Inside Africa: How it all went wrong in Mozambique
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68 individual events of political violence and demonstrations were reported in Mozambique in October, by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Initiative (ACLED). It barely stands out on their map of the continent, which shows incidents all over Africa. Yet, the political unrest that has occurred over the past month in the country along the south-eastern coast of Africa is but another pointer to how corruption and political authoritarianism are increasingly failing across the continent.
When the people of Mozambique went to the polls on October 9th, there was much promise for Venâncio Mondlane, an independent candidate supported by a small and relatively new party, the Partido Optimista pelo Desenvolvimento de Moçambique (PODEMOS). He gained popularity among the country’s youth with his anti-corruption agenda, which prioritized democratic reforms, an end to unemployment, and a renegotiation of Mozambique’s trade contracts for resources such as coal, coke, and gas, with trade partners such as India and South Africa.
When the election results were officially released on October 24th, the governing Frente de Libertaçao de Moçambique (FRELIMO) announced their relatively unknown candidate Daniel Chapo would be the country’s next president, winning a 71% victory over Mondlane, who received 20% of the votes. For many, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Mozambique Election Results in %
FRELIMO has ruled the country since its independence from Portuguese colonial rule in 1975. They ran the country in a one-party system, before engaging in a brutal 15-year civil war with Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO), until a peace agreement brought both political groups to democratic dispute in 1995. The contest RENAMO once brought to FRELIMO, which has maintained power since, has now been eclipsed by Mondlane’s secession from RENAMO to stand independently. Much of the country’s youth, exacerbated by unemployment and political subjugation, supported him.
Mozambique under FRELIMO rule has had a reputation of buying and inflating votes in elections, as well as voter-intimidation. EU election observers attending this year’s elections reported that some polling stations showed “unjustified alteration” of results, while others were denied observation of tabulation processes. 879,000 fake voters had allegedly registered according to the NGO The Public Integrity Center, and Catholic bishops across the country also made allegations of ballot stuffing.
There are also multiple reports of journalists who covered the government and election being arrested by police and detained, intimidated by unknown sources, and threatened with violence and death. According to Human Rights Watch, “In recent months, the authorities have disrupted opposition party campaign meetings and other election related activities. Security forces have often broken up peaceful protests and those journalists and activists arrested have been detained for prolonged periods without charge.”
On the 16th of October, security forces had opened fire on crowds in Nampula, gathering to welcome Mondlane, who was on a political visit. Three days later, PODEMOS Lawyer Elvino Dias, who was attempting to legally challenge the election result in the Constitutional council, and Paulo Guambe, a party representative, were shot dead in Bairro da Coop, a neighborhood of Maputo. There are no suspects linked to the murders. Many believe it was instigated by the ruling party.
Protests erupted in the streets of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, as well as other major cities across the country, when the official result was finally revealed on the 24th of October. Activists said the election had been rigged in favor of FRELIMO, Mondlane himself having claimed just one day after the election that he had won 53% of the votes and 138 seats in parliament. In an interview with AFP, he said “I feel that there is a revolutionary atmosphere… that shows we are on the verge of a unique historical and political transition in the country.”
This transition came with a cost. As the protests erupted in the capital and other parts of the country, riot control agents and rubber bullets failed to contain the crowds. Mozambican security forces fired live rounds on the masses, killing at least 11 in Maputo on the 24th and 25th October, and injuring over 50. Residential areas of Maputo where families and young children lived were heavily impacted by the use of teargas, and over 400 individuals where detained by the authorities.
In a statement, the police claimed that they shot live bullets in the air to disperse crowds, and that deaths occurred due to stray bullets. According to Radio Mozambique, Orlando Mudumane, a spokesperson for the general command of the police, announced during a press conference on the 25th that only 20 people were injured, including 8 police officers. Research from multiple Human Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, disprove this claim.
Since then, there have been numerous incidents across the country, including another large demonstration in Maputo on the 7th November which resulted in further fatalities. They were described as a “warzone” by Professor Adriano Nuvunga, director of the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights in Mozambique. He claimed that over 2000 have been detained, and that police officers were being deployed undercover with state weapons to shoot protestors with the intent to kill. “These [people] are acting directed by police officers to go hunting [for] some of those that are being perceived to be behind the demonstration. Most of these agents have infiltrated residential areas, heightening violence and spreading fear among the local populations in the neighborhood.”
In Ressano Garcia, a small town not far from Maputo on the border to South Africa, cars and buildings were set ablaze, including an immigration office. 15 border officials from the Mozambican side fled across the country amid targeted violence towards officials representing the Mozambican government. Riots became so severe that South African officials were forced to close the Lebombo border crossing, one of the busiest land ports in southern Africa.
Although Michael Masiapato, Border Management Authority commissioner, reopened the border the next day, stating that it was “not likely’ the protests would spill into South Africa, the measures taken reflect the political instability in Mozambique and the effects it could have on neighboring countries. The SADC Extraordinary Organ Troika Summit will convene on November 20th in Zimbabwe to discuss the crisis in Mozambique, and how they can curb further violence on both the police’s and protestor’s sides. Yet it is unclear how or what this will change exactly, and it certainly won’t undo the damage that has already been done.
There is no official death count, but some sources say it is as high as 42. The cause these lives were taken for is not unusual. Young people have acted out against governments across Africa in the past year, demanding an end to corruption and political authoritarianism. Mozambique is another steppingstone in the greater movement emerging across the continent. Whether these lives will have had a greater meaning though is yet to be known. It lies in the hands of politicians such as Venancio Mondlane.
