Mozambique: The protests, the damage, the long-standing issues and the ‘new data’

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Mozambique: The protests, the damage, the long-standing issues and the ‘new data’

1:03 CAT | 07 Feb 2025

File photo: AFP

From difficulties paying the 13th salary to problems with the state budget, nowadays it seems that almost everything is the fault of the post-election protests in Mozambique. Is that really the case?

This month, state employees and agents should receive half of their 2024 ’13th salary’.

The payment is a concession, after the previous government, led by Filipe Nyusi, had announced that it was unable to pay the 13th salary, due to the post-election protests. In fact, before leaving power, Nyusi warned that blockades caused by the demonstrations would affect state revenue.

The Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) said yesterday that the protests that followed the general elections of October 2024 “almost killed” 40% of the industrial sector.

Economist Egas Daniel confirms that the protests “have severely damaged the state’s ability to pay even normal salaries, let alone the 13th-month bonus”.

Fires.dw_ — *FILE A medicine warehouse on fire during protests in Maputo, on December 25, 2024 [File photo: Jaime Álvero/DW]*

“If we look at the figures from the finance minister, who says that 42 billion meticais were lost in the last quarter due to post-election tension, this figure is significantly high [and] does limit the state’s ability to make normal payments,” Daniel indicated.

However, the economist warns that the post-election protests cannot be held entirely to blame.

Long-standing problems

Egas Daniel recalls that the Mozambican government has been facing difficulties in paying salaries since the introduction of the Single Salary Table in 2022, with delays and salary cuts having been recorded. “This had not yet been overcome,” the economist says, and “the problems continued in subsequent years”.

“In other words, the problem of paying the 13th salary would have existed even without the situation of the demonstrations, in the way they happened.”

In fact, in 2022, the 13th salary was not paid. And in 2023, the payment was made only in an amount corresponding to 30% of the base salary, which would have been transferred in two tranches.

Looking for ‘scapegoats’

Political analyst Aly Caetano also disputes that the demonstrations are the main reason for the state’s difficulties in honouring its commitments to public servants.

“In general, the Mozambican government has accustomed us to it always finding a scapegoat for not fulfilling its obligations,” says Caetano. “Note that we grew up hearing that Mozambique did not grow because of the 16-year war, later we heard that it was because of Covid-19, then we heard that it was because of terrorism, then we heard that it was because of the damage caused by the cyclones.”

Aly Caetano points to a deeper problem embedded in the Mozambican state. “In general, Mozambique is experiencing a crisis because it does not produce, coupled with the fact that we have a state with a large deficit in revenue collection due to corruption,” he says.

“This whole scenario means that the state is unable to fulfil the provision of social services, such as education, health, justice.”

Something ‘good’ about the protests: new data

The protests brought at least one other thing: more information about the intricacies of the institutions, notes Caetano. In addition to the difficulties related to salaries, Mozambicans have now learned about other issues for which there was no accountability. Last November, for example, the Tax Authority announced losses estimated at around 4.5 billion meticais (more than €67 million) as a result of three days of blockades at the Ressano Garcia border.

“If the government is in fact able to collect so many millions at the Ressano Garcia border, the question is where does the money go?” asks the political analyst.

“Despite the existence of the Right to Information law, almost everything in Mozambique is treated as a state secret. Now, with the protests, we are hearing about many other things.”

Source: Deutsche Welle