Maputo, 12 Nov (AIM) – Mozambique’s fugitive opposition leader, Venancio Mondlane, has announced that “phase four” of the anti-government demonstrations he has called will concentrate on the provincial capitals and on the ports.
Speaking on Monday in a live broadcast transmitted, from an undisclosed location, on his Facebook page, Mondlane said “phase four” will run from Wednesday to Friday and would be “very tough”. He promised huge damage to the Mozambican economy.
Phase One was billed as a “national general strike” on 21 October. Phase two was two days of strikes and demonstrations on 24 and 25 October. Phase three was an entire week of demonstrations, culminating in a “march on Maputo” on 7 November.
In that march all the main streets in Maputo were to be occupied, and the government would be overthrown. That intention was clear from Mondlane’s belligerent broadcasts.
And it did not happen. There were violent clashes between demonstrators and police, but the government was never in any danger of falling.
The millions of people whom Mondlane promised would take the city over did not show up. At first, he promised there would be four million marchers in Maputo on 7 November, then scaled the number back to three million. The day after the march, he claimed that one and a half million had taken part.
All these figures were lies. Certainly, at the height of the unrest there were thousands of people on the streets of the city, but they came nowhere near a million. Anyone who swallowed Mondlane’s figures has never been on a really large demonstration.
Since the government was supposed to be toppled in Phase Three, Phase Four comes as something of an afterthought, an anti-climax. Mondlane avoided any forecasts as to how many people will attend this new wave of demonstrations.
The main goal of the unrest remains “restoring the truth about the elections”. Mondlane insists that he won the presidential election of 9 October, and the main political party backing him, Podemos, won the parliamentary election. But he has not publicly presented the polling station minutes and results sheets (“editais”) that might prove this claim.
If thousands of people did attend the Phase Four demonstrations, they might disrupt the transport corridors, linking the international ports of Maputo, Beira and Nacala to the landlocked countries of the hinterland. But, after last week’s failure to bring down the government, will there be many volunteers for further clashes with the police?
Mondlane hopes truck drivers will support him. “We are asking the truckers to suspend all activity”, he said. “We’re not going to force anyone. It’s a request to show that they’re leading a miserable life”.
Many of the truck drivers are citizens of other southern African countries, who may be unwilling to sacrifice their jobs, their vehicles and possibly their lives, in pursuit of Mondlane’s dreams.
Much of Mondlane’s broadcast was a denunciation of the government and the leadership of the ruling Frelimo Party. He claimed that ministers had fled the country, going into exile in Dubai, Qatar or Sandton (the wealthiest part of Johannesburg).
This was obviously false, since senior Ministers have continued to appear in public in Maputo. Among those who have spoken to journalists in the past week or so are Foreign Minister Veronica Macamo, Interior Minister Pascoal Ronda, Transport Minister Mateus Magala and Defence Minister Cristovao Chume.
But one person who really has gone into exile is Venancio Mondlane! He left the country about three weeks ago, and his whereabouts are currently unknown. There is speculation that he has gone to Switzerland, or to Nigeria, but he is probably making his broadcasts from somewhere in South Africa.
Mondlane promised to come back to Mozambique to lead the “march on Maputo” on 7 November. He made this promise repeatedly, but on 7 November he was still in hiding, His followers braved the police tear gas and bullets, but Mondlane was nowhere to be seen.
The day after the march, Mondlane claimed that his supporters had told him to “stay where you are”. On Monday, he said he had received “thousands” of letters and emails urging him to stay in his hideout.
If he does show his face in Mozambique, he is likely to be arrested, since the police have promised to open criminal proceedings against him on charges of incitement to violence.
(AIM)
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