Maputo — The Mozambican publicly owned electricity company, EDM, on Friday connected the Mandie administrative post, in Guro district, in the central province of Manica, to the national electricity grid.
According to an EDM release, extending the grid to Mandie cost 62 million meticais (about 970,000 US dollars, at the current exchange rate). The work involved building 25 kilometres of medium voltage transmission line from Songo, in Tete province.
100 lamposts were installed for public lighting and three transformer posts. Initially, these improvements mean that 500 consumers in Mandie can be linked to the national grid.
EDM says that, with the electrification of Mandie, the number of administrative posts in Manica linked to the grid has risen to 26. There remain eight administrative posts in the province still to be electrified.
But EDM warns that the target of electrifying all administrative posts in the country is being compromised by acts of vandalism targeting electricity infrastructures.
It called for "community vigilance' and the denunciation of all cases of vandalism of electrical equipment.
Pf/ (179) 1061223E - FIRE BRIGADE RECORDS LOW NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS ON CHRISTMAS DAY
Maputo, 26 Dec (AIM) - The Mozambican Fire Brigade (SENSAP) recorded two road accidents and four fires across the country during celebrations on Monday.
"The National Fire Brigade considers the passage of Christmas to be positive so far, because the number of accidents is low', said SENSAP spokesperson, Vanesa Chiau, in a brief contact with AIM.
"We have a positive assessment, but we regret the occurrence of two road accidents and four fires. The first road accident took place in Gaza province and involved two vehicles. It was a head-on collision, which resulted in three injured people, one of whom is in a serious condition', she explained.
She also said that the second road accident took place in Zambézia province and was a hit-and-run type accident, which resulted in one seriously injured person. SENSAP took the victim to the nearest hospital.
During the same period, according to Chiau, there were four fires, two of which were in homes.
"It should be noted that of these two, the first occurred in the city of Maputo, in the Polana Caniço neighborhood, and the second in Sofala province. The others took place in Zambezia province, involving a shack and a car', she said.
"And for these four fire-related incidents, SENSAP's intervention consisted of extinguishing the fire and preventing further damage', she added.
She called on all citizens to adopt general prevention measures relating to fires and drowning. For the approaching New Year festivities, she called for the correct use and handling of fireworks in order to avoid accidents.
The health authorities have claimed that there was a slight reduction in the number of patients admitted to hospital on 25 December, compared to last year.
According to the head nurse at Maputo Central Hospital (HCM), the largest heath unit in Mozambique, Cesaltina Sumbane, "277 patients were admitted to the emergency services, compared to 335 in the same period last year, which means there were 58 fewer patients.'
"In terms of the causes of trauma, road accidents lead the statistics with 22 cases admitted in the last 24 hours', she said.
Snn/ad/pf (358) 1071223E TWO JUDGES DISSENT FROM CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL RULING
Maputo, 26 Dec (AIM) - Two judges of the seven member Constitutional Council have blamed Mozambique's electoral management bodies, particularly the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), for the frauds that marred the municipal elections held on 11 October.
The Constitutional Council is the country's highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law. So far the Council's decisions appear to have been unanimous - which means that the two judges appointed to the Council by the main opposition party, Renamo, Manuel Franque and Albino Nhacassa, have voted with the pro-Frelimo majority, in rejecting appeals lodged by Renamo and the second opposition party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).
But this apparent unanimity broke down over the Renamo appeal in the case of the repeated municipal election in the town of Marromeu, held on 10 December.
According to the latest issue of the bulletin on the municipal elections published by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), the Constitutional Council's ruling rejecting the Renamo appeal on Marromeu was approved by the Frelimo-appointed majority of five, while Franque and Nhacassa voted against.
In a declaration registering their dissenting vote, Nhacassa and Franque said that the problems with elections in Mozambique originate in the electoral management bodies, particularly in STAE. They argued that "it is STAE that undertakes all the electoral operations, from the count of the votes to the calculation of number of seats for each participant, and including drawing up the polling station minutes and results sheets ("editais'), which is the key moment for adulterating the results'.
The repeat of the municipal elections has shown once again, the two judges added, that the irregularities that occurred in Marromeu are the consequence of the defective organisation, administration and management of the elections.
The judges said that that those who commit electoral crimes, in the knowledge that they will go unpunished, "support particular candidates, and show that they have incorporated a patten of behaviour that in no way favours the justice and transparency of the elections'.
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Pf/ (340) 1081223E - FIVE DEAD WHILE CLEANING A COMMUNITY WELL
Maputo, 26 Dec (AIM) - Five people from the same family have died while cleaning a community well in the administrative post of Mecumbura, Mágoè district, in the central Mozambican province of Tete.
According to a report on Rádio Moçambique, the incident took place on Sunday, when the head of the family, realizing that the water taken from the local well contained impurities, decided to do the cleaning work.
Once inside the well, he was unable to climb out, so the other members of the family, trying to find out what had happened, also got trapped inside the well.
One of the family members confirmed the incident.
The administrator of Mágoè district, Titos Sitoe, lamented the situation and said that the authorities were working to ascertain the real causes of death of the five people, all of whom were male.
"At the moment the government has set up a multi-sector team that has gone there to get more details of the event, to see what the situation is and also to see, as a government, what we can do about this tragedy', he said.
