Invisible Stakeholders

The document provides a historical analysis of youth involvement in Mozambique's political change, arguing that young people have often been the 'engine for change' but have also been subject to systemic exploitation and manipulation. It traces the shift from youth seeking economic autonomy through migrant labour during Portuguese colonialism to their role as ideological tools for Frelimo's socialist project after independence. The text highlights the blurred lines between civilian and military roles during the civil war, specifically challenging the narrative that only Renamo used child soldiers by documenting Frelimo's forced recruitment and deceptive schooling programmes. It concludes that while youth were central to the nation's formation, contemporary Mozambican youth feel unheard and marginalized by the current regime.

• During the colonial period, young men in the Gaza kingdom used seasonal labour in Natal sugar plantations to earn cash for 'lobolo' (bride-price), which undermined traditional elder authority and inadvertently facilitated the establishment of Portuguese direct rule.
• Frelimo utilized youth and students as essential tools for both the liberation struggle and the subsequent implementation of a socialist order, using them to spread ideology in schools and urban centres and to 'indoctrinate' the 'new Mozambican'.
• The Frelimo government employed 're-education' camps to control dissent and social deviation, where individuals were sometimes detained for trivial reasons, such as lacking identification documents.
• The document disputes the official narrative that Frelimo did not use child soldiers, stating that the party engaged in forced recruitment and deceived youth by promising educational opportunities that were actually military training.
• During the civil war, the use of civilian militias and the placement of communal villages around military barracks blurred the distinction between combatants and non-combatants, effectively using the population as human shields.
• Contemporary Mozambican youth express a sense of powerlessness and frustration, feeling that while they have a voice in media, they are not heard by a regime that they perceive as having forgotten the anonymous people who contributed to independence.

APA

Leão, A. (n.d.). Invisible Stakeholders. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/INVISIBLECHAP2.PDF

Chicago

Leão, Ana. Invisible Stakeholders. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/INVISIBLECHAP2.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Leão |first1=Ana |title=Invisible Stakeholders |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/INVISIBLECHAP2.PDF |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{leondinvisible, author = {Leão, Ana}, title = {{Invisible Stakeholders}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/INVISIBLECHAP2.PDF}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }