Looting costs 12,000 Mozambicans their jobs

Maputo, 31 Dec (AIM) – Last week’s destruction and looting of shops, warehouses and factories, particularly in the southern Mozambican city of Matola, has deprived 12,000 Mozambican workers of their jobs, according to the Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA).

The deputy chairperson of the CTA’s industry portfolio, Onorio Manuel, told reporters on Monday that rioters had attacked and looted more than 500 companies.

“We are saying that about 40 per cent of the industrial fabric of Mozambique has been vandalised”, said Manuel.

In financial terms, the most recent survey showed that Mozambican businesses had lost more than 24.8 billion meticais (about 390 million US dollars, at the current exchange rate). But that calculation was made before last week’s massive looting and destruction, and so total losses must now be much higher.

As for employment, “more than 12,000 Mozambicans have no work because of the violent demonstrations”, a number that would certainly rise in the event of more rioting.

“Of the 500 companies looted and vandalised, a large number will not be able to recover easily”, Manuel warned. “There will be a shortage of goods, and the few products that still exist will record galloping price increases. This will naturally affect the life of every Mozambican”.

The Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno told reporters on Monday, after a meeting of the Mozambique-South Africa Chamber of Commerce, that shiploads of foodstuffs and other goods have been stuck in the Port of Maputo because of the difficulties of trucks moving the goods to their intended destinations.

The ships have been held up in the port for several weeks, said Moreno. The goods they are carrying include rice, which is now in great demand, following the looting of warehouses full of rice last week.

“Unfortunately, the goods cannot leave the port because trucks cannot move in this situation of rioting”, said the Minister.

Mozambican and South African companies that use the Maputo Logistical Corridor have set up a crisis management group to guarantee the security of the goods leaving the port.

Moreno said that military escorts are now being provided between the port and the Ressano Garcia border post.
(AIM)
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