Mozambique: Lots of rubbish still to be collected in Maputo - Noticias
FILE - Manuel Chang has been in Johannesburg since his arrest in December 2018 on a United States warrant. [File photo: AFP]
Mozambican civil society says South Africa has proven that its judiciary is independent of political interference through the case of Manuel Chang, a corruption-accused former finance minister of Mozambique.
Chang, 66, was a central figure in Mozambique’s biggest government corruption scandal, which included senior government employees, ministers and the political elite. It was dubbed “the hidden debt scandal”, involving R32 billion.
Chang has been in Johannesburg since his arrest in December 2018 on a United States warrant.
In November last year, a SA high court ruled that Chang be extradited to the US to face fraud and money laundering charges.
However, the Mozambican government launched an appeal against the extradition – and it was dismissed, with costs, on Tuesday.
In an interview with News24, Denise Namburete, the executive director of N’weti, a Mozambican development communication organisation, said Mozambican politicians miscalculated their reach.
N’weti is part of Mozambican non-governmental organisation, Fórum de Monitoria do Orçamento (FMO).
She said: “Mozambican politicians are trying to influence South Africa, but they didn’t foresee the independence of the SA legal system from politics. That’s why the process has been taking this long”.
FMO launched a court application in May 2019 for SA to overturn then Justice Minister Michael Masutha’s decision to extradite Chang to Mozambique.
Mozambican authorities want Chang to stand trial back home, while the US justice system is also interested in him.
Civil society in Mozambique argues that, if extradited back home, Chang could escape with a “slap on the wrist”, along with other co-accused, like ex-president Armando Guebuza’s son, Ndambi, and senior ruling party members.
With Mozambique still interested in having Chang, Namburete said the latest development was just a small victory for FMO.
“It’s a small win for FMO, in the sense that it is a procedural win. Mozambique can still submit its appeal to the Constitutional Court once it has gone through the Supreme Court, so there still has a long way to go before resolution,” she said.
The Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network views the latest development as a “momentous victory for the promotion and protection of good governance”.
“We urge the South African government to respect the rule of law and its international obligations, and to abide by the decision of the courts in ensuring the extradition of Manuel Chang to the United States in order for him to stand trial,” the organisation said.
According to the World Bank, the hidden debt scandal plunged Mozambique into an economic downturn.
Growth was reported to have halved from 7.7% in 2000–2016, and to 3.3% in 2016–2019.
The metical (local currency) depreciated as inflation surged to 17.4% by the end of 2016, and fiscal space narrowed markedly.
Foreign Direct Investment dried up as international investors lost confidence.
Last month, though, the International Monetary Fund, for the first time in six years, resumed support for Mozambique.
By Lenin Ndebele
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