after about 10 years of armed struggle against Portuguese colonialism, taking Marxism-Leninism and a centralized economy as its ideology.

• In addition to Portuguese influence, in Mozambique there are Arab, Indian and to a lesser extent Chinese and other parts of the world.

• It went through a civil war that lasted about 16 years and ended on 4 October 1992 and other two agreement the last in 7th August 2019

• Mozambique has about 28 million inhabitants, occupying an area of about 800,000 Km² and has a coastline of about 2,500 Km, has the Portuguese language as its official language, but has a great English influence due to neighboring countries, and has 41 “national” languages of Bantu origin. Some of the languages are also spoken in neighboring countries.

• 1 USD + - 60 Mts / 1 Euros + - 70 Mts (bread cost 5 Mts, 500 ml beer costs 35-60,00 Mts; 1 Kg chicken Costs 200,00 Mts, Coca Cola 300 ml 30,00 Mts, 1 kg of steel 120 Mts , 25 kg cement bag - 500 Mts)

• The mining in South Africa started in the 1800s

• Mozambique's unskilled labor began its mobility when the gold mines were discovered in South Africa, and officially the first agreement was signed in 1928.

Mobility of Mozambican workforce - Mobilidade da mão de obra Moçambicana

• After independence Mozambique received much foreign labor, especially from the socialist countries. There were technicians in all economic areas.

• With the opening of the market in 1997, Mozambique ceased to be a socialist country and the foreign labor of the socialist countries significantly reduced.

Post independence situation – situação pós independência

• The Government of Mozambique maintains liberal investment regulations based on the Investment Law (No. 3/1993 of 24 June) and Investment Law Regulation (Decree No. 43/2009 of 21 August), providing for treatment non-discriminatory and allowing 100% ownership to foreign investors for most sectors. On the other hand, as a developing country, the Government is committed to increasing employment opportunities for nationals and strengthening the capacity of national human resources.

• Laws and regulations in this regard have been enacted to protect the national workforce by ensuring that jobs are available to them without forgetting the special challenges posed by the country's development, which requires levels of technical and professional skills and qualifications that are either nonexistent or insufficient.

• Historically, the main instrument used by the Mozambican Government to achieve the above objective and its balance was the hiring of foreign workers through the quota mechanism.

• Mozambique has several laws that should be combined in order to better understand the situation of hiring foreign labor. In some projects there are specific regulations such as oil and gas research and exploration.

Current situation in Mozambique

There are four (4) legal mechanisms to be considered for establishing employment relationships with foreign workers, namely:

• Hiring under the Short Term Work Regime;

• Contracting through the Quota Regime;

• Contracting through the Investment Project Scheme; and

• Hiring under the Work Authorization Scheme

In addition to the hiring mechanisms for foreign labor mentioned in the previous paragraph, the following special hiring regimes:

• Contracting Regime applicable to Special Economic Zones and Industrial Free Zones2;

• Contracting regime applicable to the Oil and Mines sectors3; and

• Contracting Scheme applicable to the Liquefied Natural Gas Project in Areas 1 and 4 of the Rovuma Basin4

GENERAL SCHEME FOR THE CONTRACTING OF FOREIGN NATIONALITY CITIZENS IN MOZAMBIQUE

CONTRACTING BY SHORT-TERM WORK SCHEME

• when the foreign worker is expected to provide services in Mozambique that are punctual, unpredictable and involving high scientific knowledge or specialized professional technicians for up to 90 days. - Contracting under this scheme does not affect the legal quota to which the company is entitled under the Law.

QUOTA SCHEME

• The application of the right to hire a certain number of foreign workers depends on the total number of domestic workers within the company. The higher the number of domestic workers in the company, the more foreign workers allowed - quotas for hiring foreign labor range from 5-10%.

INVESTMENT PROJECTS

• possibility of obtaining a larger quota than the legally established• Investment Projects whose value exceeds MZN 13,500,000,000 (thirteen billion five hundred million Meticais +- 200 million Euros);

• Investment projects that require a land extension of more than 10,000 ha (ten thousand hectares);

• Investment projects that require forest concessions with an area exceeding 100,000 ha (one hundred thousand hectares); and

• Investment projects with foreseeable political, social, economic, financial or environmental implications and the determination must be analyzed on a case by case basis by the Government itself.

WORK AUTHORIZATION

• justify the need to hire more foreign workers than those allocated under the quota system. • (i) the need to hire foreign workers outside the legally permitted quota is duly substantiated;

• (ii) the academic or professional qualifications required for the intended function by the intended foreign worker have been certified; and

• (iii) it has been found that there are no nationals or that there are not enough to perform this function and that other legal requirements are met, the foreign worker is hired.

NUMBER OF APPROVALS

Number of Authorizations by Scheme (2012-2017)

Short term 28111

Quotas 52329

Investment Projects 12963

permits 3053

Approved Orders 96456

Rejected 353

SPECIAL ECONOMIC AREAS / INDUSTRIAL FREE ZONES

• A work permit will be required for the foreign citizen to be hired;

• Hiring only occurs if foreigners have the unique professional qualifications required for the project and if such qualifications are not found in the national workforce; and

• The number of foreign workers hired should not exceed a maximum of fifteen per cent (15%) of the total number of workers in such zones.

OIL AND MINES SECTOR

• Short term employment contracts

• Quota regime

• Work permit regime

ROVUMA BOWL

CONTRACTING OF FOREIGN NATIONALITY CITIZENS FOR SERVICE AT THE PUBLIC FUNCTION IN MOZAMBIQUE

SPECIAL SCHEMES

Kanimambo