The Mozambican Association of Public Prosecutors (AMMMP) today submitted a set of demands to the government, calling for autonomy and financial independence, improvements in salaries and security for professionals in the sector.
‘In view of the responses to the various interpellations to the responsible government entities and in pursuance of the decision taken at the General Assembly held on 6 July, the association deposited its list of demands with the government today, 17 July,’ reads the statement issued by the association today.
In the document, the magistrates state that they have given the Mozambican government 30 days to respond to their demands.
‘In the absence of a response within 30 days, the General Assembly will meet and decide on measures to be taken by the class in the future,’ the statement added.
The demands of the public prosecutors are being submitted to the government at a time when the Mozambican Association of Judges announced on 9 July a month-long general strike starting on 9 August, due to the government’s failure to respond to their demands, a decision that raised public debate about the legitimacy of the strike, given that it is a sovereign body.
The Mozambican judges are complaining about an alleged ‘depreciation of their status’ and flaws in the application of the new Single Salary Table (TSU), which has been strongly contested by other professional classes, such as doctors and teachers, who have even called strikes in protest at salary delays and cuts.
‘In 2022, the government approved the TSU and that was the moment when we saw an increasing deterioration in the status of judges (…) We did everything we could to prevent it from going ahead because it represented a step backwards in the achievements of the class, in terms of their remuneration status,’ said the president of the Mozambican Association of Judges (AMJ), Esmeraldo Matavele, on 15 July, describing the TSU as ‘an affront’ that ‘devalues’ the judiciary.
Approved in 2022 to eliminate asymmetries and keep the state’s wage bill under control, the start of the TSU caused salaries to skyrocket by around 36 per cent, from an expenditure of 11.6 billion meticals/month (169 million euros/month) to 15.8 billion meticals/month (231 million euros/month).
The TSU cost around 28.5 billion meticals (410 million euros), ‘more than expected’, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) document on the evaluation of Mozambique’s assistance programme consulted by Lusa in January.
The judges are also asking the government for financial independence.
‘We believe that this is a fair fight because it will guarantee that the courts can decide cases with the necessary independence, impartiality and impartiality,’ emphasised the president of the AMJ, adding that so far none of the points on the list of demands have been answered.
Lusa
