5 September 2008
Maputo — The Mozambican Transport Ministry has apologised to the bus company Putco-Mozambique for the disruption to its operations caused by rivals who objected to competition on the routes from Maputo to the southern province of Gaza.
Putco-Mozambique is the Mozambican subsidiary of the South African transport company, Putco. It is registered as a Mozambican company and in June the Transport Ministry, through the National Directorate of Surface Transport (DNTS), granted it a licence to operate bus services between Maputo and the Gaza cities of Xai-Xai and Chokwe.
The first Putco buses operated those routes on 23 July - but the following day their competitors physically blocked the buses and forced them to return to their terminal. The saboteurs identified themselves as members of AMOTRANS (Mozambican Association of Interurban and International Passenger Transporters).
In a statement published on Friday, the DNTS said it approached FEMATRO (Mozambican Federation of Road Transport Associations) to ask what was going on. An eight member delegation from AMOTRANS ad FEMATRO was received by Deputy Transport Minister Ernesto Augusto, and claimed that Putco should not be allowed to operate because it was a foreign company, AMOTRANS had not been consulted about the licence and the market was saturated.
The delegation issued threats, telling Augusto that, if the Ministry did not cancel Putco's licence "AMOTRANS would not take responsibility for what might happen to PUTCO".
Augusto pointed out that the South African involvement in Putco-Mozambique is approved foreign investment, and the licence was issued under regulations that date back to 1996. AMOTRANS had no right to try and replace state bodies in determining which companies are allowed to operate on Mozambican roads. Nonetheless, he invited AMOTRANS to present a legal argument for why PUTCO's operations should be halted.
AMOTRANS had no such arguments, and merely repeated the complaint that it had not been consulted. Nonetheless, Transport Minister Paulo Zucula met with AMOTRANS and invited it to discuss a solution based on sharing the market.
Instead of entering into negotiations, AMOTRANS, according to the DNTS, said it could not continue discussions because its top leadership was absent from Maputo. Unable to accept such delaying tactics, the DNTS gave Putco the green light to resume its operations this week. The investment was authorized, the company was duly registered, and the dialogue with AMOTRANS "is dragging on in a bureaucratic fashion which damages the interests of the public".
The DNTS stressed that both the government and Putco had acted in accordance with the law and the principles governing investment in Mozambique. Thus all the restrictions improperly imposed on PUTCO must be lifted.
The DNTS apologised to Purco, its work force and its passengers for all the inconvenience they had suffered, and praised their "patience and responsible attitude".
Putco itself points out the 40 days in which its buses were off the roads caused it serious losses. Those who opposed its operations seemed not to understand how a market economy works.
A statement issued by the chairman of the Putco-Mozambique board, Abu Nasmodine Taju, said "Today the market economy is an irreversible reality in Mozambique. Regional integration will stimulate the formation of new companies, and partnerships with companies in neighbouring countries, increasing competition in all sectors of the country's life. Ignoring this reality is like trying to hold back the wind with your hands".
As for claims that the market is saturated, Taju pointed out that Putco entered the Mozambican market in a planned fashion and was "well aware of the needs of the market and of the public".
60 per cent of Putco-Mozambique is owned by the South African company Putco Holdings, while the remaining 40 per cent is owned by the Mozambican consortium Salama Investments. The initial investment in the company, Taju said, is 12 million meticais (slightly less than half a million US dollars), of which 3.5 million meticais is direct foreign investment.
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