AFRIKA IS A COUNTRY

Fresh fury as Mozambique police mow down protester


By AFP
November 27, 2024

A protester throws a stone at an armoured vehicle during clashes in Mozambique's capital Maputo - Copyright AFP ALFREDO ZUNIGA

Fresh anti-government protests erupted in Mozambique Wednesday after a police vehicle mowed down a woman at a demonstration in the capital in support of the opposition leader disputing October elections.

Venancio Mondlane has rejected the results of the October 9 vote and led a weeks-long standoff that has been brutally suppressed by the police.

AFP reporters at the scene of one of Wednesday’s protests said demonstrators hurled stones at security forces who fired bullets and tear gas as clashes broke out after a woman was struck while standing behind a large banner of Mondlane.

In a video of the incident that went viral on social media, an armoured police vehicle is seen driving over the woman. Other clips show her being helped into another vehicle, apparently alive but in a serious condition.

“I saw it with my own eyes, her arm is broken, her leg is broken,” a witness told AFP. “We don’t know if she’ll survive.”

Elsewhere in Maputo, people marched to the central Fighter’s Square, a hub for the city’s poorer suburbs, shouting slogans such as “Frelimo out” against the ruling party that has been in power since 1975.

“I’m sorry for what happened with that woman,” said Joaquim Fernando, one of around 100 protesters at the scene. “I don’t agree with a brutal act like that. Every citizen has the right to demonstrate,” the 26-year-old told AFP.

– ‘Dozens’ killed –

“We demand that Venancio Mondlane be our president because that’s who we voted for,” said another protestor, Olavio Jose, 24.

Rights groups have accused police of killing dozens of people in post-election protests after the authorities said Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo got 71 percent, far ahead of Mondlane’s 20 percent of votes.

The Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, a local civil society group, told AFP last week it knew of 65 people killed in police operations against the demonstrations.

Human Rights Watch said Monday that Mozambican security forces killed at least 10 children and injured dozens more.

President Filipe Nyusi, who is due to step down in January, said in a state of the nation address on November 19 that 19 people had died, including five police officers.

There were also new protests Wednesday at Mozambique’s main border post with South Africa where trucks were being prevented from moving, according to the South African border authority.

The crossing, a key link for exporters using Maputo’s Indian Ocean port, has been closed several times by protests over the past weeks.

Opposition figures killed as Tanzania holds local election


By AFP
November 27, 2024

Chadema leader Freeman Mbowe was briefly arrested last weekend after police broke up a rally using tear gas, according to the party - Copyright AFP/File ERICKY BONIPHACE

Tanzanian opposition party Chadema, said two of its members were killed on the eve of Wednesday’s local elections, and accused the authorities of rigging the vote.

Chadema said in a statement that a candidate, George Juma Mohamed, was shot dead by police after being attacked by ruling party supporters at his home in Mkese in central Tanzania late Tuesday.

Police confirmed the death and said it occurred after a group of prison officers were called in to deal with a clash between supporters of Chadema and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party.

The prison officers came under attack and fired “warning shots” that led to Juma Mohamed’s death, the police said in a statement.

Chadema said another local party leader, Steven Chalamila, was killed in a machete attack in Tunduma near the border with Zambia.

“We condemn the murders that have occurred and demand that the police take immediate action to arrest and bring all perpetrators to justice,” the party said.

Chadema also claimed there had been election irregularities in seven constituencies.

It said its agents had found pre-marked ballots for ruling CCM party candidates in several locations, but were arrested by police when they tried to intervene.

“We demand that TAMISEMI (the local government ministry) provide an explanation to the public regarding the pre-marked ballots for CCM candidates in various parts of the country,” Chadema said.

Polling stations were due to close at 1400 GMT.

About 31 million Tanzanians are eligible to cast ballots for more than 80,000 street and village leaders who wield considerable power in the East African nation.

Hundreds of voters queued across the country well before the official polls opened.

The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, a dominant force for decades, is facing a strong challenge from Chadema that boycotted the polls in 2019 citing violence and intimidation.

Chadema has said many of its candidates were unfairly disqualified from this year’s vote.

Party leader Freeman Mbowe was briefly arrested last weekend after police broke up a rally using tear gas, according to the party.

Hassan vowed on Tuesday that it would be a fair contest.

It is a key test for the country’s democratic institution ahead of the presidential election next October.

“We are electing local leaders who are also important campaigners during the general election,” Chadema’s director of communication and foreign affairs John Mrema told AFP on Tuesday, calling the contest an “important pillar”.

Hassan took office after the sudden death of her authoritarian predecessor John Magufuli in 2021.

She was initially feted for easing restrictions that Magufuli had imposed on the opposition and the media in the country of around 67 million people.

But rights groups and Western governments have criticised what they see as renewed repression ahead of the votes, with arrests of Chadema politicians as well as abductions and murders of opposition figures.

In 2019, the opposition boycott paved the way for a clean sweep of the seats by CCM.

Namibia votes with ruling party facing its toughest race yet


By  AFP
November 27, 2024

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah would be the country's first woman president if elected - Copyright Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment/AFP Handout
Clément VARANGES

Namibia’s vice president was among the first voters in elections Wednesday that could see her become the desert nation’s first woman leader, even as her ruling SWAPO party faces a strong challenge to its 34-year grip on power.

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, a 72-year-old veteran of the South West Africa People’s Organisation, cast her ballot in the capital Windhoek as polls opened at 7:00 am (0500 GMT).

She urged the country’s roughly 1.5 million registered voters to do the same before polls close at 9:00 pm.

The vote “will have an impact for the next five years in your life and in the life of every Namibian and any person who’s visiting this country,” said the candidate popularly known as NNN.

SWAPO has governed the mineral-rich country since independence in 1990 but, amid complaints about high unemployment and enduring inequalities, Nandi-Ndaitwah could be forced into a second-round run-off if she fails to garner at least half the vote.

Waiting in the early morning sun to cast her ballot, Frieda Fillipus, 31, said she wanted to see a woman run the country.

“The future is female,” said Fillipus, who works in the key mining sector.

“The outcome will be tight,” said self-employed Hendry Amupanda, 32, who had been queuing since 9:00 pm the night before.

“I want the country to get better and people to get jobs,” said Amupanda, wearing slippers and equipped with a chair, blanket and snacks.

Nandi-Ndaitwah has four main challengers including Panduleni Itula, 67, a former dentist and lawyer who founded the Independent Patriots for Change party in 2020.

Itula took 29 percent of votes in the 2019 elections, losing to SWAPO leader Hage Geingob, who garnered 56 percent of votes.

Despite the loss, his performance was remarkable considering Geingob, who died in February, took almost 87 percent five years earlier.

For the first time in the southern African nation’s recent history, a second round is “a somewhat realistic option”, said Henning Melber, of the Nordic Africa Institute at the University of Uppsala.

A run-off would take place within 60 days of the announcement of the results of the first round due on Saturday, according to the election calendar.

Namibia is a major uranium and diamond exporter but not all of its nearly three million people have benefitted from that wealth.

“There’s a lot of mining activity that goes on in the country, but it doesn’t really translate into improved infrastructure, job opportunities,” said independent political analyst Marisa Lourenco, based in Johannesburg.

“That’s where a lot of the frustration is coming from, (especially) the youth,” she added.

Unemployment among 15- to 34-year-olds is estimated at 46 percent, according to the latest figures from 2018. This is almost triple the national average.

– ‘Immediate needs’ –

Though the party’s founders led the country to independence from white-ruled South Africa in 1990, its current leaders are nervous about suffering the same fate as other liberation-era movements in the region.

In the past six months, South Africa’s African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority and the Botswana Democratic Party was ousted after almost six decades in power.

In Mozambique, though the ruling Frelimo won recent elections, civil society and opposition groups have protested for weeks claiming fraud and demanding change.

“Young people have been feeling the brunt of the current economic downturn in a lot of African countries,” said Nic Cheeseman, a professor specialised in African politics at the University of Birmingham.

“It’s not just that they’re young and it’s not just that they don’t remember, it’s also that they really feel the pinch of the economic crisis.”

“The challenges affecting Namibia, similar to the challenges affecting other African countries, are shifting the political landscape drastically,” said Tendai Mbanje, an election expert at the Johannesburg-based African Centre for Governance.

“Elections are (now) about the immediate needs of the citizens, and particularly young people.”