Opposition mayor sentenced to two years

Maputo, 11 Aug (AIM) – The Quelimane City Law Court, in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, on Friday sentenced the Mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araujo, to two years imprisonment for the crime of disobedience, according to a report in the electronic newssheet “Moz24horas”.

Araujo will not spend any time in jail, since the penalty was converted to a fine of 73,000 meticais (about 1,140 US dollars, at the current exchange rate). The Quelimane municipality will pay the fine.

Araujo was accused of disobeying an order given by the Zambezia Provincial Attorney’s Office which demanded the removal of informal stalls selling goods along the Avenida do Marginal (the coast road). These stalls, according to the prosecution, violate municipal norms concerning the occupation of public space, and were a threat to road safety.

Araujo told reporters that the case was “politicised”, and there was no connection between the court’s arguments and the reality on the ground.

“We were convicted because we allowed some unemployed widows to continue working along Avenida do Marginal”, he stressed. “The court said these mothers have no right to feed their children, and we must remove them”.

The stalls are mostly operated by poor women, and the meals they sell are an important source of income for their families.

Quelimane is far from the only city where illegal stalls sell food to passers-by, in defiance of municipal by-laws. For decades the Maputo Municipal Council, for example, has tried to move informal traders off the pavements and into the municipal markets, with a marked lack of success.

Araujo is the most prominent municipal politician to emerge from the former rebel movement Renamo. He has been Mayor of Quelimane since 2011, defeating every candidate that the ruling Frelimo Party has thrown against him.
(AIM)
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