The president of the Association of Small Informal Importers of Mozambican, Sudekar Novela, warned that the country could face shortages of some basic necessities over the next few days, a situation that could intensify over the coming festive season if the demonstrations and stoppages continue for longer.
In a report published by the newspaper O País, the official explained that, at the moment, traders are facing difficulties moving goods from neighbouring countries to Mozambique and vice versa, stressing that the closure of the Ressano Garcia border has brought losses at various levels.
‘We’ve seen huge losses related to the lack of customers and the deterioration of products in the markets. In the next few days, we’ll do a survey to find out more or less how much money we’ve lost because of this situation,’ he explained.
Novela warned that the situation could not continue any longer and that there was a need to create an appropriate space for dialogue in order to overcome this scenario, so as to ensure that there were sufficient stocks in good time to deal with the festive season.
On Wednesday 13 November, demonstrators once again occupied National Road Number 4 (N4), near the Ressano Garcia border, preventing traffic on the largest land crossing between Mozambique and South Africa, as part of the protests called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.
The border, about 90 kilometres from Maputo, was fully reopened on Saturday 9 November, after clashes caused by protesters that restricted the crossing for a week, which led to police reinforcements on the border perimeter.
On Monday 11 November, Mondlane called for a new period of national demonstrations in Mozambique, for three days, starting on Wednesday, in all the provincial capitals, in protest at the electoral process.
‘We’re going to demonstrate at the borders, in the harbours and in the provincial capitals. In all 11 provincial capitals we are going to paralyse all activities so that they realise that the people are tired,’ Venâncio Mondlane appealed in a live broadcast on his official Facebook account.
The candidate emphasised that the fourth stage of demonstrations will have ‘several phases’. ‘For three days we will demonstrate. Then we’ll take a break. We’re asking the population of all the districts to come together. The protests must be extended to the country’s ports and borders and to the transport corridors linking these infrastructures. We call on lorry drivers to join in.’
Mozambican businesspeople estimated that 24.8 billion meticals (354 million euros) had been lost in the ten days of stoppages and demonstrations, and that 151 business units had been vandalised.
‘With these demonstrations, accompanied by the paralyses of economic activity, we found that the trade, logistics and transport sectors were the most affected, and the losses totalled 24.8 billion meticals (354 million euros), equivalent to around 2.2 percent of our Gross Domestic Product,’ said the president of the Confederation of Mozambican Economic Associations (CTA), Agostinho Vuma.
