The migration authorities guarantee that the Machipanda border, located in Manica province, in central Mozambique, is operating normally, with people and goods crossing normally, despite the stoppage called by the presidential candidate of the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), Venâncio Mondlane.
The Machipanda border crossing provides a land link between Mozambique and Zimbabwe, via the Beira corridor, on National Road Number 6 (N6), one of the main routes used to transport various goods from the port of Beira, in Sofala province, to the countries of the hinterland.
Figures show that more than 400 lorries of goods pass through the border crossing every day from Mozambique to Zimbabwe, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Botswana. The Machipanda border is the second largest in the country after Ressano Garcia.
‘The atmosphere is considered calm, some long-distance motorists with cargo have simply paralysed their activities for fear of vandalism. However, we guarantee that all the conditions are in place to allow the Machipanda border to operate without major constraints,’ explained the spokesman for the Provincial Directorate of the National Migration Service (SENAMI), Manuel Mapendera.
Quoted by Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM), he said that on Wednesday morning, 13 November, approximately 500 people passed through the border, as well as long-distance vehicles carrying various goods.
‘This number is considered normal because on other days we have seen around a thousand passengers pass through. So we have enough reason to say that all the services are operating at full capacity,’ he said.
“The atmosphere is considered calm, some long-distance motorists with cargo have simply paralysed their activities for fear of vandalism.However, we guarantee that all the conditions are in place to allow the Machipanda border to operate without any major constraints”
‘All services are guaranteed and we believe that the atmosphere will be the same for the next few days until the end of the fourth stage of the demonstrations. Migration officials are present, each at their post, to attend to the public. As such, we ask for the population’s co-operation in maintaining public order and security,’ he said.
This 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’re going to paralyse all activities so that they realise that the people are tired,’ appealed the Podemos candidate, in a live broadcast on his official Facebook account.
Mondlane 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.’
In reaction, the general commander of the Republic of Mozambique Police (PRM), Bernardino Rafael, said on Tuesday (12) that the demonstrations and stoppages needed to be ‘stopped’, saying that they were ‘urban terrorism’ with the intention of ‘altering the constitutional order’.
‘It is urgent to say enough is enough to the violent demonstrations that tend to sabotage the great undertakings that the country conquered during its independence and which are the hope of the next generation,’ he said.
For their part, Mozambican businesspeople estimated that 24.8 billion meticals (354 million euros) had been lost in the ten days of stoppages and demonstrations, stressing that 151 business units had been vandalised.
