The Minister of the Interior, Pascoal Ronda, considered the violent demonstrations that have taken place in recent days in Mozambique to be acts of terror and revolt against the social order, reports the Agência de informação de Moçambique (AIM).
‘I no longer call them demonstrations, I call these acts of subversion and terrorism, because they terrorise people and children. The mamana that sells bananas can no longer sell. People can’t go to work. This is terror,’ he said on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony for the new electronic gates at Maputo International Airport (e-Gate) on Wednesday (13).
According to Ronda, when the demonstrators say they want to reach Ponta Vermelha (the official residence of the President of the Republic), this means the removal of bodies that have been established democratically.
He also said that security had been stepped up to contain the demonstrations, and that the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) were working to restore order in light of the appeals that had been made.
‘There are a lot of appeals for people not to join these demonstrations, there are people who are being used, 7-year-olds (whom I feel very sorry for), young people who are asleep in the morning, wake up and start drinking alcohol that drives them out of their minds, they are smoking or injecting themselves, consuming cannabis sativa (soruma) to be used… I call it instrumentalisation,’ said the minister.
Pascoal Ronda emphasised that, at the end of the day, some young people, when questioned, are ashamed. ‘Intoxication is being introduced to these young people, and that will affect their future. Imagine that old lady who had the last tomato to sell, thinking she was going to get something, but everything has been vandalised. They’ve destroyed a supermarket, Shoprite, a bank, and now they’re thinking of destroying bridges. That’s vandalism,’ he concluded.
