Dozens of transport workers stopped work today to protest against the collection of debts accumulated over recent months of strikes at the Maputo toll booths, reminding residents of the ‘ordeal’ of long journeys on foot during the post-election demonstrations.
‘This strike by chapas [passenger vans] reminds me of our ordeal during the demonstrations (…) I used to walk from Costa de Sol [a coastal neighbourhood in Maputo] to Matola 700 on foot [a journey of almost 30 kilometres],’ recalled Cristina Tembe, an auxiliary hospital worker in Maputo who was forced to walk through the toll gate today due to the lack of transport, in statements to Lusa.
The transporters’ demonstration, which began at 7 a.m. (one hour earlier in Lisbon) on National Road Number 4, mainly affected the connection between the cities of Maputo and Matola, a distance of almost 12 kilometres, forcing dozens of people to walk.
‘My hope now is to walk and catch a lift further ahead. If I can’t, I’ll have to walk for at least 30 minutes,’ Xavier Massingue, another resident, told Lusa moments after crossing the Maputo toll.
During the strike, some residents resorted to alternative routes to travel or even to private open-bed vehicles, popularly known as ‘My Love’, given the physical proximity with which passengers travel in the cargo box and the need to sometimes hug each other to avoid falling onto the road.
The Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) was deployed to the scene to prevent transporters from blocking the road (EN4), as they have done several times on other occasions during the demonstrations that have marked the country in recent months.
‘There is something very sad happening in our country. In everything that happens, the first people to arrive are the police. Sometimes it’s not the police we want to talk to. Just now, over there at the White House, the police used tear gas to disperse us, but we don’t want any trouble,’ driver “Samo-G” complained to Lusa, a few metres away from two police vehicles with heavily armed contingents.
The transporters are contesting the collection of accumulated debts from recent months, a period marked by post-election protests and the suspension of toll payments after a series of acts of vandalism.
‘We can’t take the blame for others. Not only the chapeiros [a term used to refer to passenger transport vans], but the state itself and the police themselves passed through there, so why are we the only ones getting fines?’ Joaquim Paulo, another transporter, asked Lusa.
The Maputo toll is the responsibility of South African company Trans African Concessions (TRAC), the concessionaire of the N4 road, which connects Maputo to the border with Ressano Garcia.
This is not the first time that the resumption of toll collection has caused confusion on the stretch between Maputo and Matola. On 23 January, TRAC resumed toll collection, also causing public unrest.
The resumption also led to protesters blocking access to the N4 to Maputo on 29 January, with protests that led to the vandalism of part of TRAC’s facilities near the Maputo tolls, including the destruction of two vehicles.
Since October, Mozambique has been experiencing a climate of strong social unrest, with demonstrations and strikes called by former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who rejects the results of the 9 October elections that gave victory to Daniel Chapo, already sworn in as President.
Since 21 October, when the protests began, almost 400 people have died in a series of clashes between demonstrators and the police, according to Plataforma Decide, a Mozambican non-governmental organisation that monitors the electoral process.
The Mozambican government has confirmed at least 80 deaths, as well as the destruction of 1,677 commercial establishments, 177 schools and 23 health facilities during the demonstrations.
On 23 March, Mondlane and Chapo met for the first time and committed to ending post-election violence in the country, although mutual criticism and accusations continue in the public statements of both politicians.
‘We just want peace now. We want peace and transport to get to work and back home. That’s all we’re asking of our leaders, nothing else,’ concludes Mozambican Cristina Tembe.
Lusa
