By: Moztimes
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, on 16 December temporarily suspended his street protests against the general election results.
Instead, he urged his supporters to dedicate this week to prayers and to mourning for the victims of Cyclone Chido (which hit Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces last Saturday) and for the more than 130 people who have died during the riots.
The pause in the protests will last until Sunday, 22 December, but will resume the following day to coincide with the likely declaration by the Constitutional Council of the definitive results of the general elections.
Mondlane stated that the decision to be announced by the Constitutional Council chairperson, Lúcia Ribeiro, will dictate the future of the protests.
“Turbo V8 (as Mondlane calls the next round of protests) will be announced by the Constitutional Council itself on 23 December. It is this body that will decide whether the demonstrations take off or not, depending on the decision it makes on Monday. If Turbo V8 takes off, it will go down in history that it was the seven judges of the Constitutional Council who thrust the country into hell and pushed it off the precipice”, Mondlane declared in his latest live broadcast, transmitted on his Facebook page, from an undisclosed location.
The post-election protests have already caused 130 deaths. More than 3,000 people have been injured, and the cost of the damage is estimated at 24.9 billion meticais.
International companies operating in Mozambique have threatened to suspend their activities due to the lack of security caused by the protests. (M)
