The OTM-CS, Mozambique’s largest trade union centre, has appealed for “dialogue” and “common sense” in the process threatening the closure of Mozal, the country’s largest industry, putting more than 5,000 jobs at risk.
In a statement sent to Lusa today regarding the situation of the aluminium smelter, which threatens to suspend operations from March, the Mozambique Workers’ Organisation – Trade Union Centre (OTM-CS) “calls for common sense, responsibility” and requests “constructive solutions that promote labour stability, continuity of economic activities, and trust between the involved parties, for the benefit of the national interest.”
The dispute concerns the energy tariffs for this unit, one of the largest in Africa, operating on the outskirts of Maputo. The OTM-CS reminds that “the process of suspending activities at Mozal and its subsidiary companies threatens about 1,100 direct jobs and just over 4,000 indirect ones,” severely affecting “the social fabric and the national economy.”
“To this end, the OTM-CS states in its position that the right to secure employment is constitutional and must be legal and just, therefore encouraging an outcome based on dialogue, good faith, legality, and social justice, bearing in mind that no worker should be harmed or penalised for facts not attributable to them,” it reads.
Mozal purchases almost half of the electricity produced in Mozambique and accounts for an estimated at least 3% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). On 16 December, the management of Australian company South32, one of the factory’s shareholders, announced the suspension of activities from 15 March 2026 due to the lack of a new electricity supply agreement.
In this position, the OTM-CS “requests that in resolving this conflict, labour rights, job retention, and the economic stability of the subsidiary companies—which employ thousands of Mozambican citizens—and the two conflicting parties must be clearly and effectively safeguarded,” and that “trade unions should be involved in the process until its conclusion.”
It also emphasises that it is following “with concern the current conflict between Mozal, S.A. and the Government of Mozambique, aware that situations of this nature generate uncertainty, apprehension, moral and physical strain, and direct impacts on the lives of workers, subsidiary companies, and their families.”
The Mozambican government stated on 16 December that a team is working to ensure that Mozal’s future does not harm any of those involved, following the announcement of activity suspension.
According to a South32 statement released in December, Mozal continues to engage in dialogue with the Government of Mozambique, Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa, and South African Eskom to secure the supply of “sufficient and affordable electricity” until the suspension in March, when the current agreement expires.
Source: Lusa