Mondlane threatens another general strike

Maputo, 12 Jan (AIM) – Mozambique’s former presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane, has called for yet another general strike, this time from Monday through to Wednesday, coinciding with the investiture of the new parliament, and of the new president, Daniel Chapo, who is also general secretary of the ruling Frelimo Party.

On Saturday night, in his first live broadcast using his Facebook page since his return to Mozambique last Thursday, Mondlane declared “Monday, the 13th, Tuesday, the 14th, and Wednesday, the 15th are crucial days. These three days are decisive for what the people want for their future. They should be days of national strike. We must bring all activities to a halt”.

“We should protest on Monday with placards denouncing the traitors of the people. On Wednesday, the 15th, we must protest against the thieves of the people,” he added.

The “traitors” are the newly elected members of parliament, including the 43 from Podemos, the largest opposition party, which supported Mondlane’s bid for the presidency. The “thieves” are Chapo and Frelimo.

“The parties that negotiated votes, the ones with arranged votes, will be sworn in on Monday. My question is: will this inauguration, supposedly to represent the people, really represent the people? Or will they only represent their own interests?” he asked.

Mondlane has thus come down clearly on the side of those who wanted the newly elected deputies to refuse to take their seats.

He rejected the hand of friendship offered last week by the Podemos leader, Albino Forquilha, who had insisted that any disagreement with Mondlane was tactical, rather than a matter of principle.

“In terms of objectives and vision of governance, we are together”, said Forquilha. “But we really diverge on the strategy of struggle”.

Forquilha added that PODEMOS favours dialogue, particularly after the validation of the election results by the Constitutional Council, while Mondlane still believes that street protests are the best way of opposing the results.

Forquilha said that Podemos remains faithful to the coalition agreement it signed with Mondlane. This grants Mondlane the right to choose the people whom Podemos will be entitled to appoint to positions in the public administration by virtue of its parliamentary representation.

For example, Podemos will be entitled to appoint two judges to the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law. Under the coalition agreement, Mondlane will select these judges.

Mondlane is also entitled to a share of the state subsidy allocated to PODEMOS as a function of its parliamentary representation. PODEMOS must give Mondlane five per cent of the sum it receives from the State Budget for being the runner-up in the parliamentary election.

Despite these terms, Mondlane has now written off the Podemos parliamentary deputies as “traitors”.

Mondlane did not state exactly how his supporters should behave next week, but he insisted that all protests should be peaceful. “We must express our discontent peacefully, without destroying private or public property, without harming our brothers. This is our constitutional right,” he stressed.

Certainly, there will be heavy security at the investiture, first of the deputies on Monday, and then of Chapo on Wednesday, making it likely that any attempts at disruption will be harshly repressed.

Mondlane also claimed that his communications team was attacked by a gang of armed but unidentified young men near Maputo’s Xipamanine market on Saturday morning. He said the assailants opened fire against his team and stole their equipment. He blamed Frelimo for the attack. The police have so far not commented on this allegation.
(AIM)
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