The Mozambican government has warned that it “doesn’t want a repeat” of last week’s almost total three-day strike called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, promising businesses security despite the call for seven days of strikes.
“Our appeal is for companies to remain open. Our appeal is for the workers, the employees, to go to their places of work. The government is going to do its best to guarantee security and we want the country not to have a stoppage, because this is going to have major effects on the country’s economy,” said the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Silvino Moreno, on Wednesday.
The minister led a meeting that brought together five ministers, from areas such as transport, tourism, fisheries, energy, industry and trade, with the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), to analyse “the impacts” of the demonstrations and stoppages called by Venâncio Mondlane – who does not recognise the results of the general elections of 9 October – held on 21, 24 and 25 October, as well as a new stoppage announced from Thursday, for seven days.
“So it was almost a total shutdown, with few companies operating. This is a scenario that the government does not want to see repeated, above all because we are a poor country, a country that needs to work, a country that has already had the bitter experience of war,” the minister acknowledged.
“We want the country to continue in peace, that the demonstrations are not aimed at destroying the economy, that they are not aimed at destroying infrastructure and that nobody is prevented from going to work, because that is, in fact, the way to have the economy working,” said Silvino Moreno.
The minister guaranteed that companies will be given security and that the announced demonstrations, as long as they don’t involve violence or prevent workers from travelling to work, can take place.
“Our appeal is for people to turn to the institutions. The Defence and Security Forces [‘FDS’] will work to guarantee security. This is our appeal to any demonstrators not to interfere with this activity. Let the institutions work,” said the minister.
Moreno insisted that, “if there are demonstrations” from Thursday, they should be “peaceful” and not “an attack on private property or public infrastructure”.
“The FDS will work to ensure that there is no disorder and what we want is for there to be no destruction (…) The FDS is prepared to guarantee security tomorrow (Thursday) if there are demonstrations,” he added.
“Our expectation is that there will be no demonstrations, that our call for calm will be heard and that the public throughout the country will realise that the country is ours. We’re the ones who have to bring a solution to the country, so there’s no point in destroying it or making a fuss. We have to find a solution for this country, which is ours and which expects all of us to use our hands and our intelligence to develop it,” he emphasised.
Even so, he admitted his concern at the violence during last week’s demonstrations and stoppages: “Unfortunately, the experience we have of the three days of last week [is that] there were commercial establishments broken into, there was the destruction of public infrastructure and there were also deaths and actions that jeopardise the safety of people and property.”
Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced last Thursday the victory of Daniel Chapo, supported by the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo, the party in power since 1975) in the 9 October election for country’s president, with 70.67% of the vote.
Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the non-parliamentary Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), came second with 20.32%, but said he did not recognise these results, which still have to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.
Frelimo also strengthened its parliamentary majority, from 184 to 195 MPs (out of 250), and elected all 10 of the country’s provincial governors.
In addition to Mondlane, the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, currently the largest opposition party), Ossufo Momade, one of the four presidential candidates, said that he did not recognise the election results announced by the CNE and called for the vote to be annulled, and presidential candidate Lutero Simango, supported by the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), also rejected the results, considering that they had been “forged in the secretariat”, and promised “political and legal action” to restore the “will of the people”.
On Tuesday, Venâncio Mondlane called for new stoppages and protests for a week from Thursday, culminating in a national demonstration on 7 November in Maputo.
Lusa
