Mozambique Elections: STAE employees demand overdue pay

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Mozambique Elections: STAE employees demand overdue pay

2:39 CAT | 05 Dec 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: DW]

District members of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) are demanding three months of outstanding pay. A deputy director denounces threats and intimidation over the demand.

The crisis at the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) in Mozambique is intensifying, with district employees on strike and demanding payment of three months of unpaid ‘subsidies’ nationwide.

The critical situation has led to the threat of more radical actions, especially in Kachamanculo district, Maputo city, where employees have promised to camp out at the home of the president of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) if the situation is not resolved.

In an interview with DW, Stélio Machava, deputy director of STAE in Kachamanculo, says that members of the secretariat are being threatened and intimidated.

DW Africa: Why are STAE district employees on strike?

Stelio Machava (SM): We have always had our allowances – which, in other words, are salaries. We are support agents for the electoral bodies, and I speak not only for myself as deputy director of STAE in the Kachamanculo district, but also vice-presidents, heads of departments, assistants, a whole list of these people. Here in the city of Maputo, I am talking about an estimated 336 [people] representing seven districts.

DW Africa: How many months are we talking about in debt?

SM: These are the amounts for the months of October and November, when we were not paid, and now we are in December. This year, that is three months. From last year, we still haven’t received our thirteenth salary.

DW Africa: What does STAE say when you try to talk?

SM: When we complained – peacefully – the CNE spokesperson, Mr. [Paulo] Cuinica, said that our money is being processed. But we have submitted all the paperwork to the tax authorities, and [the workers] of the department that deals with the amounts that should have been deposited in our bank accounts have all been replaced.

DW Africa: What happened for them to be replaced?

SM: We said that this is very strange. How can people be replaced and not give us an answer and remain silent? What worries me is that there was a budget for the start of the process. Given that the budget was approved, with which they said they could hire people to provide the services, what is the problem with making the payment now?

DW Africa: Is the lack of payment occurring at a national level?

SM: The lack of payment is occurring at a national level. The trainers who provided training to the polling station staff have not yet been paid.

DW: What is the justification for the lack of payment?

SM: When we outline a project and say that the project should start and we are going to hire some people to work, it is because there are already funds, right? And if we go to STAE and try to find out what is happening, they say ‘we do not have any approval from the CNE’.

DW: As part of your protests, are you planning to camp outside the house of the president of the National Electoral Commission?

SM: They said that anyone who sets foot in the premises would be shot with a real bullet. That will not intimidate us. We have another way of acting. Do you not want to pay us? That is fine, we have another plan, which we will not announce here, but we know how to get there and how it will be resolved.

READ: Mozambique Elections: CNE acknowledges delay in payment of subsidies – Notícias

Mozambique Elections: District Commissions claim subsidies – Notícias report

Source: Deutsche Welle