Maputo, 1 Nov (AIM) – Mozambique’s independent presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane, has insisted on a continued wave of anti-government demonstrations over the coming week.
Broadcasting over his Facebook page, from an undisclosed location, Mondlane said the seven days of demonstrations had begun on Thursday and would culminate next Thursday, 7 November, in a “march on Maputo”.
Mondlane is believed to be in South Africa, but some of his opponents claim that he has fled to Europe and plans to take up residence in Switzerland.
The Mozambican police have started criminal proceedings against him. He said he has no intention of returning to Mozambique while his life is under threat. “They want to assassinate me”, he claimed, “and I am worth more alive than dead”.
Mondlane accused the government of “terrorism”, and claimed that the only reason businessmen of Asian origin support the ruling Frelimo Party “is because they are threatened with kidnapping”.
Since 2011, kidnap gangs have abducted dozens of business people in the main cities. Mondlane claimed that the kidnappings are sponsored by Frelimo.
“The government knows the origin of the kidnappings, but has no interest in ending the kidnappings”, he said.
Businesses have strongly objected to the three days of strikes and demonstrations that hit the country last week. But, despite this, Mondlane called on the business community to support a further seven days of what he called “national paralysis”.
“Seven days without work are better than five years of misery”, he declared. Mondlane, who is also an evangelical preacher, claimed that seven “is a divine number”, referring to the Biblical seven days of creation.
The demonstrations “will not end until the truth about the elections is restored”, and “anything different from this is manipulation”.
This remark appears to have been directed at Albino Forquilha, the president of the opposition party, Podemos, who met on Wednesday morning with the General Commander of the police, Bernadino Rafael, and made it clear that he is not interested in paralyzing the Mozambican economy.
Forquilha claimed that he is in basic agreement with Mondlane, whose presidential bid Podemos supported. But there is an obvious gulf between Mondlane’s call for a week of paralysis, and Forquilha’s insistence that people should be allowed to work, and that there is no justification for bringing the economy to a standstill
This did not means stopping all demonstrations, said the Podemos leader. The struggle, added Forquilha, is intended “to safeguard the restoration of electoral justice”, and while that is not achieved the demonstrations should continue.
Mondlane insisted on bringing huge numbers of people into the capital on 7 November. He was enthusiastic about a report that several dozen people had set off on foot from the central city of Quelimane to march on Maputo.
That is a distance of over 1,500 kilometres, and there is no way the Quelimane youths can reach the capital in the seven days allotted by Mondlane.
He said some people could walk, others could go by motorbike, and still others could drive. But the march organisers are not providing any form of transport, which makes it unlikely that more than a handful of people from the northern and central provinces will join Mondlane’s march.
Nonetheless, he insisted that the marchers will “occupy” all of Maputo city, including such strategic points as the President’s office.
Thursday was the first of the seven days and it passed off fairly peacefully. Demonstrators marched in Maputo, but, by and large, the police did not try to stop them. But for a period, the demonstrators did block the road from Maputo to the neighbouring city of Matola.
However, according to the independent daily “O Pais”, the police suggested alternative routes, and even provided an escort.
When some people threw stones at the police, other marchers reprimanded them.
(AIM)
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