INAE stops 200-guest wedding party:”We work with the marriage registers” – O Pais

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INAE stops 200-guest wedding party:”We work with the marriage registers” – O Pais

3:11 CAT | 08 Mar 2021

Photo: O País

The National Inspection of Economic Activities (INAE) on Sunday interrupted a wedding party with about 200 people in the Costa do Sol area in Maputo. Participants contested the decision, some rebuking the police for stopping the party.

The plan was almost perfect, on the day when the new Situation of Public Disaster decree came into force. A quiet area in Costa do Sol was the place chosen by the family to celebrate Joaquim and Helena’s marriage while at the same time circumventing the Situation of Public Disaster decree.

‘O País’ has access to images showing guests seated without obeying the social distance, though when our reporting team arrived at the venue, they were already dispersing, and even the newlyweds trying to leave.

Despite the INAE presence, many guests wanted to finish the meal at the richly decorated tables. With the authorities pressing those present to leave, some carried on eating outside.

Ivone Boaventura did not like the authorities’ attitude. “Why are you interrupting the party. Do we have to eat while walking around?” the annoyed and expectant lady demanded to know. “We are not allowed to have a party, we already know, but why then do the police not stop buses that are full? Since the disease started, buses have been crowded with people, and there were not so many of us here,” she complained.

Filipe, another guest, also disagreed, saying the authorities were operating double standards. “If we look into it, the authorities will not act in the same way for these types of situations. There are cases of crowds in the streets, but we do not see the police or the INAE there. But because we are here to celebrate, along they come and interrupt the party. It’s not fair!” he argued.

The father of the groom said that all conditions had been met to avoid contamination. “In fact, the wedding was yesterday (Saturday), and today (Sunday) was the reception. But because the authorities forbid it, we have to stop everything. Our idea was for each one to help themselves to food and then find a corner to eat. People only sat at the tables because we were praying,” Ismael Joaquim explained.

Some guests became angry when the police tried to impose order, and one of the two police officers lost his temper when his authority was called into question by one of the young men. He even brandished his weapon, but the young man was undeterred, and calm was restored only through the intervention of the INAE delegate.

“Two hundred is a lot of people in a context where parties are prohibited. What happens is that people choose out-of-the-way places like this to organise this type of ceremony. They know it is forbidden, but they try to circumvent the authorities,” INAE delegate Egas Mazivila explained.

“But we know what these people do, so we work with the marriage registers to find out about the couples’ plans and to catch this type of situation,” he said.

In the end, the party ended before the cake was cut or gifts exchanged, and the family had to dismantle the party structures under the watchful eye of the authorities.

By Raúl Massingue