By Vicky Stark
cape town, south africa —
Southern African Development Community leaders are expected at a coming summit to address the scores of civilian fatalities and injuries that have occurred in Mozambique since the ruling Frelimo party declared Daniel Chapo president with more than 70% of the vote.
This week, Venancio Mondlane, leader of the opposition PODEMOS party, called for even more protests against the October 9 election result. Police have used brutal force to crack down on thousands of Mondlane's supporters who have taken to the streets since the announcement in favor of Chapo.
Analyst Willem Els of the Institute for Security Studies said Mondlane "had to flee Mozambique. He’s somewhere in a neighboring country and we suspect that he’s in South Africa because his life is severely in danger.”
Els described some of the damage done by pro-Mondlane demonstrators at a border post a week ago. It has since been closed intermittently.
“They burned down the border post as well as immigration and everything on the Ressano-Garcia side at the Lebombo border post with South Africa," he said. "They then kept about a thousand trucks that were at Mile Four — where they had to clear customs — at ransom. And what happened then is that they looted some of those trucks and they also burned down at least one of the trucks.”
South Africa’s commissioner of the border management authority, Michael Masiapato, said in a statement Thursday, “We have resumed operations, especially the processing of cargo to the Mozambican side, after they have confirmed to us that the situation has stabilized. And therefore, the corridor is ready to receive the export cargo from the South African side into Maputo.”
Masiapato confirmed that officials were also processing people at the border.
“But the majority of the people that we are processing are Mozambicans that are returning back to their country, as well as South Africans that are returning back to South Africa," he said. "On that basis we would like to still discourage South Africans from going into Mozambique for holiday purposes primarily because the situation remains volatile.”
Cross-border analyst Kage Barnette, who’s an affiliate of the Southern Africa Association of Freight Forwarders, said the unrest was costing the region millions.
“South Africa is one of the largest producers of chrome in the world, so there’s a huge amount of ore that goes along that corridor," as well as mining equipment, food and fuel, he said.
He said the association had been told that the military had been placed along the route. But he said truck drivers were nervous.
“The last thing you want is to potentially be facing a protesting crowd that could potentially not only cause damage to your vehicle but also yourself,” Barnette said.
SADC leaders, who have been criticized for taking too long to respond to the crisis, are slated to meet in Harare for five days beginning Saturday, in an extraordinary session to discuss possible solutions. The regional bloc may decide to deploy its panel of elders, comprising former heads of state, to mediate between the government, opposition and all other stakeholders.