Mozambique Elections: Maputo streets remain deserted – AIM report

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Mozambique Elections: Maputo streets remain deserted – AIM report

7:27 CAT | 11 Dec 2024

Photo: O País

The streets of central Maputo remained largely deserted on Tuesday morning, at the start of the seventh day of an eight day shutdown ordered by fugitive presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane.

Television crews showed that only a handful of vehicles were on the roads, and there was no sign at all of public transport buses and minibuses.

A municipal office used to collect local taxes lies in ruins on Milagre Mabote Avenue, in Maxaquene neighbourhood. Rioters had attacked the building and set it on fire on Monday afternoon. The independent television station STV showed that smoke is still rising from the smouldering wreck.

The remnants of barricades erected on Monday are still in place, and groups of young men are still extorting informal tolls from passing motorists.

The rioters shut down traffic on Monday as from 05.00, rather than 08.00 as demanded by Mondlane. This made it even more difficult for citizens to reach their workplaces, and many were resigned to walking long distances.

One of the excuses for the Monday shutdown was the report of a supposed attempt on Mondlane’s life. In a broadcast transmitted over his Facebook page, Mondlane claimed he had escaped assassination five times, giving fanciful tales of jumping out of windows and running through gardens.

He said that he had travelled 17,000 kilometres from the site of the latest murder attempt to his current hideout, the location of which he did not disclose. Mondlane has no idea about numbers or distances: 17,000 kilometres is the distance between London and Canberra, the capital of Australia.

But the lie served its purpose, in that it kept the rioters angry for a few more hours, contributing to the huge traffic jams that built up on the periphery of the city.

Despite promises by Interior Minister Pascoal Ronda that there would be “zero tolerance” for violent demonstrations, the police made no attempt to ensure the normal flow of traffic on either Monday or Tuesday.

It was clear that Mondlane’s devotees were in control of the main Maputo roads, and the authority of the Mozambican state had evaporated.

The situation was similar throughout the country. In the northern province of Cabo Delgado, Mondlane’s men were charging illegal tolls on any vehicle travelling between the two main cities, Pemba and Montepuez. According to passengers interviewed by STV, this increased the fare charged for a Pemba-Montepuez bus journey by a third, rising from 300 to 400 meticais (from five to 6.3 US dollars).

Source: AIM