Mozambique: Trucks again block the N4 highway to South Africa

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Mozambique: Trucks again block the N4 highway to South Africa

2:36 CAT | 10 Feb 2025

A truck blocks National Highway Number 4 (N4) during a demonstration in Maputo, Mozambique, February 10, 2025. Today, protesters blocked traffic on the EN4, the main road that connects central Maputo to South Africa, to protest against the rising cost of living in Mozambique. [Photo: Luisa Nhantumbo/Lusa]

Demonstrators once again restricted traffic on National Highway Number 4 (N4), the main road linking the centre of Maputo to South Africa, protesting against the rising cost of living in Mozambique.

“The situation is complicated. The cost of living is high and we are demonstrating to see if they will lower the prices of things,” Vitorino Mariano, one of the protesters, told Lusa from the point where the highway was blocked, 35 kilometres from the centre of Maputo.

The stretch of road, which has been blocked several times during post-election protests in recent months, was blocked at around 5:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. Lisbon time) by two cargo trucks. The Mozambican police arrived at the scene a few hours later to clear the road.

“People are taking to the streets to buy food and groceries. Things are really more expensive,” explained António André, a street vendor who had to walk several kilometres, as passenger transport was also restricted.

Throughout the early morning, the Mozambican police’s Rapid Intervention Unit tried to unblock the road under the watchful eye of dozens of people, but the truck drivers were not there, forcing other drivers who were trying to get through to the sidewalks. Still by late morning, there had been no shots fired.

“We will continue until things change and we will also have the same resistance that they had until 1975 [year of independence],” said protester Inácio Francisco.

Circulation.lusa_ — Police officers remove a truck used by protesters to block National Highway Number 4 (N4) in Maputo, Mozambique, February 10, 2025. Protesters today blocked traffic on the N4, the main road that connects central Maputo to South Africa, in protest against the rising cost of living in Mozambique. [Photo: Luisa Nhantumbo/Lusa]

Mozambique has been experiencing a climate of strong social unrest since October, with demonstrations and strikes called, first, by former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who rejects the election results that gave victory to Daniel Chapo, supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), the ruling party.

Currently, small-scale protests have been taking place in different parts of the country and, in addition to contesting the October 9 election results, people are protesting the rising cost of living and other social problems.

Since October, at least 327 people have died, including around two dozen minors, and around 750 have been shot during the protests, according to the electoral platform Decide, a non-governmental organization that monitors electoral processes in Mozambique.

Source: Lusa