Good afternoon. Today has been, so far, a fairly ordinary day on the streets of Mozambique. But if you were to believe commentators on the state-owned broadcaster TVM, the police, and the messages coming from the ruling Frelimo party on social media, you would have expected there to be mass protests today called by opposition politician Venâncio Mondlane. In fact, no protests have taken place. So what was going on?
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Despite the claims being made on TVM and on social media, Mondlane did not, in fact, announce any protests for today. Today is the first weekday following the first anniversary of the killings of Mondlane’s lawyer Elvino Dias and the political activist Paulo Guambe on 19 October last year, in the wake of the disputed general elections. Nobody has been arrested, let alone charged, over the killings, which are widely suspected to have been the work of the security forces, and which took place in daylight and in view of security cameras. Yesterday also saw the inauguration of a new district office for Mondlane’s Anamola party in a Maputo neighbourhood. So today seems like a plausible time for Mondlane to hold a demonstration. But did he want one?
