What started as peaceful post-election protests in October have systematically escalated to a level where experts advise – even warn – tourists to stay away for now.
Lowvelder understands the issue not to be whether or not borders are open, but about what is happening on the roads in Mozambique.

On Monday, Dirk Fourie of the community Facebook group, DriveMoz, said the only border posts not affected by makeshift roadblocks set up by protesters were Kosi Bay in the northern KZN and Giriyondo in the Kruger Park. Various sources, including Fourie, have also confirmed that petrol, food, cash and fresh water supplies were running low as delivery vehicles were mostly unable to reach outlets. Electricity supply was also affected as protesters had taken to destroying the power grid.

Since the commencement of the opposition Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique’s (Podemos) social media-driven protests, led by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, organised protest action has been taking place in stages, each escalating in intensity. The protests are against alleged electoral fraud in the October 9 national elections in which Frelimo obtained a sweeping 70% of the votes – a figure clashing with Podemos’s version of reality.

What started out as peaceful protests, characterised by banging on pots and pans, singing the national anthem and blocking roads with cars between 08:00 and 16:00, has spiralled into acts of violence such as arson, vandalism, intimidation and looting. This while Mondlane is said to have survived two assassination attempts. The latest stage, the 4×4 (referring to the fourth part of the fourth stage, commencing on December 4 and lasting eight days), has seen a sharp increase in reports of South Africans getting caught up in hellish situations since Sunday.

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Hellish ordeals
In a post on DriveMoz, Tashai van Zyl, described how her cousin and his friends had a nightmare of an evening trying to drive through the night. Lebombo Border was closed, so they entered further south through eSwatini (Lomahasha via Mananga) instead. That is where the drama started.

Once in Mozambique, they encountered makeshift roadblocks consisting of logs and big rocks, manned by drunk people. Scores of protesters, emboldened by alcohol, reportedly lay in ambush in the bushes, ready to pounce on motorists caught in their web of debris spread across the road. Hungry and penniless from weeks of not working (or simply being unemployed), they then extort money from motorists to let them through. Since they generally do not speak English, communication is near impossible. Van Zyl said her cousin also encountered armed soldiers driving around, which added to their anxiety.

Unconfirmed reports of Rwandan soldiers operating in southern Mozambique have been swirling around since early in the conflict. The Rwandan troops have been trying to restore peace in the terrorist-hit northern province of Cabo Delgado since July 2021 and are rumoured to have more recently been brought down south to assist the Frelimo government. The country’s natural resource-rich northernmost province has been buckling under armed conflict between militant Islamists and Jihadists, that are understood to be trying to establish an Islamic state in the region, and Mozambican security forces since October 2017.

Van Zyl went on to say her cousin’s group had to take sketchy backroads where people were shouting at them, jumping on their trailer and trying to force them to stop. When they picked up a flat tyre on the boat trailer, they had no choice but to keep driving until they found a garage, as it was not safe to stop anywhere.

Reinhard Alledahn also had a disturbing experience in Maputo that prompted him to issue a warning. On November 29, just south of Autobas, he encountered a makeshift roadblock manned by drunk people. He was told not to proceed further until 16:00. However, knowing the area well, he took the dirt road that comes out at Katembe instead. He said all was clear until after the Katembe toll gate. Living near the Hospital Central, he said many roads in the ‘poor’ downtown areas were blocked with home-made barricades. “I managed to bullsh*t my way through a couple by acting like a dof South African,’ he said, explaining that locals appeared to be given more hassles than foreigners.

Rafik Miranda, a Mozambican businessman who lives in Mbombela and Matola and has taxi and truck drivers working under him in Inhambane, blatantly told people not to come to Mozambique.

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“I have already told people not to come here because most of the roads are closed and from yesterday [Sunday], everything is getting worse. If you are already in Mozambique, stay where you are until Wednesday [December 11 when the 4×4 stage of protests ends and the next phase is announced]. If they open the roads and borders [on Wednesday], go back to South Africa, because after December 23, it will be a war zone here,” Miranda said.

This as the results of the recounting of the October 9 votes are set to be announced on that day.
On Sunday, December 8, Mondlane announced in a live broadcast on social media there will be no Christmas and New Year’s parties, only protests. “Be ready to enter the next V8 phase at any moment. The measures for this phase will be announced after the completion of the 4×4 phase on Wednesday [December 11],” he said.

Elephants butting heads
Sung Min Cho, a well-travelled professional surfer from Inhambane and the Mozambican director for Surfers Not Street Children, said there was a lot of tension in the country right now. He also got stuck in Maputo last week and had to wait it out.
As much as he would like to encourage people to come to Mozambique, he has also advised people to cancel or postpone their trips. “As a young person, I am also behind the movement, because we obviously want change. I would not advise coming because of the political climate,” he said.

He explained the young people were frustrated with the ruling party, the country’s blatant corruption and resultant economic decline. Although huge gains have been made in tourism, he said not many locals have felt the impact. “Mozambique remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Unfortunately, I think this will have a heavy effect on tourism,” he said.
Based on the trend of escalation to date, he expected things to get worse before it got better, especially since both Mondlane and Frelimo were stubborn. The latter, he said, would rather see the country burn than open up dialogue.

However, Cho said things might also go the other way as people were getting tired of protesting. He said businesses needed to start operating again and people needed to earn money to put food on the table.

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