– Protests are continuing and are increasingly violent. The two sides are adopting more extremist positions, thus reducing the possibilities of negotiation
– Venâncio Mondlane has announced that he will leave his hideout to join the march on Maputo next Thursday
By Noémia Mendes, Aurélio Muianga and Stélvio Martins
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – The third phase of mass protests against the election results in Mozambique is proving devastating. Thousands of people have gone onto the streets to protest and the police have responded with violence, shooting dozens of unarmed protesters. By this Sunday, there had been at least two deaths by shooting and dozens of injuries. Maputo, the main focus of the demonstrations, is like a city under siege, with police wielding heavy weaponry on the streets.
In retaliation, the demonstrators have burnt down at least four offices of the ruling Frelimo Party and homes of police officers, according to data published by the Center for Public Integrity (CIP), an organisation which has election observers all over the country.
Maputo, Nampula and Zambézia are the provinces most affected by the protests, but there have also been peaceful marches by the Mozambican diaspora in Lisbon and London. The current phase of demonstrations should last until next Thursday, the day when the opposition leader says the population should march on the capital, to take power by force.
The protests are also causing severe damage to the economy of Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world. During a press conference in Maputo, the Mozambican Confederation of Business Associations (CTA) estimate at about 47 million dollars the economic losses caused by the demonstrations up to 30 October.
Movement along the county’s main roads, particularly in Maputo, is restricted. The Maputo Corridor, which links the port of Maputo to neighbouring South Africa has been severely affected by the protests, forcing a reduction in the number of trucks going to and from the port. The government warns that, if the protests continue they will compromise the economic growth of the country.
At a joint press conference last week, four opposition parties namely PODEMOS, declared the runner-up in the elections by the National Elections Commission (CNE), the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) and two extra-parliamentary groups, the Ecology and New Democracy parties, declared their “rejection of the election results” because of “the violation of the electoral law and electoral crimes”.
The PODEMOS representative, Dinis Tivane, said there were cases of “ballot box stuffing and the falsification of polling station minutes and results sheets (“editais”) to benefit the Frelimo Party and its presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo”.
Domestic and international election observation organisations have reported cases of fraud. These include the European Union Election Observation Mission which said it had observed cases of ballot box stuffing.
Exacerbating positions
Local and international organisations, including the Catholic Church, the regional bloc SADC (Southern African Development Community), the African Union, and the United Nations, are calling for dialogue and for an end to post-election violence. However, the two sides are exacerbating their positions.
Venâncio Mondlane is announcing that he will leave his hideout and return to Mozambique to join the march on Maputo on Thursday 7 November, to take power through revolution.
“Early on Thursday morning I shall be in Maputo city marching with millions of Mozambicans to put an end to the 49 years of Frelimo dictatorship”, said Mondlane in a live broadcast on Facebook last Friday.
The police have announced the opening of criminal proceedings against Mondlane, accusing him of inciting violence and of the moral authorship of the illegal mass demonstrations. So, if Mondlane does return to Maputo, he could be arrested to answer for the crimes of which he is accused.
The researcher and lecturer in political science at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, José Jaime Macuane, believes that the announcement of criminal proceedings against Mondlane may be a strategy of the Government to put pressure on Mondlane to accept political negotitions.
“Naturally, if he (Mondlane) is abroad and returns to the country, these criminal proceedings will follow their course. And we must see whether this involves him being detained or not. All this is pressure either for stepping up the conflict, or as a political strategy to increase elements for negotiation”, Macuane said in an interview.
“Opening criminal proceedings implies that Venâncio Mondlane may make concessions that he would not have to make, if there were no criminal case against him”, he added.
The political analyst Fernando Lima believes that opening criminal proceedings against Mondlane is a political mistake “because it will not help solve the tensions that Mozambique is facing”.
“The causes of the tensions we are living through is the perception that there was election fraud. And this is not just the perception of Venâncio. It’s the perception of many other people”, Lima said, in an interview.
To end the post-election crisis, Lima argues that the government should clarify the accusations of election fraud, by publishing the polling station minutes and results sheets.
Publishing the results sheets has been recommended by several other organisations, including the European Union’s Election Observation Mission, but so far it has not been accepted by the Mozambican election management bodies (NM/AM/SM).
