Martins Campos

The assessment of the ’administrative assistance’ provided by traditional authorities to local Mozambican government agencies must take into account the current context of political and/or administrative decentralisation, the paradigm of decentralised and democratic governance, and the material and human resource constraints of the public sector in the delivery of services. In assessing this process, based on the legislation in force in Mozambique, we seek to highlight the problems and challenges it exposes, confronting the threats that this relationship poses to the consolidation of public administration in terms of rationalisation, impartiality, specialisation and clarity of rules and functions, as advocated by Max Weber. At the same time, following a decolonial suggestion, we consider the possibilities for recognition/partnership between the Mozambican state and the ’administrative’ role of community and traditional authorities, understanding that the solution to the impasse discussed here depends on how it is assessed by our knowledge tools, which make the experiences of the social world credible or incredible.