Xitique is an informal saving and credit arrangement based on mutual trust. Two or more people contribute a fixed sum which is lended in turn to one member of the group. The period between contributions differs from region to region, being made daily, weekly or monthly. This arrangement is common in the south of the country. In the urban zones, many women use the income to build their houses, connect electricity or buy fridges. They may invest in informal trading of cigarettes, drinks or perfumes and sometimes buy or rent commercial premises (INDER 1998).

Despite the proliferation of agricultural/livestock associations and cooperatives among subsistence farmers in rural areas, the traditional Xitique is still important (INDER 1998).

This is a form of mutual help whereby work is exchanged for work, normally in crop fields (clearing, ploughing and harvesting). Families practise this as a way of satisfying their need for additional labour. Those involved work for others on a rotation basis whenever they are asked to provide help.

The name of this form of mutual help differs from region to region, although the type of work is the same. In Massoane it is known as Kudzimissana. In Netia, the term Omiliha mattu signifies a group of people providing mutual help to clear land. In Banga, the same practice is called Tsikumu. In Zambezia, Cucumbi is a rotating production system where groups of subsistence farmers establish a calendar for free collective work in members’ fields (INDER 1998).

Families in some regions often offer labour in exchange for money. The idea behind this is that when a family has money it should help needier families; it would then expect to receive the same kind of help in times of crisis. This arrangement is flexible in that sometimes food is received instead of money.

Hlongovane in Massoane is practised by 27 mothers of a Presbyterian church. The women work in each of the members’ fields, receiving 20 000Mt as wages for their work. In Xitoco, also in Massoane, individuals provides farm labour (mainly clearing and ploughing) for another person in exchange for money (15,000Mt).

With Xicoropa in Djavanhane, 25 000Mt to 30 000Mt (or 5kg of maize flour) is received in exchange for farm work.

Ganho Ganho is a form of collective work mostly practised in Zambezia. It has existed since the colonial era when local people were contracted to work on the tea, copra and sisal plantations in exchange for money and products. Presently, ganho ganho is carried out between members of a community and involves voluntary, seasonal work. Payment depends on the area worked. The owner of the crop fields prepares an informal 'contract' which establishes the work to be done and the monetary costs involved ('salary').

This consists of exchanging individual or group labour for some kind of food. Ethima o mata waka in Netia is when meals (beans, chicken, duck and sometimes goat) are provided for workers when their task has been completed. Children also participate in this kind of work. Omiliha makhaka (dried cassava) is also practised, where help is provided in the fields in exchange for dried cassava.

In Banga, Mangawa is practised whereby an individual asks others to help with any type of work in exchange for agricultural products (cereals) for consumption. This kind of work is normally carried out by those who have had unsuccessful harvests.

In Zambezia, Waquelana is a kind of collective work whereby a group of subsistence farmers help to build the house of a particular member of the community. In exchange, they are offered drinks, traditional food and even money, depending on each person's contribution (INDER 1998).

This is a form of individual and collective mutual help whereby a person who is unable to complete a particular task on time invites members of the community, relatives or friends to help. These people are given drinks after work has been completed.

In Mukhumi in Netia, a meal and a local traditional drink called otteka (derived from sorghum) is prepared and served to participants when work has been completed. Some people practise Mukhumi without serving otteka. Instead, they slaughter an animal and offer participants the meat with xima (stiff porridge made of flour and cereal). This arrangement is called Dzima in Massoane, Tsima in Djavanhane and Dima in Banga.

This type of practice is carried out by families who want to start breeding livestock. The interested family asks to borrow animals from another family and the animals are kept until they reproduce. The animals and their young are then returned to the owner who gives one of the young and sometimes a pair in compensation. Kuvequelissana in Djavanhane and Kubiquisselana in Massoane are carried out with chickens, goats and bulls. These practices began many years ago in these villages and have never been altered. However, since the war, fewer people participate in these arrangements because there are fewer animals.

In Netia, Ovalihiya is when a family asks for a female animal to breed, normally a chicken. This arrangement began a long time ago, and has changed over time. Some people do not return the animal that they have borrowed and others return a male instead of a female.

Although theatre and dance groups are not strictly speaking mutual help groups, they share some of the same characteristics. Members pay subscriptions after agricultural produce has been harvested and sold. The group receives money from those who watch their performances and from the people who invite them to perform. The money is distributed to the members or else saved for the group. In some of these groups, the members have to work for money in order to travel to performances.

The dance groups aim to teach through entertainment. They present problems that affect the local community, praise or criticise the work of certain governors, criticise bad government, reprimand cases of bad social behaviour among members of the community and educate the population. The groups teach through songs related to particular events and subjects which lend themselves to being presented in this way (Lundin 1998).

Members of the community with economic property (agricultural and/or cattle) are greatly valued and differentiated in society. These people have the power to influence other members of the community with their opinions. Members of these elites are important in the rural (and urban) community because of their status, social function and property.

To maintain their status, the elites need the support of other members of the community in a relationship based on giving and receiving: they have to be good leaders in order to earn the respect of the community.

This suggests that social differentiation exists within existing principles of solidarity. Above all, there are important social aspects to wealth accumulation in a cohesive community. These aspects are considered to be positive: part of the wealth accumulated by those at the top of the hierarchy trickles down to the majority in the form of benefits to the most needy, according to the principles of reciprocity and redistribution. This wealth is redistributed to needy members of the community through the traditional networks of mutual help and other mechanisms of indirect investment (such as education, health, roads, loans of transport, parties and celebrations). These are also forms of legitimizing wealth.

Rural families continue to have great faith in these forms of social interaction. When they are questioned about the validity of these forms in the present day, they argue that: i) they have spiritual and moral value; ii) they improve solidarity in the community (between those asking for and providing help); iii) they are useful because family subsistence production is inefficient and insufficient for food security. This social interaction, based on local precepts, is an alternative manner of solving individual social and economic problems.

1

Prepared by Cláudio Massingarela, Edwardo Mondlane University, Maputo.

2

Horacio Marcelino in Banga.

3

Tsima is an individual and collective form of mutual help. When someone feels unable to complete some work on time they invite members of the community, family members or friends to help them. These people are later compensated with drinks.

4

1 US Dollar = 12 100Mt (1998)/13 300Mt (1999).

5

Taken from Lundin 1999.