Matavel murder: Mayor among those accused – AIM report

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Matavel murder: Mayor among those accused – AIM report

9:36 CAT | 17 Dec 2019

File photo: DW

The mayor of the southern Mozambican town of Chibuto, Henrique Machava, is one of the suspects in the murder, on 7 October, of civil society and election observation activist Anastacio Matavel, in Xai-Xai, capital of Gaza province.

On 15 November, the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) announced that eight people have been accused, and the case has now been submitted to the Gaza provincial court. This statement did not name the accused, but the latest issue of the independent weekly “Savana” fills in the blanks, naming Machava as the most prominent of the accused.

Matavel was Executive Director of the Forum of NGOs of Gaza province (FONGA), and was Gaza focal point for the election observation coalition, known as the Sala da Paz (Peace Room). He was gunned down in broad daylight after opening an election observation training session in Xai-Xai.

The assassins failed to make a clean getaway. They were chased by a police car, and as they tried to speed out of Xai-Xai, their car crashed with two other vehicles. Two of the killers died in the crash, and two others, one of them seriously injured, were taken into police custody. The fifth made his escape and is on the run, with a warrant out for his arrest. All of them turned out to be members of the police force.

With most of the assassins dead or in custody, the police came clean, and admitted that the death squad consisted of police officers.

The two assassins in custody, Edson Silica and Euclidio Mapalasse, are among the eight accused. So are the Gaza commander of the UIR (Rapid Intervention Unit – the Mozambican riot police), Alfredo Macuacua, and the Gaza head of the police Special Operations Group (GOE), Tudela Guirrugo.

According to a report in late October in the independent newssheet, “Carta de Mocambique”, Mapulasse, questioned by an investigating magistrate, said that Guirrugo, had given the order “to take Matavel out of circulation” on 19 September.

Machava has been implicated because the car used in the murder is registered in his name. Machava admits that he did own the car, a Toyota Marx X, with the number plate ADE 127 MC, but says he sold it in August. It was still registered in his name, because the new owner had not finished paying for it.

Machava imported the car from Japan in 2014. He paid 302,434.57 meticais (4,726 US dollars, at current exchange rates), taxes and duties included, for the car. “Savana” checked with the Maputo Automobile Register and found that, on 7 October, the day of the murder, the car was still registered in the name of Machava.

Machava sold the car to a man named Ricardo Amone Manganhe, who currently works in the education sector of Chibuto Municipal Council, and is thus one of Machava’s subordinates. Manganhe told reporters he lent the Toyota to one of the murderers who claimed he needed a vehicle for “a family emergency”.

He told the newssheet “Carta de Mocambique” that he bought the car from Machava for 250,000 meticais. He had paid 200,000 and there was just 50,000 meticais owing to conclude the deal. In the meantime, he continued using the records of the car in the name of its previous owner.

Manganhe said he lent the car to UIR agent Nobrega Chauque, who was a childhood friend. Chauque said he needed a car to deal with a “family emergency”. On 5 October, two days before the murder, Manganhe handed the car over to Chauque, who promised to return it on 7 October. Chauque never returned the car – he was one of the death squad members who died in the 7 October crash.

Manganhe said this was not the first time he had lent the car to Chauque, but he never imagined that his old friend would use the car for criminal activities.

Now Manganhe has been accused of the murder, along with Machava. The other two men accused, Januario Rungo and Justino Muchanga are members of the UIR. Muchanga is in charge of the armoury in the UIR Gaza barracks.

According to sources in the Gaza Provincial Court, cited by “Savana”, Muchanga is accused of taking the guns used in the assassination from the armoury.

The killer who fled the scene of the accident, Agapito Matavele, is not on the list of eight people accused by the PGR. Because his whereabouts are unknown, the prosecutors have opted to open a second, autonomous case file against him.

Source: AIM