Africa-Press – Mozambique. Former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane on Wednesday rejected claims that the demonstrations he called for caused more damage than the “16-year civil war”, after the Mozambican president compared the post-election destruction to that armed conflict.
“During the ‘16-year war’, some people don’t know, the assessment made so far is that there were one million deaths, according to the United Nations and what it was possible to count or record, because there are many people who disappeared and were kidnapped and never seen again,” said politician Venâncio Mondlane during a live broadcast on his official Facebook account.
“During the 16 years of war (…) there were four to five million internally displaced persons between provinces, people fleeing for their lives. One million people fled the country, mainly to Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa,” he added.
On 27 July, the Mozambican president said that the level of destruction in Zambezia province during the months of post-election protests was greater than that of the civil war with Renamo, describing the scene as “unprecedented”.
“The damage is worse than that caused by the ‘16-year war’ in these villages I am referring to here in the province of Zambezia. And it has to be seen to be believed,” said Daniel Chapo on that date.
“It is public and private property, the damage is enormous. These villages I am talking about here, Morrumbala, Mocubela and the region of Macurra, even during the “16-year war” there was not this level of destruction that happened during the demonstrations. During the “16-year war”, Renamo arrived in the village, invaded it, but lived in these houses,” Chapo pointed out, assuming that these villages were “totally destroyed” in the protests, including hospitals and grocery stores, and calling for national reconciliation.
In his statements tis Wednesday, Venâncio Mondlane criticised the head of state’s comparison, pointing to the seriousness of the “16-year war”: “it took 20 years just to deactivate landmines throughout the country (…) GDP had fallen, education had fallen, there is a study that shows that about 30% of primary schools were inactive”.
For 16 years, Mozambique was embroiled in a civil war between the government army and Renamo, which ended with the signing of the General Peace Agreement in Rome in 1992 between then President Joaquim Chissano and Afonso Dhlakama, the long-time leader of Renamo, paving the way for the first elections two years later.
Since the elections of 9 October 2024, Mozambique has been experiencing social unrest, with demonstrations and strikes called by Mondlane, who rejects the election results that gave victory to Daniel Chapo, supported by the ruling Frelimo party, as the fifth president.
According to non-governmental organisations, around 400 people died as a result of clashes with the police, in addition to the destruction of public and private property, looting and violence. The conflicts ceased after meetings between Mondlane and Chapo on 23 March and 20 May, with a view to pacification.
The Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) accused Mondlane of calling for a “revolution” in the post-election protests, causing “panic” and “terror” among the public, holding him responsible for the deaths and for plunging the country into “chaos”.
In the indictment, the Public Prosecutor relies, as much of the evidence, on calls for protest, strikes, work stoppages and mobilisation for protests made in Venâncio Mondlane’s live posts on social media throughout the various stages of the contestation of the 2024 electoral process in Mozambique.
The Public Prosecutor charges Mondlane with “material and moral authorship, in a series of offences”, the crimes of public apology for crime, incitement to collective disobedience, public incitement to a crime, instigation to terrorism and incitement to terrorism.
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