Businesspeople are leaving Mozambique over kidnapping fears

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Businesspeople are leaving Mozambique over kidnapping fears

6:42 CAT | 02 Dec 2023

The wave of kidnappings once again plaguing the Mozambican capital is affecting investment and leading to the departure of business people, says the vice-president of the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), Prakash Prehlad.

“There is no doubt that the kidnapping environment worries us, as something that is holding back investment, because investors want a climate conducive to investment,” Prakash Prehlad told Lusa on the sidelines of an official event in Pemba, Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.

Without giving an exact number, Prehlad admitted that fear was driving businesspeople to leave the country, putting the economy at risk.

“We have several businesspeople outside the country who are waiting for better days,” he added.

Prehlad said that police authorities must redefine strategies to stop the spate of kidnappings. “We have to reverse this situation. Reversing this situation means that our police, and at the level of the Ministry of the Interior, must reposition themselves, adopting new techniques so that this page can be turned once and for all,” he explained.

Maputo has for a few weeks now been experiencing a new wave of kidnappings, especially of businesspeople, with two Portuguese-Mozambicans targeted in the last month and suspicions again surfacing of agents linked to the police investigation being involved in crimes of this type.

On Wednesday (29-11), President Nyusi recognized the need to strengthen the competence of the Mozambican police so that citizens could carry out their normal activities in “complete security”, and without fear of kidnapping.

“We want citizens to be able to carry out their productive activities in a completely safe environment, and for investors to feel safe launching their entrepreneurial initiatives without fear of robberies, kidnappings or loss of property,” Filipe Nyusi said after the opening of the Ministry of the Interior coordinating council in Maputo.

Wave of kidnappings

A Portuguese-Mozambican businessman was shot and wounded by unknown individuals who tried to kidnap him in the centre of Maputo on Monday, a crime thwarted by the intervention of the population.

“Four men armed with a pistol and an AKM gun tried to kidnap a shopkeeper in the city of Maputo early on Monday night, but due to the victim’s resistance and the intervention of members of the public, he ended up shot in the leg,” Maputo police spokesperson in Maputo Lionel Muchina said.

In another case, a group of three armed men kidnapped a 26-year-old Portuguese-Mozambican woman on the morning of November 1, as she left her home in Maputo.

Last week, six people were arrested for their alleged participation in an attempted kidnapping of Mozambican businessman Juneid Lalgy, on November 8, the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) had previously reported.

Sernic spokesperson for Maputo province, Henrique Mendes, reported that the six men rammed Lalgy’s vehicle in their attempt to kidnap him.

On November 17, a Mozambican businessman linked to the automobile sector was kidnapped in the city of Maputo by parties so far unidentified.

Source: Deutsche Welle