The country is on fire. Shocking images of protest actions from across Mozambique started surfacing yesterday (December 23) shortly after Lúcia Ribeiro of the Constitutional Council (CC) announced that the Frelimo Party presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo, won the election with 65.17% of the votes. He was followed by Venâncio Mondlan of the Podemos Party, who secured 24.19% of the votes.

Ribeiro’s words: “Daniel Francisco Chapo is proclaimed elected president of the Republic of Mozambique,” sparked protesters supporting the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique’s (Podemos) presidential candidate, Mondlane, to kick-start its Turbo V8 protest actions.

By late afternoon Maputo’s skyline was covered by a dark smoke cloud and social media groups, as well as Mondlane’s WhatsApp channel, were flooded with videos depicting chaotic protest actions.

Tollgates between Maputo and Matola were set alight, and hundreds of police stations, courts, government buildings and homes of politicians and mayors across Mozambique were torched. A private college, allegedly owned by Rafael Bernardino, chief commander of the Mozambican Republic Police, was one of the first targets in Maputo hit by protesters.

The college before and after the protests:

Retailers and factories were looted throughout the night with videos circulating this morning showing the damaged properties and empty shelves. Videos of police vehicles, trucks and buses burning, and debris lying in blocked and barricaded roads, signalled the severity of the situation.

In a Facebook Live video before the CC’s announcement, Mondlane said the rest of the week will be one of reflection and no work. “History is made of thorny, rocky moments, but the truth is that victory is guaranteed for all of us,” and he continued to say that a unique opportunity awaited the nation.

He pre-empted Ribeiro’s announcement and claimed: “Let’s wait and see if Lúcia Ribeiro’s mouth will produce grenades, explosives, bullets or teargas. They will decide whether the country will continue the path of dictatorship, assassinations, death squads, corruption, fraud, robberies, kidnappings, and hostage-taking. Will we continue to live on crumbs? We are immersed in poverty, bad governance and corruption”, he concluded.

A seasoned journalist in Mozambique told Caxton Network News this morning that everything happening currently was anticipated. “Chaos is everywhere. There are no special police units on the streets.”

He said there were calls for police intervention from middle-class citizens in panic. With little information shared by formal sources, he believed the limited police presence could be tactical to launch heavy counter-attacks with special units. “The situation evolving by the hour.”

Meanwhile, social media groups assisting South Africans travelling in Mozambique are still being flooded with enquiries on which roads to use to reach holiday destinations and the traffic flow at border posts.

Network News sent queries to various government departments to determine whether embassies have evacuated staff but had not received feedback at the time of publication.

This is a developing story and we will provide regular updates.