Caia court says 29 polling station chairs were in their posts illegally; criminal trials now possible
The Caia district court Thursday (17 October) backed a Renamo protest and said that it was illegal that 29 provincial trainers had automatically been named polling station chairs in Caia, Sofala. The cases of these 29 and others in Caia also automatically named members of polling station staff (MMVs) will now go the attorney general's office (Ministerio Público) for possible criminal prosecution.
In Caia as in many other parts of the country, Frelimo sent letters to the election technical secretariat (STAE) saying that instead of having the open competitions for these posts as required by law, that named Frelimo people should be appointed as trainers. Frelimo also said that trainers should be automatically be named polling station chairs. And it gave the names of other Frelimo members who should also be appointed to the four posts at the polling station that are supposed to be appointed based on open competition.
The judge said the complaint from Renamo had been proven. Caia district STAE had automatically allocated the provincial trainers as MMVs, where, also automatically, they occupied posts as chair, deputy chairs and secretaries of the polling stations, in clear violation of electoral judicial norms.
District and provincial directors of STAE and chairs of the district and provincial elections commissions are, by law, named by Frelimo. As the electoral machinery has become more politicised, these people accept instructions from Frelimo, even when they are ordered to commit illegal acts. And they often do not comply with instructions from the central electoral bodies (national STAE and CNE).
The appointments were illegal in three ways.
1) They were supposed to made by open competition.
2) Trainers contracts extend until after the election, and MMVs have separate government contracts, but the public probity law says civil servants cannot be paid on two separate contracts. 3) When the CNE came under pressure on this issue it issued an instruction (6/CNE/2024) which banned “the automatic transition of national and provincial trainers to MMVs”. (See bulletin 304-6 https://bit.ly/Moz-El-304 )
On Thursday 17 October, the Caia District Court questioned three polling station chairs, António Mbewa, Romancio António and Catarina José, who chaired polling stations 050143-03, 050136-02 and 050134-04, located in the Caia Town EPC, the 4 October EPC, and the Gumansanze EPC. The judge promised to notify all the teachers and other public administration staff who had been provincial trainers of MMVs and who made an automatic transition to positions a polling station chair.
District courts are both electoral and criminal courts and a recent clarification of procedures was that the main role of district courts is to verify the facts. If an action is potentially criminal, then normal criminal procedures are followed and it is for the attorney general's office to be notified and then to head a police investigation and go to trial.
But an issue will be: Who committed the crime? Was it the chairs who took up their posts illegally, or was it the STAE officials who followed Frelimo instructions and made illegal appointments?
---------------
Court confirms Alto Molócuè election bodies again did clandestine count
In Alto Molócuè, Zambézia, the district court regarded as proven the protests by opposition parties Renamo and Podemos that the count of the election results took place without their presence. The district election management bodies only called the opposition parties to announce the results of the count. Again, this now goes to the Attorney General's office.
But here the question is the legality of a CNE instruction. The revised election laws of 23 August order increased transparency of the district elections tabulation. But a ruling by National Elections Commission (CNE) on 20 September reversed this, making the district count secret. (Deliberação 94/CNE/2024. See Bulletin 299)
The CNE defines a new category called "physical operations" (operações materiais), which is the entire process of physically checking and adding up the polling station results sheets (editais) to obtain the district total, and even writing the final district results sheet (edital). This is carried out by STAE (Secretariado Técnico da Administração Eleitoral, Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration). This is the actual work of doing the district count, and was to be done in secret.
According to the court’s rulings, the opposition parties had been invited to the district count, scheduled for 11.00 at the Casa de Cultura (House of Culture), but the time was changed to 18.00. The monitors from the opposition went to the place, in the expectation that they would witness the count. However, the electoral bodies announced the results of a count that had been held clandestinely, without the opposition. The response of the attorney general is awaited.
Alto Molócuè has a long history of illegal secret counts.
---------------
Venâncio Mondlane calls general strike Monday; says police shot three people in Nampula
Venâncio Mondlane has called for a general strike in protest at electoral fraud to be held Monday (21 October), throughout the country.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Mondlane says that three young people were shot by police during a march in Nampula Wednesday (16 October). Two of them were seriously injured and are still in hospital. The third has been discharged. The police deny that its agents shot anyone during last Wednesday’s march.
Mondlane said he was on a private visit to Nampula, but he was greeted at the airport by a large crowd of supporters. The Director of Order in the Nampula provincial police command, Gilberto Inguane, told reporters that Mondlane had wanted to march through the streets of the city, but had not informed the police of this intention. Inguane said that when the police saw the crowds could cause problems, they asked Mondlane’s delegation to follow a route laid down by the police.
Clashes broke out, with members of the crowd throwing stones at the police. Four people were injured, four others were detained, and tear gas was eventually used to disperse the crowd. But Inguane insisted that the police never opened fire. However one young protester showed reporters from the independent television station STV a bullet wound to his arm. He said he had been shot while he was defending Mondlane, and declared that “the revolution is beginning here in Nampula”.
During Venâncio Mondlane’s campaign in Nacala-Porto on Wednesday, several people were detained, including MC Bandeira, who was in charge of the sound equipment .
