Maputo — Mozambique's fugitive presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane, has announced that he will seize power in January.
Speaking on Tuesday in a live broadcast transmitted on his Facebook page, Mondlane, calling himself "the candidate of the people', announced that he will be sworn into office as President of the Republic on 15 January.
But he did not say where this ceremony would take place. He is believed to be living somewhere in Europe, but no-one will take seriously a man who calls himself President but who takes office somewhere outside the country.
If he returns to Mozambique, he is likely to be arrested. There are warrants out for his arrest on charges that include incitement to violence and crimes against the security of the state.
Mondlane used his broadcast to continue his campaign to wreck the Mozambican economy. He ordered that between now and 15 January, all mines in the country must be closed.
This is a recipe for violence and destruction, if Mondlane's followers attempt to invade mining areas, and are resisted by mine workers and mine security staff.
Mondlane also ordered that, before 15 January, nobody must pay any taxes. All toll gates will be free of charge, he announced. Motorists will be able to drive through the gates without paying a cent. This will deprive the State of the funds needed for road maintenance.
Almost as an afterthought, Mondlane reiterated his ban on the Christmas and New Year holidays. There would be no festivities, he insisted, though he would open an exception, if people wanted to celebrate in the streets.
Meanwhile, Mozambican businesses met on Tuesday morning with President Filipe Nyusi, and pleaded with him to provide them with more protection.
At a press conference after the meeting, the chairperson of the Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA), Agostinho Vuma, put the losses suffered by private business from Mondlane's strikes, demonstrations and riots at 24.8 billion meticais (around 388 million US dollars).
The most serious impacts so far, he said, have been on the tourist industry, restaurants and other services. The festive season should be a boom period for Mozambican tourism - but this year foreign tourists are shunning Mozambique, and most hotel reservations have been cancelled.
Lack of security on the roads has led to a huge queue of trucks from South Africa waiting to enter Maputo port. Vuma reported that trucks have been stopped for 72 hours, in a 20 kilometre queue on the South African side of the border.
Vuma said the businesses had asked Nyusi for "a truce', while negotiations with Mondlane are held.
The problem with this proposal is that Mondlane shows no interest in negotiations. He insists on "recovering the truth about the elections' - by which he means recognising that he won the presidential election of 9 October, and the party supporting him, Podemos, won the parliamentary election.
Mondlane says he has proof of his victory, but he has never published it. The definitive election results should be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council, the country's highest body in matters of electoral law. There is no legal deadline for the Council's decision, but an announcement is widely expected before Christmas.
The Council's ruling will not necessarily solve anything, since Mondlane will accept nothing short of a declaration of his own victory.
Vuma said the CTA had warned Nyusi that some of the multinationals working in Mozambique are on the verge of declaring "force majeure' - which would release them from many contractual obligations.
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A declaration of "force majeure' could also be the first step in the company concerned withdrawing from Mozambique altogether.
In light of the growing insecurity, the CTA is urging the government to introduce military escorts to safeguard assets in transit through the country's main transport corridors.
Military escorts were previously implemented in Mozambique during attacks carried out by the former rebel movement Renamo along the main north-south highway (EN1), about a decade ago.
"We have been assured that security will be provided along the route, just as it was in the central region during other election-related conflicts when there were blockades and escorts. We have requested that this model be applied across all corridors in the country,' Vuma said.
The CTA president also assured the government that there is no shortage of liquidity in the banks. The problem is the lack of security needed to transport large amounts of cash around the country.
