Maputo, 16 Oct (AIM) – Venancio Mondlane, the independent candidate in last Wednesday’s presidential election, has called a general strike, to begin next Monday, in protest at the “false results” announced by the Mozambican election management bodies.
Mondlane has declared himself the winner of the election, although on Tuesday the Public Prosecutor’s Office warned him that such claims are criminal.
In a “communication to the nation” published over his own social media, Mondlane said “the time has come to announce to the entire Mozambican people, the next step. We shall begin on Monday. At zero hours we shall set in motion a national general strike”.
This, he said, would involve “paralyzing all public and private activity from the Rovuma to the Maputo” (the two rivers marking the northern and southern boundaries of the country).
During the day, he added, his supporters should display posters to repudiate what he called “the dictatorship installed in the country 50 years ago”.
Such a general strike is likely to be regarded as illegal, since only bodies such as trade unions have the recognized power to call workers out on strike.
Mondlane said that, in its Tuesday statement condemning his supposedly illegal and unconstitutional behavior, the Attorney-General’s Office did not cite any specific law or article in the constitution he is supposed to have violated.
He asked why he had received a summons from the PGR, while it had paid no attention to the illegalities committed by the ruling Frelimo Party. He mentioned, for example, Frelimo’s illegal use of state-owned vehicles during the election campaign.
Mondlane has now left Maputo and flown to the northern city of Nampula, where he was received by a large crowd of supporters (although the motive for his travel was supposed to be personal).
(AIM)
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