{"id":3628,"date":"2026-06-30T12:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/?p=3628"},"modified":"2026-06-30T12:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:32:14","slug":"mr-president-chapo-i-confess-i-am-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/mr-president-chapo-i-confess-i-am-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr. President Chapo, I Confess: I Am Working"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mr. President Chapo, I Confess: I Am Working<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His Excellency Daniel Francisco Chapo, President of the Republic of Mozambique,<\/span><\/p>\n

Allow me to make a confession. Not because I have committed a crime, but because, over the past few days, I have come to feel that my work is being treated as though I were a criminal.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I have heard Your Excellency repeatedly say that Mozambicans must work, produce, and contribute to the country’s development. I fully agree with you. That is precisely what I have been doing. I am a journalist. <\/span>My \"\"work is not to build roads, cultivate the land, or run a company. My work is to investigate, ask questions, verify facts, and publish information that serves the public interest. That is how I serve Mozambique. I know my reporting does not always please everyone. Those who investigate entrenched interests rarely receive applause. Yet I have never confused journalism with persecution, nor investigation with political activism. My commitment has always been, and will always remain, to the facts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today I find myself in a situation I never imagined I would face. My work equipment has been seized<\/a>, and I have been ordered to unlock my devices. To many people, they are simply a computer and a mobile phone. To me, they represent years of investigations, documents, contacts and, above all, the trust of sources who believed that I would protect their identities. That trust is one of the foundations of independent journalism.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is why I am writing to you. Not to seek privileges. Not to claim immunity. I write to remind us of a simple principle: a journalist who investigates is not committing a crime; he is working. If work is the path Your Excellency encourages Mozambicans to follow, then allow me to say, calmly and sincerely: I am working.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is my confession. I confess that I still believe the truth is worth pursuing. I confess that I will continue asking questions. I confess that I will not stop investigating simply because investigation makes some people uncomfortable. And I confess that I continue to believe that a more transparent country is also a stronger country.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perhaps my greatest “crime” was informing Mozambicans that the State itself had seized 111 timber containers in Sofala Province, disrupting an alleged timber-smuggling network. I did not invent the facts. I did not defame anyone. I did not seek to damage individuals or institutions. I simply did what my profession requires and what society expects from a journalist: to investigate, verify and publish information of public interest.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was not the one who revoked export licences. I was not the one who halted the timber exports. I was not the one who seized the 111 containers. Nor am I the one keeping them in State custody. Those decisions were taken by the competent authorities. I merely reported to Mozambicans an action carried out by the State itself. If I am now required to answer for reporting that fact, then the real question is no longer about my work. It is about how much space remains for journalism to inform society freely. <\/span>Est\u00e1cio Valoi did not carry out any administrative, police or judicial act. He simply reported it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. President, I remain ready to work. That is what I have done throughout my life. For me, working means investigating, listening, verifying and publishing. It means serving the public interest. If that is my offence, I accept it without hesitation, because being a journalist is not a crime. It is my profession. <\/span>Allow me one final reflection. Fighting corruption, smuggling and organised crime requires strong institutions, but it also requires a free and independent press. When a journalist is treated as a suspect simply for revealing facts that are in the public interest, it is not only one professional who is intimidated. Society itself loses one of its most important mechanisms of accountability. Protecting those who investigate is not about protecting journalists; it is about protecting every Mozambican’s right to know. I continue to believe in Mozambique, and that is precisely why I will continue to do my work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Est\u00e1cio Valoi, <\/span>Pemba, 29 June 2026<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#LetsWork<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr. President Chapo, I Confess: I Am Working   His Excellency Daniel Francisco Chapo, President of the Republic of Mozambique, Allow me to make a confession. Not because I have committed a crime, but because, over the past few days, I have come to feel that my work is being treated as though I were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[284],"tags":[321,320],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images-250x255.jpg",147,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",294,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images-12x12.jpg",12,12,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images-150x153.jpg",150,153,true],"retina2x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"retina3x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"retina4x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"retina5x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false],"retina6x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/images.jpg",392,400,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Reda\u00e7\u00e3o CJIMOZ","author_link":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/author\/hcuambe\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Analise<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Mr. President Chapo, I Confess: I Am Working   His Excellency Daniel Francisco Chapo, President of the Republic of Mozambique, Allow me to make a confession. Not because I have committed a crime, but because, over the past few days, I have come to feel that my work is being treated as though I were…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3630,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3628\/revisions\/3630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}