MAPUTO: Incoming Mozambique president Daniel Chapo is said to be seeking a government of national unity to include opposition political parties and civil society leaders, sources close to his Frelimo Party say.
They say the three opposition parties represented in the Parliament sworn this morning – PODEMOS, Renamo and the Mozambique Democrac Movement (MDM), were asked to indicate a member to be appointed to some post within the new government. But it is not clear if they will actually be given posts, and if the posts will be significant. If this is confirmed, it could be a palliative solution found by Frelimo to reduce tensions currently boiling over the country following the 9 October 2024 disputed election results.
Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who is popular with Mozambique’s marginalized youth and claims the results were rigged in favor of Chapo’s Frelimo party that has been in power for 50 years has been urging opposition parties to boycott Parliament and urged his supporters at the weekend to “demonstrate our refusal” of the official election result with a national strike from Monday to Wednesday, when Chapo is due to be sworn in as president.
But this morning military police surrounded the parliament building and police blocked main roads to the area to secure the inauguration ceremony for the the 250 seat chamber to proceed undisturbed.
The city centre, usually busy on a Monday morning, was deserted with most shops closed and protesters manning barricades in certain areas.
Chapo and outgoing President Filipe Nyusi were present as parliamentarians from Frelimo — which won 171 seats — and the Podemos party — which has 43 — were sworn in to the 250-seat national assembly.
Renamo’s 28 MPs and the eight from the MDM stayed away in protest “in defense of democracy”. RENAMO stated: “It is necessary to respect and honor the sovereign will of the people.”
According to the MDM, it doesn’t make sense for the MPs to be sworn in before the President of the Republic if they don’t agree with the election results. They won’t be sworn in before the President of the Republic ‘because they would be legitimising the fraudulent results.’
For his part, Renamo spokesman Marcelino Macome said that his party believes that the swearing-in is ‘devoid of any solemn value’ and constitutes ‘social outrage and disrespect for the will of Mozambicans, which is why it will not take part in the swearing-in session’.
‘The will of the people necessarily involves holding transparent, free and fair elections and not administrative elections,’ explained Macome. ‘It makes no sense for Renamo to appropriate the administrative seats’ allocated by the Constitutional Council.
Both MDM and Renamo will boycott the investiture and have ordered their elected Members of Parliament not to take their seats at the swearing in today in protest at what they term ‘the fraudulent election results’. However MDM deputies will be sworn into office on some other day. This leaves only PODEMOS MPs from the party that supported presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane who will be sworn in today. Mondlane himself has refused to participate in the government.
Poliitcal standoff bad for the economy
Meanwhile, the protracted political impasse since the 9 October 2024 elections is hurting the economy. Mozambique’s private sector companies claim that the post-election crisis, characterized by strikes, mass demonstrations, and looting since last December forced further reductions in purchases, stocks and staff since customer demand fell.
According to the monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey by the South African Standard Bank, as a result of the instability, the PMI in the private sector fell to 46.4 points in December from 48.4 points in November, declining for the fourth month in a row and reaching the lowest level since August 2020.
“PMI records below the reference value of 50 suggest a consecutive monthly contraction in economic activity. The post-election protests that have been taking place since 21 October have been suppressing economic activity, with the December PMI reflecting consecutive monthly contractions in production, new orders, supplier delivery times and procurement stocks as a result of a reduction in aggregate demand and interruptions in supply chains”, said the Standard Bank chief economist in Mozambique, Fáusio Mussá, cited in the document.
According to Mussá, as a result of this unfavourable business environment, Standard Bank had lowered its estimates for growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2024 to 2.5 per cent year-on-year and its growth forecast for 2025 to three per cent year-on-year.
“In 2023, GDP growth was 5.4 per cent year-on-year. This implies that GDP growth will turn negative at least in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025”, he said.
However, Standard Bank maintains its year-end inflation forecasts for 2025 of 5.8 percent year-on-year, despite the fact that inflation risks have increased due to higher food prices, as well as entrenched fiscal and foreign exchange pressures.
“The outlook has worsened sharply due to post-election tension, receding GDP growth, rising inflation, fiscal pressures, imbalances between demand and supply of foreign currency, recurring episodes of insecurity in Cabo Delgado and, consequently, ongoing delays in investments in liquefied natural gas projects”, reads the survey.
The survey – which was compiled from responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers from a panel of around 400 private sector companies – also points out that climate change events also had a negative impact on growth, taking into account Tropical Cyclone Chido, which hit several districts in the northern provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula in December, causing the deaths of at least 94 people.
The survey covered sectors of agriculture, mining, manufacturing, construction, wholesale trade, retail trade and services.
jm/today and agency copy/13 January 2025
