In this weeks’ episode of Special Assignment we bring you an exclusive interview with Rosita Mabuingo, Mozambique’s youngest celebrity. Our producer Frank Ferro goes in search of Rosita – born fifteen years ago this month on top of a tree, above the flood waters of the Limpopo River. Her birth made news headlines worldwide and captured the attention of politicians across the globe, some of whom donated millions of dollars to assist flood victims in her home country.
Fifteen years later, the spotlight on Rosita has dimmed. Her mother Sofia has struggled to provide for her children with her meagre cleaner’s salary and her father, who sold off the family’s possessions, has lost custody of his daughter after a Mozambican court found him guilty of misappropriation of the family’s funds and the theft of their property.
During this year’s flood season, we look at what has happened to Mozambique since the 2000 floods in which 800 people died and thousands more were displaced. We travel with relief operations in Zambezia Province, the region worst hit by the floods and similar to Rosita’s mother, we come across a woman who was forced to give birth on a canoe, in the midst of the floods.
We show the difficulties facing the Mozambican government in their efforts to get much needed food, medical and relief supplies to the over 100-thousand flood devastated people during this year’s floods.
Watch “Rosita – Fifteen Years On” produced by Frank Ferro, to be broadcast on Special Assignment – aired Sundays on SABC 3 at 20:30PM. Repeated Mondays at 23:30PM.
