A Song
Namacurra onoloba nikayedho
Namacurra asks for help
Frelimo onoguliya mathaka na atxina
Frelimo is selling our lands to the Chinese
Nafuna minivedele manera adhouwe
We want to find a way for them to leave
Araujo we Araujo we Araujo wee
Araujo, Araujo, Araujo
Araujo kafiya onivune okuno onamacurra
Araujo, come here to Namacurra
Frelimo onoguliya mathaka na atxina
Frelimo is selling our lands to the Chinese
Ninfuna munivedele manera adhouwe
We want to find a way for them to leave
A Protest
The song above was posted on TikTok by the profile @imbyaugusto in November 2024. In it, women sitting at a rally sing in protest against the dispossession of their lands. They name Frelimo and the Chinese as the perpetrators. As their saviour, they call out to (Manuel) Araújo, the current mayor of Zambezia’s capital, Quelimane, and the opposition candidate for the province’s governorship.
Araújo has been leading the protests in Quelimane following the elections on 9 October. The country has since experienced nationwide unrest and significant violence. The electoral commission declared Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo and the ruling Frelimo party the winners. Opposition candidate Venâncio Mondlane contested these results, alleging electoral fraud and asserting his victory (O País 2024). Security forces have responded with force to the protests, resulting in numerous casualties.
Although protests in Zambezia were considered the least violent, some of the most severe incidents occurred there. For instance, after police attempted to disperse a rally led by Araújo with tear gas in November 2024 (STV 2024), violence erupted. A senior member of Frelimo and former member of the district’s electoral commission was killed in Inhassunge, across the bay from Quelimane (DW 2024b).
The protests spread across the province. Roadblocks were reported in Milange (bordering Malawi) and Alto Molocue (bordering Nampula province). Morrumbala, a district neighbouring both Malawi and Tete, witnessed more violent events: Frelimo headquarters and the district electoral secretariat were set on fire, the jail was attacked and prisoners released, the court vandalised, and the local market looted (DW 2024a).
More recently, deadly clashes have occurred between security forces and the Naparamas. The Naparama movement dates back to the post-independence war. It was a community-based militia aimed at protecting civilians. Founded in Nampula, it quickly spread to Zambezia. The movement’s founder, a traditional healer, claimed to have a spiritual “vaccine” that made followers invulnerable to bullets—facilitating rapid mobilisation (Jentzsch 2018). The renewed violence has led many to seek refuge in neighbouring Malawi (Catueira 2024; DW 2025).
Songs of Fire
Protest songs have long been part of Mozambique’s history. Studies have explored their role in oral tradition, memory (Vail and White 1978; 1983; Israel 2010), nation-building, and consciousness shaping (Meneses 2019). More recent research has addressed growing dissatisfaction with the post-colonial state (Manhiça et al. 2020; Rantala 2014; 2016; 2024; Guissemo 2018).
There are, however, fewer studies on women’s protest songs. Women’s participation is often folded into the collective or ignored. One study examining political songs from 1998 to 2018 highlighted the underrepresentation of women (Taela et al. 2021). Studies that do explore gendered expressions of protest tend to focus on dance, especially tufo, a performance style rooted in Islamic communities in Mozambique’s northern coastal provinces (Hebden 2020; Arnfred 2004).
Social media has increased the visibility of women in protest. In a piece on the gendered dimensions of the post-election protests, Kátia Taela highlights two women artists—Ivete Mafundza and Lizha James—who released intervention music. She warns against simplifying the protests as youth-led, noting that women participate by:
“marching (including attempting to reach the Palácio da Ponta Vermelha…), joining night marches, protesting in front of the supreme court with their faces covered, occupying the streets singing protest songs and the national anthem, dancing, praying, cooking, pan-bashing in the evening and jokingly sharing photos of their damaged kitchen heroes” (Taela 2025).
Though surprising in scale, this uprising has been long in the making. Declining standards of living, corruption, and dispossession have been recurrent themes in protest music for years. The youth may be the most visible, but they are not alone—nor are these protests exclusively urban.
While greater Maputo draws media focus, updates from the rest of the country emerge sporadically, hindered by internet disruptions and a crackdown on journalism. Much of the confrontation is unfolding on social media, where Venâncio Mondlane still leads via livestreams. Disinformation circulates in both pro- and anti-protest camps.
A Source Called Social Media
Social media is not only a platform but a rich source of information. Much of what is known about protests has been shared online, with song and dance at its centre.
During the 2023 municipal elections, a DJ from Zambezia became famous for Trufafa Trufafa. In it, he repeatedly asks, “But who won?”, to which crowds respond, “It’s Renamo”. Protesters danced behind a music truck in Quelimane, singing along until the Constitutional Court finally recognised Renamo’s victory, overturning the initial result (Biinato Júnior 2023).
Online platforms also reveal other acts of resistance. In Namacurra, a timber truck was forced to leave its cargo behind. Protesters argued that while the country exports logs, local schools lack basic furniture. Like the women’s protest song at the beginning of this post, it was a rejection of state priorities favouring foreign interests over citizens’ needs.
Women and Rice
Since Frelimo named Chapo as its candidate in May 2024, I have been observing women’s political participation on social media. One viral message from Maputo’s elite district OMM (Mozambican Women’s Organisation) chapter invited women to a gathering to welcome Chapo. Meanwhile, videos from Chapo’s national tour show women laying new capulanas (traditional cloth worn by women) over his shoulders, reminiscent of royal anointment rituals. Historically, it has been women legitimising rulers in anointment ceremonies (Newitt 1995; Linden 1972; Rosario 2021).
OMM’s roots trace back to the female detachment in the liberation war. After independence, it aligned with the ruling party, as did other women’s leagues across Africa. These narratives often highlight women’s agency during liberation while portraying their current presence in political campaigns as instrumentalised. Yet, women’s songs often offer sharp critique rather than praise.
Women’s mobilisation work predates independence. In rural Zambezia, today’s OMM women are equated to the nyakoda (female labour organizers in Zambezia’s colonial past). Their task was to mobilise female slave or indentured labour in different societies of the Zambezi across time (African kingdoms, Portuguese lessee plantations and capitalist chartered companies). Locals called the time of forced labour “o tempo do arroz” (the time of the rice) (Rosario 2021). Prosperity of the regime of the day has never meant that of the labourer.
In the current regime, it is the voter (rather than the labourer) that legitimise political capital that translates into access to economic resources. Today, voters guarantee the elite’s prosperity through ballots rather than rice fields.
Influencers
Mansi nkateiaka txapo
But my favourite (candidate) is Chapo…
The above is an excerpt of a song from Dama Ija, a singer from Angoche. Her campaign song for Chapo urges voters to support Frelimo, citing roads and schools built under their rule. Using influencers is increasingly common, seen by some as a sign of political superficiality, yet it fits within customary power cosmologies that centre women as mobilisers.
Now, women influencers are also using their platforms to call for integrity. TikTok user @mamadi_26 warned EDM (Electricidade de Moçambique) not to cut power on election night, a frequent tactic during vote counting.
Older women prefer WhatsApp voice messages. One such message, circulated after the Electoral Commission’s announcement, rejects Chapo’s win. The speaker, from Nampula, declares:
“Yes, you will govern, but we will not respect you… We humiliated you from Rovuma to Maputo. Even the chickens noticed.”
Listening to Women
Women have always helped shape Mozambique’s political narrative. Today, that role is more visible than ever. Their political commentary, through song, dance, or digital media, is forceful and clear. It is no longer tenable to claim they lack autonomy or are merely pawns in someone else’s game. Those who haven’t been listening, perhaps, were never the intended audience.
On 24 March 2025, a picture of Chapo and Mondlane shaking hands made the rounds in all the social media platforms. I am anxious to hear what women have to say about this.
References
Arnfred, Signe. 2004. Tufo Dancing: Muslim Women’s Culture in Northern Mozambique. No. 11, 39–65.
Biinato Júnior. 2023. MC Da RENAMO – Trufafá Trufafá (Oficial). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5W3mnTdDqY
Catueira, André. 2024. “Aumenta o número de moçambicanos que se refugiam no Malawi.” Voice of America, 28 December. https://www.voaportugues.com/a/aumenta-número-de-moçambicanos-que-se-refugiam-no-malawi/7917088.html
DW. 2024a. Moçambique: Cinco Mortos e 22 Baleados No Primeiro Dia de Novas Manifestações. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU88DDTPGqM
DW. 2024b. Moçambique: Clima de Tensão Agudiza-Se Em Inhassunge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TndkBk1frw
DW. 2025. “Vítimas da violência pós-eleitoral refugiam-se no Malaui.” DW, 3 January. https://www.dw.com/pt-002/v%C3%ADtimas-da-viol%C3%AAncia-p%C3%B3s-eleitoral-refugiam-se-no-malaui/a-71207685
Guissemo, Manuel. 2018. “Hip Hop Activism: Dynamic Tension between the Global and Local in Mozambique.” Journal of World Popular Music 5(1): 50–70. https://doi.org/10.1558/jwpm.36673
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Manhiça, Anésio, Alex Shankland, Kátia Taela, Euclides Gonçalves, Catija Maivasse, and Mariz Tadros. 2020. “Alternative Expressions of Citizen Voices: The Protest Song and Popular Engagements with the Mozambican State.” Institute of Development Studies. https://doi.org/10.19088/IDS.2020.001
Meneses, Maria Paula. 2019. “Singing Struggles, Affirming Politics: Mozambique’s Revolutionary Songs as Other Ways of Being (in) History.” In Mozambique on the Move: Challenges and Reflections, edited by Sheila Pereira Khan, Maria Paula Meneses, and Bjørn Enge Bertelsen. BRILL
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O País. 2024. “Venâncio Mondlane declara-se vencedor das eleições.” 11 October. https://opais.co.mz/venancio-mondlane-declara-se-vencedor-das-eleicoes/
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Rantala, Janne. 2016. “‘Hidrunisa Samora’: Invocations of a Dead Political Leader in Maputo Rap.” Journal of Southern African Studies 42(6): 1161–77
Rantala, Janne. 2024. “A Sonic Biography of an Afterlife: The Expelled Liberation Leader Uria Simango in Mozambican Rap.” Journal of Southern African Studies. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057070.2024.2372556
Rosário, Carmeliza. 2021. Donas da Terra (Female Owners of the Land): Decolonising Historical Representations through an Ethnography of Memories of Women of Power and Authority in Zambezia, Mozambique. PhD thesis, University of Bergen
STV. 2024. Polícia Dispara Gás Lacrimogêneo Contra Manuel de Araújo e Seus Apoiantes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NehV9M57W3w
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Taela, Kátia, Euclides Gonçalves, Catija Maivasse, and Anésio Manhiça. 2021. “Shaping Social Change with Music in Maputo, Mozambique.” Institute of Development Studies. https://doi.org/10.19088/IDS.2021.020
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Vail, Leroy, and Landeg White. 1983. “Forms of Resistance: Songs and Perceptions of Power in Colonial Mozambique.” American Historical Review 88(4): 883–919
A version of this text appears in Portuguese in Mundo Crítico. 2024. ‘Mulheres, Poder e Liderança’. Mundo Crítico 11. Centro de Estudos Sociais. https://mundocritico.org.