By Paul Fauvet
Chimoio (MOZTIMES) – The Mozambican Police (PRM) has opened a criminal case against those who shot dead Anselmo Vicente, a political coordinator of the National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique (Anamola), the political party led by former presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane.
Vicente, who was the political coordinator for the Anamola party in the city of Chimoio, capital of the central province of Manica, was leaving a political meeting last Saturday when he was shot dead by unknown assailants in the Madrinha region, near National Highway Number Six (EN6), the main road leading from Beira to Zimbabwe.
Vicente died on the way to Chimoio Provincial Hospital.
According to Mouzinho Manasse, the PRM Manica provincial spokesperson, the case has been forwarded to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) for further investigation.
“We received this case and the investigation has been underway since we became aware of the incident. Some evidence was collected at the crime scene and we believe the case will be solved”, Manasse told reporters.
He said that the criminals were traveling in a red Isuzu double-cab pickup truck when they opened fire on Vicente.
“He was pronounced dead in the intensive care unit of the Chimoio Provincial Hospital (HPC). He suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen and did not survive his injuries,” said Manasse.
The spokesperson claimed that “police are investigating to identify the individuals who took this citizen’s life”.
According to The NGO “Decide” Electoral Platform, From July 2025 to the present day, 23 attacks against members of opposition parties, mostly from Anamola, have been recorded.
These murders will revive fears that death squads are at work, eliminating prominent opposition activists.
There is no doubt that death squads exist inside the police force. We know this because one of their assassinations went badly wrong in 2020, when the death squad’s getaway car was involved in a serious traffic accident just outside the city of Xai-Xai, in Gaza, immediately after they had murdered prominent civil society activist, Anastacio Matavele.
Two of the police assassins died in the car crash, and a third was arrested. Two other policemen were arrested a few weeks later, as well as a teacher who owned the vehicle used for the crime.
At the trial, on 18 June 2020, six police officers were convicted for the murder and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Matavele’s family and their lawyers argued that this was an official mission ordered at high level, but the trial did not identify who had ordered the killing.
It seems most unlikely that the assassins in Xai-Xai were the only death squad in the police, but no attempts have been made to identify others. (PF)
