Maputo Province

Maputo Province exists as the capital's shadow—the sprawling hinterland that supplies the city with labor, food, and the industrial space that cannot fit within Maputo's colonial street grid. Matola, the provincial capital and Mozambique's second-largest city, has become an industrial suburb where the Mozal aluminum smelter operates as one of Africa's largest, processing bauxite into aluminum that constitutes a significant share of national exports.

The province's geography creates its economic logic: proximity to the capital means access to port infrastructure and consumer markets, while lower land costs attract manufacturing that the city center cannot accommodate. The Maputo Special Reserve protects elephants and other wildlife in a band stretching from the city to the Eswatini border, creating one of Africa's more unusual juxtapositions—heavy industry and wildlife conservation sharing the same administrative boundary.

Cross-border dynamics with Eswatini and South Africa shape daily life. Border posts at Namaacha and Goba process the migrant workers, traders, and families whose livelihoods span the political boundaries drawn by colonial powers a century ago. The same corridors that carry legitimate commerce also enable smuggling—fuel, goods, and people moving in both directions as informal trade lubricates formal restrictions.

Matola's aluminum smelter represents both opportunity and dependency: when global commodity prices rise, the province benefits; when they fall, the concentrated employment creates concentrated vulnerability. The 2024 post-election unrest that paralyzed Maputo's port rippled immediately into Maputo Province's industrial zones.

By 2026, Maputo Province's trajectory tracks the capital's: political stability enables industrial expansion, while instability drives investment to more predictable jurisdictions.