Mozambican transport operators block Ponta do Ouro border – Watch | AIM report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambican transport operators block Ponta do Ouro border – Watch | AIM report

8:07 CAT | 15 Feb 2023

Photo: O País

Mozambican transport operators on Tuesday morning blockaded the Ponta de Ouro border post between Mozambique and the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal.

According to a report by the independent television station STV, no vehicles with South African number plates were allowed to cross the border in either direction. Discussions with the authorities to end the blockade were under way by late morning.

The blockade was in retaliation for the burning of vehicles with Mozambican number plates by South African mobs.

Despite talks between the Mozambican and South African governments, the situation worsened over the weekend, when two more vehicles with Mozambican plates, one of them a passenger bus, travelling on the Maputo-Durban route, were set on fire in KwaZulu-Natal. This brought to nine the number of vehicles attacked and set ablaze.

According to a source, cited in Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Notícias”, the situation occurs at a time when the communities of Mbazwana and Hluhluwe, in KwaZulu-Natal, are waiting for the Mozambican and South African authorities to solve their concerns, about the alleged theft of vehicles, which are trafficked into Mozambique. The car theft is the sole excuse cited for the attacks against Mozambican vehicles.

The latest attacks have occurred despite the assurances given by Mozambican Foreign Minister, Veronica Macamo, that the government is working with its South African counterpart to investigate the case of vehicles set on fire.

Last week, the Minister of the Interior, Arsénia Massingue, and her South African counterpart, Bheki Cele, held a meeting aimed at discussing cross-border crimes, as well as the wave of attacks perpetrated against Mozambican vehicles.

Most Mozambican operators had suspended travel along the Maputo-Durban route after the first attacks by South African criminal mobs.

“But one of the operators started using the route again, as it was believed that the situation was under control, thanks to the meetings between the authorities to solve the dilemma”, said the chairperson of the Maputo Downtown International Carriers Association, Frederico Ambrósio, who confirmed the attacks.

To discuss the situation, representatives of the owners of the vehicles destroyed in South Africa hope to be received by the Mozambican Government

“The hearing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was previously scheduled for yesterday [Monday], but it was postponed for today [Tuesday], so that the representative of the last burned vehicle can be part of the meeting”, said Mamad Daud, spokesperson for the group.

He added that the transporters will no longer travel through Ponta de Ouro to Durban. Instead, they will cross the border at Goba, and travel via Eswatini, although this is a much longer and more expensive route.

Watch the Miramar report.