Nyusi calls for dialogue with judges

Maputo, 31 Jul (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday called for dialogue as the way to find answers to the demands raised by the country’s judges, who are threatening to go on strike.

Speaking in Maputo after swearing into office a new member of the Supreme Court, Isabel Rupia, Nyusi said he “unconditionally” supports the independence of the judiciary. Financial independence is one of the main demands raised by the Mozambican Association of Judges (AMJ).

But the judges, and many other professionals in the public administration, are also angered by the new Unified Wage Table (TSU) which they believe has deprived them of privileges they once enjoyed.

Nyusi replied that “the wage restructuring under way in our country will require that all of us consent to sacrifices to correct the errors that may have been made”.

But he was confident that “we shall all advance together towards equitable wage justice”.

This is a far cry from the confident claims made by the government when the TSU was introduced in 2022 that nobody would suffer wage cuts.

Nyusi went beyond the AMJ’s demands, and criticized the resort to strike action in general. He believed that “paralyzing production and productivity in key sectors is not, and cannot be, the solution to wage demands”.

“Where there are disagreements, and we recognize that these exist, dialogue should be the only tool for building consensus”, he said.

Any other approach, he warned, would merely heighten tensions, and might worsen wage differentials in the public administration.

Addressing Rupia, Nyusi said he was sure that her profound knowledge of law, and her sensitivity to human questions, “will make you especially well prepared to contribute to the construction of a fairer and more efficient justice system, accessible to everybody”.

Before her current appointment, Rupia had been General Inspector of Justice and Assistant Attorney-General, she had also been the first General Director of the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC).

(AIM)

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