Crime, state and civil society responses in Maputo (Mozambique): Between privatisation and civilianisation

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the capital city of Maputo in Mozambique, where recent international investment is seizing opportunities in a very poor urban context, social contrasts are important. It is hardly surprising that crime and fear of crime are on the increase. Maputo is also involved in a process of privatisation and civilianisation of security, which takes different forms: the blooming of new private security companies and the privatisation of public space via the development of enclosed and protected residential areas; a system of community policing as well as informal ‘patrolling’. They all spatially reflect sizable local, national and international issues. This article will examine the origins, the characteristics and the socio-spatial repercussions of these forms of security policing. They reflect the demand for better security provision in a changing urban society, and can be considered an erosion of the ‘state’s assumed monopoly over policing’. The aim of this article is to highlight the public/private ‘share of space’ and ‘share of influence’ for the sake of citizens’ well-being. Is privatisation and civilianisation of security a consequence of rising concerns about crime in Maputo? Are we currently witnessing a kind of pragmatic agreement between the inherited centralised Mozambican state and the emerging private sector and civil society?