Post-electoral: Looted companies close, leaving over 12,000 Mozambicans unemployed
Mozambique: Road toll reduction is “a crumb given to the population” – Interview
4:14 CAT | 06 May 2025
FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: DW]
- In an interview with DW, Adriano Nuvunga, director of the CDD, demands the termination of the Revimo and TRAC concessions because they are “illegal and corrupt”, which serve “the [political] elites to extort the population on a daily basis”.
The reduction in toll prices in Mozambique, announced by the government and to come into effect on May 15, is not popular with civil society.
Adriano Nuvunga demands only one solution: the closure of the Revimo and TRAC concessionaires because they are “illegal and corrupt”, which serve “the [political] elites to extort the population on a daily basis”, which is already facing a deterioration in living conditions.
The activist and director of the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD) believes that the government’s measure “is a crumb” for the population that has protested so much in recent months.
And even with this decision, the riots continue to increase at toll booths, in the presence of the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR).
DW Africa: Is there any reason to celebrate the reduction in toll prices, one of the demands of the latest protests in Mozambique?
Adriano Nuvunga (AN): Of course not. There is no reason to celebrate. Tolls are illegal. They are a daily extortion that increases the cost of living for the population. Tolls have no reason to exist. They should and must be abolished so that the population can continue to bear the already high cost of living without these additional charges that are clearly illegal. They are an elitist scheme for the consumption of the elite and have nothing to do with the development of the country.
DW Africa: Is there any law that requires the government to provide clarifications about these contracts signed with the companies Revimo and TRAC?
AN: Clearly. The way in which all this came about clearly requires public consultations with clarifications on whether or not the establishment of these tolls was reasonable. This did not happen. The tolls were simply established with the corrupt establishment of these companies, in the way they were established through the stock exchange, clearly violating the law. So, it is one violation after another to set up this scheme, which is quite corrupt. And the Mozambican state, which is already charging citizens to pay for this infrastructure through Chinese investments, should explain why these additional charges are being made, which make life so expensive.
DW Africa: Are you saying that this reduction would only imply a reduction in the dividends of these political elites?
AN: That’s it. This reduction that was made is a crumb that is given to the population because this population took to the streets to protest. If you compare the time when the tolls were established and the situation today, you will see that there has been a terrible deterioration in the population’s living conditions. So, it was time to eliminate these tolls, which are already illegal in themselves, because they have no connection whatsoever with the governance and development of the country. They are an instrument that the elites have found to extort the population on a daily basis for their elitist consumption.
DW Africa: So, is the government pulling the wool over the population’s eyes, as the saying goes?
AN: Clearly, as it did with the price of fuel. It was announced that there would be a reduction, but in reality I don’t even know if they took anything away from it. That price structure is a corrupt structure for the consumption of the bosses, as they are doing here again.
DW Africa: But there were also cases of violence, right?
AN: Yes, there was an increase in the police force that went there to scare people. Today, for example, the TRAC toll was impassable because the UIR was there to intimidate people who could not afford to pay the toll.
Source: Deutsche Welle
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