Mozambique: Minister promises ‘great effort’ to avoid strikes by judges

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Mozambique: Minister promises ‘great effort’ to avoid strikes by judges

6:10 CAT | 15 Aug 2024

Photo: Ministério da Justiça, Assuntos Constitucionais e Religiosos

Mozambique’s justice minister said on Wednesday that she would make a “very great effort” to avoid strikes by judges and magistrates, classes that have presented the government with demands for improvements and financial independence.

“As far as the government is concerned, in the terms agreed with the magistrates, we are going to make a very big effort so that there is no room for these strikes,” said the minister of justice, constitutional and religious affairs, Helena Kida, on the sidelines of the 9th Coordinating Council of the Ministry, which is taking place in Maputo province.

At issue are the demands submitted to the government by the Mozambican Association of Public Prosecutors (AMMMP) on 17 July, demanding autonomy and financial independence, salary improvements and security for the class, and by Mozambique’s Association of Judges, which suspended the strike previously scheduled for 9 August as a result of the government’s openness to dialogue.

Helena Kida said that the decisions of the magistrates and judges show “confidence” due to the “advances” in the negotiation process.

“The government will not and cannot disappoint the trust that has been placed in us. It’s true, and I’ve always said that most solutions aren’t made overnight (…) But we need to start creating the conditions for these constraints to be removed,” she said, emphasising that, as far as the government is concerned, “there will be no more strikes”.

The Mozambican government announced on 2 August that it was negotiating with judges and magistrates to avoid stoppages.

“There is a team negotiating with both classes […] I believe that the government will be able to appreciate and resolve these problems better,” Justino Ernesto Tonela, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, told Lusa.

The magistrates are demanding financial independence, improvements in salaries, and security for professionals in the profession. The judges are complaining about an alleged “depreciation of their status” and flaws in the application of the New Salary Scale (TSU), which has been strongly contested by other professional classes, such as doctors and teachers, who have even called strikes in protest at salary delays and cuts.

Approved in 2022 to eliminate asymmetries and keep the state wage bill under control, the start of the TSU caused salaries to skyrocket by around 36%, from an expenditure of 11.6 billion meticais/month (€169 million/month) to 15.8 billion meticais/month (€231 million/month).

According to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) document released in January, the TSU cost around 28.5 billion meticais (€410 million), “more than expected.” The document evaluated Mozambique’s assistance programme.

Source: Lusa