Mozambique: Attorney general hearing Venancio Mondlane over protests, unrest

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Mozambique: Attorney general hearing Venancio Mondlane over protests, unrest

12:48 CAT | 11 Mar 2025

File photo: Live screengrab / Venâncio Mondlane Facebook

Politician Venâncio Mondlane is being heard on Tuesday at the attorney general’s office in Maputo on one of the eight cases in which he is being targeted as part of the post-election protests and social unrest in Mozambique.

“My expectations aren’t that high,” said the former presidential candidate, speaking to journalists at Maputo airport on Monday, after a few days away from the country in Botswana, when asked about the summons to give evidence at the attorney general’s office, revealing at the time that he was aware that he was being targeted in eight cases.

Mondlane said he didn’t know which of the lawsuits he would be answering today, but declared himself ‘ready’ to answer and said that the aim of these lawsuits is to “intimidate, terrorise and frighten”.

On the other hand, Venâncio Mondlane recalled the various lawsuits and complaints he has submitted to the attorney general’s office (PGR) in recent months, including an alleged attempt on his life during the campaign for the general elections on 9 October, in which he ran for the Presidency of the Republic.

He also pointed to the complaint he filed with the PGR about 398 cases of “extreme violence” against members of his “political organisation”, including ‘40 deaths’, stressing that, so far, no development has been made in any of the cases, which is why he accused the institution of “partiality”.

The hearing at the PGR was scheduled for Monday, but at the politician’s request it was postponed until today, at 9am local time (two hours less in Lisbon).

The former presidential candidate has not made a public statement since last Wednesday, when Mozambican police fired to disperse a crowd following a convoy led by the politician, precipitating his escape from the scene.

During his absence from Mozambique, Mondlane claims to have held business meetings, namely with former Botswana President Ian Khama.

Mondlane guaranteed that “there was no reason to flee [the country]” and declared himself “available for anything to defend [the] people”.

On 22 November, the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office demanded €1.5 million in compensation for the damage caused by the demonstrations in Maputo province, in a new lawsuit against Mondlane and Podemos, the party that supported him until February of this year.

This was the second civil lawsuit of its kind to be announced, after another that the prosecutor’s office had filed with the Maputo City Court, only regarding damage in the capital, asking for compensation of 32,377,276.46 meticais ( €486,000).

On 27 January, the attorney general’s office announced the opening of proceedings, considering that Mondlane’s self-styled “presidential decree” subverts the principles of the democratic state.

At issue was a document signed and circulated by Mondlane at the time, entitled ‘decree’, published in the self-styled ‘Jornal do Povo’ (journal of the people), with 30 measures for 100 days, one of which stated that “it is up to the people, the victims, to set themselves up as an autonomous court that issues sentences to stop the macabre wave of the UIR, GOE and Sernic”, referring to units of the police forces that he accused of “incessant flurry of summary executions”.

For the attorney general’s office, “the publication of the alleged decree (…) constitutes a flagrant violation (…) of the Constitution of the Republic”.

Mondlane, named by the Constitutional Council as the second most voted in the 9 October presidential elections, is leading the biggest challenge to the election results Mozambique has seen since the first multiparty elections in 1994.

The vote gave victory to Daniel Chapo, who has already been sworn in as Mozambique’s fifth President.

Since the demonstrations began in October, at least 353 people have died as a result of clashes between police and demonstrators during the protests, according to Plataforma Decide, a non-governmental organisation that monitors the electoral process, while the government has confirmed 80 deaths.

Source: Lusa