Mozambique: Dispute over toll gates heading to Constitutional Court

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Mozambique: Dispute over toll gates heading to Constitutional Court

8:00 CAT | 02 Feb 2022

Image: Miramar

The Centre for Development and Democracy (CDD), the Mozambican civil society organization that has been leading a campaign against the toll gates installed on the Maputo Ring Road, says it will carry the struggle against the tolls to the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional law.

Last week, the CDD obtained an injunction from the Administrative Tribunal, which prevented the company that operates the Ring Road, Revimo, from collecting the tolls until the Tribunal reached a definitive decision on their legality.

But the government successfully appealed against the injunction, and on Monday the Tribunal gave the green light for Revimo to start collecting the tolls as from Tuesday.

Interviewed in Wednesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, CDD Executive Director Adriano Nuvunga said a battle had been lost, but not the war. The CDD and its allies now intend to collect the requisite 2,000 signatures to place the issue before the Constitutional Council.

The Administrative Tribunal and the Constitutional Council “are different courts, and they deal with different matters”, admitted Nuvunga. “In the Constitutional Council, the argument is whether the tolls are in line with the Constitution, while in the Administrative Tribunal what was in question was whether the tolls are reasonable”.

The Mozambican Constitution has nothing to say about how the upkeep of the country’s roads should be financed – so the CDD, Nuvunga said, will argue that the tolls infringe against freedom of movement.

It will also raise questions about the formation of Revimo. This takes the form of a private company, but all its shareholders are public bodies. Initially, the government’s Road Fund owned 100 per cent of Revimo, but last year the Fund sold off 30 per cent of the shares – 15 per cent to the National Social Security Institute (INSS) and 15 per cent to the Bank of Mozambique’s Pensions Fund.

Nuvunga also complained that the Administrative Tribunal has not even bothered to notify CDD of its decision to override the injunction. So the CDD did not yet know exactly why the Tribunal had changed its mind. The only justification given so far is that it was “in the public interest” to start collecting the tolls, as planned, on 1 February.

Nuvunga noted that the Tribunal had acted with extraordinary sped to quash the injunction, but it has hundreds of other cases pending which are not treated with any urgency at all. In particular, the Tribunal has not announced any decision with regard to the demand from the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) to hold financially responsible those public managers involved in the scandal of Mozambique’s “hidden debts”.

19 people are currently on trial before the Maputo City Court accused of crimes arising from the scandal. But criminal charges have not yet been brought against all those responsible for the debts, which amount to over two billion US dollars, lent by the banks Credit Suisse and VTB of Russia to the three fraudulent, security-related companies Proindicus, Ematum (Mozambique Tuna Company) and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management.p

Regardless of any prison terms that may be decided at the current trial, the PGR wants all those involved in the debts to pay the money back to the Mozambican state.

Nuvunga claimed that when the Tribunal acts rapidly in some cases, but drags its feet in others, this shows that “the judicial power is being towed behind political power”.

According to Revimo, the tolls will only pay for the maintenance of the Ring Road. It was built with a loan of 300 million dollars from the Exim Bank of China. Repayment of that loan is a matter for the Mozambican and Chinese governments, and is not in the public domain.

TOLLS ON MAPUTO RING ROAD

Acting against the law, Administrative Court suspends injunction and enables the business of the elite in power

Read more:https://t.co/1iWBpUhAPP pic.twitter.com/QR23IteyNQ

— CDD Moçambique (@CDD_Moz) February 1, 2022