Mozambique: President accuses rival of ‘dictatorship’ in demanding protests

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Mozambique: President accuses rival of ‘dictatorship’ in demanding protests

10:47 CAT | 28 Feb 2025

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File photo: Lusa

The president of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, on Thursday criticised the successive calls by his main rival in last October’s presidential elections, Venâncio Mondlane, for people to bang pots and wear black clothes to protest against the official results of the vote, saying that these represent a “dictatorship” and limitations on freedom.

“In a democratic country there can be no dictatorship, where we force people to do things they can’t do, like ordering people to wear black clothes every day, ordering people to bang pots every day or at the time they want,” Chapo said. “Then there’s no freedom, it’s dictatorship.”

Since October, Mondlane has called a series of demonstrations and stoppages to contest the official results of the elections, calling for – among other actions – the honking of horns, the use of vuvuzelas, whistles, pots and pans, and the wearing of black clothes in protest, to press for what he says would be the restoration of the “electoral truth” in place of what he alleges is massive fraud by the authorities under the Frelimo government.

At a news conference in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country, to take stock of his three-day working visit to that region, Chapo – who was the Frelimo candidate in the elections – once again called for an end to the “violent, illegal and criminal” protests, saying that they are destroying the country.

“We have seen terror in the city of Xai-Xai [in Gaza province], in Inhambane province, a little in Maputo city, where they force people to make prices for goods that they have no idea how much the goods cost people during their purchases, which doesn’t allow people to make the prices they dictate, because it really is a dictatorship,” he said.

He once again appealed to the conscience of Mozambicans, arguing that “you don’t build a country by destroying your own country” despite the continued divergence of political opinions.

“Burning a school, which is the people’s asset, a health centre, the Republic of Mozambique’s medicine centre, burning roads with tyres and the next day they have potholes and want to demonstrate again, claiming that the road has potholes, and they forgot that they were burning tyres on the roads,” Chapo said.

Since October, Mozambique has been wracked by widespread social unrest, amid demonstrations many of which have been called by Mondlane. Though now on a smaller scale, the protests have continued to take place across the country with people complaining about both the election results and the rising cost of living and other social problems.

Since October, at least 353 people have died in the protests, including around two dozen minors, and around 3,500 have been injured during the protests, according to the Plataforma Eleitoral Decide, a non-governmental organisation that monitors electoral processes.

The government has acknowledged at least 80 deaths, as well as the destruction of 1,677 commercial establishments, 177 schools and 23 health centres during the demonstrations.

Source: Lusa