Maputo — Traffic once again ground to a halt on the Maputo-South Africa motorway (National Road EN4) on Wednesday morning, as motorists refused to pay the tolls at the tollgate between the cities of Maputo and Matola.
According to a report on the independent television station STV, the sabotage of the road was spearheaded by drivers of the minibuses, known colloquially as "chapas', which provide much of the passenger transport in Maputo.
The chapa drivers occupied the road in such a way as not to allow other vehicles to pass in either direction. Once again, passengers were obliged to disembark and walk, if they wished to reach their destinations in either city.
Then the chapa drivers hijacked a fully laden fuel tanker, and placed it across the road. They warned the police that, if there was any attempt to disburse the protesters, they would blow up the tanker.
The police took the threat seriously and just watched as the saboteurs blocked a key part of the Maputo transport infrastructure.
But who is paying for the sabotage? A minibus blocking the motorway is not collecting fares, and so is not earning any money for its owner. This stoppage must be costing the chapas much more than paying the tolls would.
The toll for a light vehicle is only 40 meticais (about 63 US cents) and there are discounts for public transport and for frequent users. Any motorist who can afford fuel (86.25 meticais for a litre of petrol, or 91.23 meticais for a litre of diesel) can certainly afford the toll.
Since the chapa drivers seem to be cutting their own throats, the suspicion must be that they are being paid by people interested in bringing the Mozambican economy to its knees.