Mozambique police investigating José Macuane attack

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique police investigating José Macuane attack

12:26 CAT | 26 May 2016

Voa / Inácio Dina, spokesman to PRM

The Mozambique police are investigating the attack on academic and commentator José Macuane.

Police General Command spokesman Inacio Dina said an investigation was launched as soon as the incident was reported.

“The police acted immediately, and we believe that our colleagues in the field will soon have something to report,” Dina told VOA.

Macuane was abducted yesterday at Coop, one of Maputo’s most prestigious neighbourhoods, and later shot in the legs and dumped in Marracuene, more than 20 kilometres away.

Climate of fear

According to information from family members, the individuals who kidnapped Macuane told the academic that they had been sent to teach him a lesson and leave him disabled.

The case is seen in Maputo circles as the continuation of the silencing of voices critical of the government, as a result Mucuane’s commentary in the “Pontos de Vista” STV programme.

Celestino Joanguente, researcher and communications consultant, says the situation makes the mere act of commenting on or analyzing governance a risky activity, and will deter some from doing so.

Joanguente confirms that “a climate of fear has taken hold,” and has no doubt that it will result in the “indifference that is perhaps desired by the system or the individuals behind it”.

The researcher points out that “this is bad, because a vital society exists in its differences of thoughts and ideas”.

No crime forgotten

Yesterday, after visiting his colleague in hospital, journalist Fernando Lima told VOA that “the worst decision would be to retreat,” because “this would mean victory for these cowards”.

As for the police announcement of an investigation, many are skeptical, on the grounds that the police have not obtained results in similar cases such as the murders of Franco-Mozambican academic Gilles Cistac and journalist Paulo Machava.

But Dina says that talk of tardiness is unjustified, because progress “depends on the nature of the case”.

Asked about the poor image the absence of results is giving the police, Dina said that “at no time [had] the police stopped working on solving a crime … no crime is forgotten”.

Source: Voa portugues