Estacio Valoi
GRANTEE
Estacio Valoi is a Mozambican journalist and photographer who focuses on environmental crime and corruption in his country. He has worked on stories related to the poaching of rhino and elephants, the vast amount of corruption in the gemstone and timber industries, and other issues.
Valoi advises Oxpeckers, a data-driven journalism group, on a broad range of environmental problems in the region. He has covered a range of environmental investigations for Mozambique's Zambeze daily newspaper and international media. He helped establish Zambeze and is newsroom chief editor in Quelimane, in northern Mozambique.
His investigations have been featured by the Forum for African Investigative Reporters, German radio station DW, South African TV station SABC, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, and e.tv.
In 2018, an investigation by Valoi, which revealed that criminal syndicates were often connected to the highest levels in government, led to his arrest in Montepuez, an area ravaged by destructive mining practices and forced removals of villagers. His report revealed that crimes were also perpetrated by a local elite in cahoots with a multinational gemstones company.
