Mozambique: Vandalism is attack on rule of law, hampers development – president

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Mozambique: Vandalism is attack on rule of law, hampers development – president

3:02 CAT | 04 Feb 2025

Photo: @daniel_chapo24/X

The president of Mozambique on Tuesday called for an end to post-election demonstrations and argued that vandalism constitutes an “attack” on the democratic rule of law and slows down the country’s development.

“The destruction of private and public property that we have been witnessing all over the country has set our country back by many years, jeopardising the achievement of various goals and negatively impacting development as a nation (…). Such acts constitute an attack on the democratic rule of law and affect the rights of ordinary citizens who turn to the courts and the expectation of seeing the wounds of injustice healed,” said Daniel Chapo at the opening of the judicial year.

The head of state pointed out that it is the responsibility of justice institutions to defend the “fundamental rights of citizens”, with a view to achieving “social harmony”.

“The state we want to build must be based on social harmony, which doesn’t necessarily mean agreement in everything we do, it’s possible to disagree but to continue to live in harmony without resorting to the destruction of public and private assets that Mozambicans have spent so much sweat and scarce resources to acquire and build,” appealed the Mozambican president.

Daniel Chapo called for an end to the post-election violence and argued that it is the obligation of the judicial institutions to ensure that the law is applied with “serenity and fairness”, contributing to the pacification of Mozambican society.

In the same speech, the Mozambican president defended the financial autonomy of the judiciary as a ‘non-negotiable’ element of the democratic rule of law in which there is separation of powers.

“Within the framework of the independence of the judiciary, we fully agree with the idea of the financial autonomy of the judiciary, which must be seen as a fundamental prerequisite for guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary and ensuring that it can fulfil its constitutional functions efficiently and impartially,” Chapo argued.

“We will work towards establishing a framework of financial autonomy that is appropriate to our budgetary reality and our common aspirations in order to resolve, for example, the payment of the allowances of elected judges,” promised Chapo.

Mozambique’s Constitutional Council proclaimed Daniel Chapo, the candidate supported by the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), the winner of the presidential election, with 65.17 % of the vote, as well as the victory of Frelimo, which retained its parliamentary majority in the general elections on 9 October.

This announcement sparked chaos across the country, with supporters of Venâncio Mondlane – who, according to the Constitutional Council, won only 24 % of the vote – demonstrating in the streets, with barricades, looting and clashes with the police.

The contestation of the election results has already resulted in at least 315 deaths and around 750 gunshot wounds, according to civil society organisations.

Durante a abertura do Ano Judicial 2025, reiteramos a nossa posição quanto à necessidade de reforma do nosso Sistema Judicial e defendemos que se inicie uma reflexão conjunta e inclusiva. Que o Ano Judicial 2025 seja marcado por avanços na consolidação de um Poder Judicial… pic.twitter.com/pEURlogjTC

— Presidente Daniel Chapo (@daniel_chapo24) February 4, 2025