11 ESWATINI TRUCKS USED TO BLOCK TRAFFIC IN MOZAMBIQUE

MBABANE – Eleven truck drivers from Eswatini were left traumatised after Mozambican nationals forced them out of their trucks, confiscated the keys and used the trucks to block traffic. This happened on Sunday between 2pm and 5pm, as detailed by National Road Transport Council Chairman Sihlangu Nhlabatsi. He said that Mozambican soldiers had to intervene, taking the keys back from the Mozambican nationals, and the trucks were then taken to a safe place. Nhlabatsi said the trucks were not damaged, but were used to block traffic by the protesting Mozambicans.

Intervention

“All the drivers are safe, and the trucks are also safe,” he said. “It took the intervention of the soldiers to help the situation.”  He mentioned that the Mozambicans were not armed with guns when they took the keys from the drivers, but some were carrying knobkerries. This comes at a time when the Mozambican opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, whose return from exile last week sparked confrontations between supporters and police in the capital Maputo, has called for three days of protests this week. Mondlane insists he was robbed of victory in last October’s elections, which saw the FRELIMO party officially being awarded a crushing win to extend half a century of rule. In a Facebook post late Saturday, Mondlane urged a ‘national strike’, as the new Parliament prepared to sit from yesterday, with FRELIMO’s Daniel Chapo due to be invested as president tomorrow. Chapo, a 48-year-old former governor with no State experience, will succeed outgoing President Filipe Nyusi. “These three days are important to decide what future the people want,” Mondlane said in his post. “We must declare a national strike and paralyse activities during these three days,” he said.

Urging supporters to ‘demonstrate our refusal’ of the official election result, he called for a ‘peaceful mobilisation’, adding that ‘if the Assembly takes the oath, it is a betrayal of the will of the people’. The country’s highest court confirmed the parliamentary seat allocation from the election just before Christmas, with FRELIMO obtaining 171 and PODEMOS, a small party that has become the main opposition grouping, winning 43. RENAMO, a historic opposition party resulting from the civil war, earned 28 seats while the opposition MDM group took eight. “Let us demonstrate against the inauguration of those who betrayed the will of the people on Monday (yesterday) and against those who stole the will of the people on Wednesday (tomorrow),” Mondlane said.

This is not the first time traffic has been blocked while demonstrators take to the streets in Mozambique. It has been previously reported that the protesters prevented all traffic along major thoroughfares, including the N4 Highway between Maputo and Matola, which is also the road linking the port of Maputo to South Africa. It has been reported that over 100 people have been killed since the protests began in Mozambique, and the number is rising.

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