South Africa has put the main border with Mozambique, between Komatipoort and Ressano Garcia, on “high alert” ahead of new social protests in the neighbouring country, the Border Management Authority (BMA) has told Lusa.
“Movements were normal at the border on Wednesday, but we are on high alert for any disruptive situation that may arise,” said Mmemme Mogotsi, spokeswoman for the South African government agency.
At issue is a general strike and protests called from Thursday for a week in the neighbouring country by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who came second with 20.32% of the vote in the 9 October elections, according to the results announced by Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission (CNE), contested by the opposition.
Mondlane, who said he did not recognise the official election results, also called on Tuesday, from an uncertain location, for marches from all the country’s provinces to culminate in a rally in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, on 7 November.
According to the Mozambican Minister of the Interior, Pascoal Ronda, Mondlane is ‘’directing‘’ the ‘’manipulation of public opinion‘’ from South Africa, inciting violence.
The results announced by the CNE gave victory to the candidate of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power since 1975), Daniel Chapo, with 70.67 % of the vote, and a strengthening of the party’s parliamentary representation.
The country’s current largest opposition party, Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo), called for the vote to be cancelled, the Movimento Democrático de Mozambique (MDM), which supported presidential candidate Lutero Simango, also rejected the election results, considering that they were ‘forged’, and on Wednesday around 40 opposition parties, most of them non-parliamentary, joined the protest.
The Mozambican government warned the public today that it “does not want a repeat” of the almost total paralysis that took place over three days last week, in the first wave of protests called by Mondlane, guaranteeing security for businesses after a meeting with employers in the Mozambican capital.
Last Sunday, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, congratulated Daniel Chapo as ‘President-elect’ of Mozambique, and ‘his party, Frelimo’, based on the preliminary results of the vote, showing concern about the post-election violence across the country.
“Likewise, President Ramaphosa applauds the CNE for the professional manner in which it conducted the elections,” the South African presidency said in a statement.
The Mozambique president, Filipe Nyusi, this week criticised presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane for declaring himself the winner of the elections when tabulation was underway and warned of the consequences of the escalation of violence in the country.
Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane’s lawyer, Elvino Dias, and Paulo Guambe, head of the Podemos party, which supports Mondlane, were shot dead in the centre of the capital, Maputo, on the 18th, prompting Mondlane’s initial call for a shutdown to evolve into a call for street demonstrations.
Lusa
