Mondalane threatens “100 times worse” protests

Former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane threatened Monday to summon « 100 times worse » protests if « political persecution » to his supporters continue. The threat was made a day after one of his allies was shot in downtown Mozambique.

« We want to warn the president, who was placed (in the presidency) by the rapid intervention unit (police), that this is the last chance they have (…). The next victim they try to do, we will trigger the ‘Turbo V24 Ultra’ (terminology used by the politician to classify different phases of protest), » said Mondaine.

« We are waiting for another wounded or one dead. What they have seen to this day will be 100 times worse, » he added in a Quelimane rally in the province of Zambezia, downtown Mozambique.

At issue is the fact that it was shot on Sunday, Joel Amaral, a musician supporter of Mondlane and author of themes that mobilized sympathizers in the electoral campaigns for the municipalities (2023) and then to the presidential (2024). Amaral, who is now under “intensive care and evolving well”, was shot by strangers in the Cualane 2nd neighborhood, in the city of Quelimane, provincial capital of Zambezia.

For Mondlane, quoted by the Lusa agency, this is another case of « political intolerance. » The politician added that « from our organization, they took the life out of a total of our coordinators, we filed a complaint to the Attorney’s Office and so far the justice has not been done. »

Mondlane, who rejects the results of the October 9 elections, led the worst contestation in the last five months to the country’s election results since the early multiparty elections (1994), with protests in which about 390 people lost their lives

On March 23, Mondlane and Daniel Chapo, president already sworn in, made a commitment to cease violence. “I was forced to put my hands on to the president who was placed by the National Election Commission and the Constitutional Council because they assured me that the persecution, deaths and kidnappings would stop. But with what happened to Joel Amaral, they are fulfilling?” Asked Mondlane.

The Mozambican President classified Joel Amaral’s case as an “affront to democracy” and called for an “thorough investigation”.