Protesters block ring road, threaten stallholders

Maputo, 23 Feb (AIM) – Rioters closed down two sections of the Maputo Ring Road on Saturday morning, supposedly in protest against the high cost of living, according to a report on the independent television station, STV.

Barricades of boulders, broken bottles and other debris were erected to prevent vehicles from using the road. Questioned by STV, the protesters said they did no know who had ordered the closures. One of them defended the road closures on the grounds that they were a means of “the people” telling the government what they wanted.

But the protesters certainly do not represent the residents of Maputo, whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the frequent road blocks. Since buses and minibuses could not drive along the barricaded stretches of the ring road, their passengers had to leave the vehicles and walk for long distances to their destinations.

Eventually the police intervened and used tear gas and live ammunition to re-open the full length of the ring road.

An even more menacing threat was the appearance of gangs of men, armed with machetes and similar weapons, who warned stallholders in the sprawling Zimpeto market that they had to close early.

Leaflets appeared ordering the stallholders to close by 13.30 on Saturday and not to open at all on Sunday. Since the weekends are when the stallholders earn much of their money, these instructions are potentially disastrous.

At some stalls, the gang of about 20 “machete men”, as the invaders were called, stole goods and injured anyone who resisted. They also told stallholders to reduce their prices, even though their victims told them this meant selling goods at a loss.

None of the stallholders interviewed by STV knew who the “machete men” are. The leaflets ordering weekend closures are neatly printed, but they are unsigned and undated. They certainly have nothing to do with Maputo Municipal Council, which owns the market.

There was no sign of any police presence in the market, and so the stallholders felt completely unprotected. Some of them told STV they are thinking of abandoning the market altogether.

Also on Friday, a crowd burnt down the house of a block chief in the Maputo neighbourhood of Polana-Canico B. The reason given for the arson was that the block chief had refused to leave her post, although she had occupied it for the previous ten years.

A resident claiming to speak for the block told STV that another chief had ben chosen, but the existing block chief would not hand over her responsibilities. So her neighbours burnt her house down.

STV showed that nothing remained of the house but some charred rafters and twisted metal. The whereabouts of the ousted block chief are unknown.
(AIM)
Pf/ (460)