Mozambique: Former presidential candidate wants police ‘sentenced’ by populace – Lusa

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Mozambique: Former presidential candidate wants police ‘sentenced’ by populace – Lusa

7:54 CAT | 22 Jan 2025

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

Former Mozambican presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane wants the people to set themselves up as an “autonomous court” and issue “judgements” against the police without the intervention of the authorities, citing the “macabre wave” of “summary executions”.

The position appears in a document, released on Tuesday, which he calls a “decree”, with 30 measures for the next 100 days, one of which Venâncio Mondlane, who signs it, states that “it is up to the people, the victims, to establish themselves as an autonomous court that issues judgements to stop the macabre wave of the UIR, GOE and Sernic”, referring to units of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique that he accuses of “incessant flurry of summary executions”.

“Faced with the complete inertia and silence of the authorities of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique [Frelimo], who have disrespected the people’s right to choose who governs by stealing votes. What institution would the people turn to if not themselves in the form of self-protection?” reads the document, in which Venâncio Mondlane cites the “right to an equitable reaction for defence” and calls on the members of these police forces “to reveal the perpetrators of summary executions” so that “the people’s court can pass sentence”.

Although the document doesn’t say it this way, on Friday, in an intervention on his official Facebook account, Venâncio Mondlane called for the application of the so-called “Law of Talion” from the Bible.

“Every member of the population murdered by a member of the UIR [Rapid Intervention Unit] is automatically paid for by the same coin, that member of the UIR is also wiped out of existence, he goes to hell (…) Call me an agitator, call me whatever you want, the people are being killed, they’re being kidnapped, that’s how it’s going to be,” he said.

In the document released today, in which he presents other “government measures” for the next 100 days from what he describes as the “Office of the President-Elect”, Venâncio Mondlane, who does not recognise the proclaimed results of the general elections of 9 October, which gave victory to Daniel Chapo – already sworn in as the fifth President of Mozambique on 15 January – demands the “immediate cessation of the violence” of the UIR “towards the population and the silent genocide carried out” by the police forces.

According to organisations on the ground, such as the electoral platform Decide, in three months of post-election demonstrations, since 21 October, 314 people have died and 633 have been shot, with more than 4,100 detainees reported.

“The unconditional release of all those detained as part of the demonstrations” is another of the measures Venâncio Mondlane called for, as well as “medical assistance and medication for the injured at no cost” to the victims, or “compensation for the relatives” of those killed in the demonstrations with 200,000 meticais (3,000 euros).

The “extension of the non-payment of all tolls”, “free” access to water, a 50% reduction in the price of domestic gas and electricity and the setting of a price of 300 meticais ( €4.50) for a 50-kilogram bag of cement – claiming that the same product is sold more expensively in Mozambique than in neighbouring countries – are all on the list.

Other measures include the “end of illicit collections” made by police officers, commonly known, he recalls, as “refreshment”, the “suspension of the requirement to inspect vehicles”, the “free” issuing of basic identification documents, and VAT exemption on basic products such as corn flour, rice, horse mackerel, oil, bread, sugar, and salt.

He also wants the “de-partisanship of the entire civil service”, tax exemptions for small and medium-sized businesses, the “closure” of extraction and production units considered to be “enemies of the environment” and a “business recovery fund”, due to the impacts of the post-election demonstrations, which degenerated into violence and looting, worth 500 million dollars (480 million euros).

He also wants a $600 million (€576 million) fund for women’s and youth entrepreneurship, and assumes that a competition is underway to “present Mozambique’s new flag”, which has already received “more than 3,000 proposals”.

The last of the 30 measures, five more than he had demanded on Friday and which he says are all “mandatory” for public and private institutions, is dedicated to “completing the elections” in a month, with the “establishment of people’s institutions from the bottom up”, referring to the election of block leaders, neighbourhood secretaries, local and district administrators, positions that already exist today.

Source: Lusa