28 January 2008
Maputo — Private transport operators went on strike in the northern Mozambican city of Nampula on Friday, in pursuit of a demand to put up their fares by 100 per cent.
They want to double the flat rate fare they charge from five to ten meticais (at current exchange rates there are about 24 meticais to the US dollar). This demand is in response to the increase in fuel prices announced on 23 January. The price of petrol went up by 8.1 per cent, and that of diesel by 14 per cent.
According to Monday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", the transport operators declared they had opted to take their vehicles off the roads, after they had failed to reach agreement over fares with Nampula City Council.
This bosses' strike was not announced in advance, and so took the Nampula public by surprise. The life of the city was severely disrupted since many workers depend on privately owned minibuses (known colloquially as "chapas") for transport to and from work.
The City Council could not see why a 100 per cent fare hike was needed to meet a 14 per cent rise in fuel prices. It regarded the operators' proposal as excessive, and so they have decided to reformulate it. The minibuses were back on the road on Saturday - eloquent testimony to the fact that the owners cannot afford to keep their vehicles off the road for very long.
Chapa owners in Maputo are being rather more modest. They were scheduled to present a proposal for a 50 per cent increase in the standard fare (from five to 7.5 meticais) on Monday to the Transport Ministry.
Rogerio Manuel, chairperson of the Mozambican Federation of Road Transport Associations (FEMATRO) told reporters that the current fare has been in force since 2005, and since then fuel prices had risen four times. He forgot to mention that, in its monthly review of fuel prices, the government has occasionally reduced the prices (though the overall trend has certainly been upward).
Manuel demonstrated hostility to the public transport sector, protesting at the government's subsidy of the Maputo bus company, TPM. He told "Noticias" that this was "unfair competition".
"If things go on like this, TPM will continue to charge very low fares because it has state support, and the private transporters will be condemned to die because they enjoy no kind of support", Manuel lamented.
In reality, there are only about 40 TPM buses covering all of Maputo and the adjoining city of Matola, compared with many hundreds of chapas.
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