Protestors demand lower prices

Maputo, 7 Feb (AIM) – Groups who claim to be following instructions from former Mozambican presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane have been visiting shops, supermarkets and schools in the Maputo neighbourhood of Benfica, demanding that they reduce their prices by Monday.

According to a report in Friday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”, the groups claimed they were following guidance given by “the President of the People”, as they called Mondlane.

They warned that “in the coming days, we shall visit other neighbourhoods to demand the stabilisation of prices.”

They had visited the Benfica Secondary School to check that the school was not charging parents fees to pay the wages of security guards. They were apparently surprised to find that no such fees are being charged, and attributed this to instructions from Mondlane.

“They are complying with the measures decreed by our President Venancio Mondlane. The parents are not paying any fees”, they told “Carta de Mocambique”.

In reality, this has nothing to do with Mondlane. The Benfica school was simply obeying an instruction given by the Ministry of Education, long before Mondlane shot to prominence.

Parents in many schools had complained bitterly against being forced to pay for such matters as school security. The government had decided that such extra fees could only be paid voluntarily: forcing parents to pay the wages of security guards was illegal. Venancio Mondlane had nothing to do with this decision.

In their visits to shops, the price-fixing groups told the shopkeepers not to charge more than 1,000 meticais (16 US dollars) for a 50 kilo sack of rice or 300 meticais for a sack of cement.

The shopkeepers tried to give them a lesson in basic economics, explaining that many factors go into determining prices. The groups replied with a threat, saying that anyone who could not reduce their prices “must close their shops and stay at home”.

One representative of the group, Alexandre Bel Paris, declared “this measure must last forever. We shall continue to work with those who charge the lowest prices. All shops that sell rice must forget about prices of 1,600 or 1,700 meticais a sack that they are currently applying. The maximum price of rice must be 1,000 meticais a sack”.

Protests against prices have also affected traffic on the main north-south road (EN1). Demonstrators demanding lower prices blocked the road at Bobole, just north of Maputo, on Monday, and again on Tuesday.
(AIM)
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