The Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, has warned that the demonstrations that have been taking place for more than 30 days in Mozambican could jeopardise the payment of civil service salaries, pointing out that the protests are already creating an oscillation in the process of collecting tax revenue.
According to the head of state, the situation could affect teachers, nurses and professionals in other areas crucial to the country’s development, while also lamenting the deaths that have been occurring as part of the demonstrations called by Podemos presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.
Speaking during a meeting with academics, Nyusi said that there are organisations that are taking the law into their own hands for supporting the protesters against the election results, stressing that in the future, it is necessary to ‘think about stabilising the electoral legislation, to prevent the electoral package from being revised every time elections are held’.
He said that the early proclamations of victory in the elections by some candidates is one of the reasons that led to the demonstrations, which were previously seen as non-violent. ‘Venâncio Mondlane’s communication did not tend to orientate towards peaceful demonstrations. By saying that we have to demonstrate in certain places, it’s instigating violence,’ he said.
Recently, the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) called the press to report on the impact of the stoppages, revealing that the trade, catering, logistics and transport sectors were the most affected, with total losses and the impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) totalling close to 24.8 billion meticals (2.2% of GDP).
‘These losses jeopardise the achievement of the 5.5% economic growth target for this year,’ said the association’s president, Agostinho Vuma, after a meeting he held with businesspeople to outline recovery strategies. He continued: ‘Regarding the impact of the demonstrations, the most prominent form has been the vandalisation of business units, with around 150 already affected throughout the country, 80% of which in the city and province of Maputo.’
The head of the CTA, Agostinho Vuma, explained that the vandalisations have cost around 2.8 billion meticals (45.5 million dollars), and directly put more than 1,200 jobs at risk due to the level of vandalisation to which they have been subjected.
On Monday 2 December, the presidential candidate announced another week of peaceful demonstrations across the country, scheduled to take place between 4 and 11 December. Dubbed the ‘Four by Four Period’, the initiative is part of the fourth stage of a series of protests promoted by the politician and will be concentrated in neighbourhoods in different regions.
Mondlane stressed that the aim is to mobilise society widely and propose symbolic actions, including the suspension of flights to Mozambique as a sign of protest. According to the candidate, the demonstrations are organised to allow the population to travel to work until 8am, and between 8am and 3.30pm all activities involving motorised vehicles should be suspended.
‘We want only pedestrians to move through the streets, and participants without vehicles should wear placards on their clothes, while those with vehicles should pin messages to their cars,’ Mondlane explained during a live stream on his official Facebook page.
