Incoming President of Moçambique Daniel Chapo at his inauguration at the Independence Square in Maputo on January 15, 2025. Chapo will need to calm and soothe citizens after months of protests that raged through the nation in an alarming surge of electoral contestation and conflict since October 2024, says the writer. Picture: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS
Kim Heller
THE inauguration of Daniel Chapo as the new President of Mozambique was visibly subdued. A strong military presence cast a menacing shadow over the festivities and stultified the celebratory ambience. The lingering gloom of post-election protests that claimed the lives of over 300 people soiled the big day.
On Monday, during the inauguration of new members of parliament, six people were allegedly killed by police. On Tuesday, the United Nations pleaded for restraint, ‘“With further demonstrations announced ahead of the presidential inauguration on 15 January, it is critical that freedom of peaceful assembly is upheld and facilitated, and that the security forces refrain from further unnecessary or disproportionate use of force”.
On Wednesday, tensions in the capital city were high as police clashed with protestors at Independence Square. Threats of yet another national shutdown by aggrieved Presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, loomed large. Human rights activist, Cidia Chissungo, described the inauguration of Daniel Chapo as, “the worst inauguration in history. An event soaked in blood, fear, and protests.”
As Chapo made his way to the inauguration, the defiant sounds of “Venâncio, Venâncio” rang out from a group of young, disgruntled citizens. Major opposition parties, Renamo, and MDM boycotted the Presidential inauguration.
From the start, Venâncio Mondlane rejected the result of the election of 9 October 2024, citing electoral meddling. He called for protest action. Hundreds of thousands of young Mozambiquans took to the streets to demonstrate discontent about electoral irregularities. The governing party’s headquarters was set alight, industry and trade were severely impacted and thousands of Mozambicans fled to neighbouring countries, particularly Malawi and Eswatini.
The scale, inexhaustive and explosive nature of the post-election protests took many by surprise. While this is not the first time that Frelimo has been accused of tampering with election outcomes, these recent protests have been the greatest display of citizen outrage in the governing party’s fifty years of rule.
While the recent protests in Mozambique were ignited by frenetic distrust and discontent about the election outcome, they were undoubtedly fuelled by a seemingly imperishable torch of widespread discontent about the state of the nation, beyond and before the October election. According to the World Bank, about three in four of Mozambique’s 35 million people live on less than $2.15 a day. If citizens of Mozambique were being adequately served by the governing party, Frelimo, the calls of Venâncio Mondlane for protest action would not have been as inviting.
In late December, the highest court in Mozambique confirmed that Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo had won 65% of the vote, way ahead of Venâncio Mondlane’s 24%. While Frelimo and Chapo may have won at the polls, it was in the scorch of growing citizen discord. For an increasing number of poor disempowered young citizens, Frelimo’s victory is not necessarily their victory. Just days before the inauguration, Mondlane called for a paralysing national strike to demonstrate against those who betrayed and stole the will of the people.
The incoming President of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, will need to calm and soothe citizens after months of protests that raged through the nation in an alarming surge of electoral contestation and conflict since October 2024. This will require more than a ceasefire of hostilities between political rivals. The true test of the new President will be in how he tends to the slow burn of citizen discontent that has cast a dark shadow over Mozambique for decades. Peace and security cannot thrive on an arc of insidious structural poverty and inequality. Neither can it thrive in a nation with such severe shortfalls in service delivery in many localities.
Being at the helm of Mozambique is likely to be a baptism of fire for Chapo. In addition to overcoming inflammatory internal strife, he will need to conquer the extremist insurgency which has threatened critical investment and industry in the North of the country for many years. If he fails, flames of instability and unease could not only jeopardise the future of Mozambique but the region and Continent as a whole.
Natural resources are abundant in Mozambique but opportunities to benefit from these riches are being hampered by insurgency, institutional corruption, and internal strife. The African Energy Chamber has argued that Mozambique’s journey to “becoming a leading energy producer is intimately linked to its ability to promote unity, security and democratic principles.”
Development in Mozambique is a non-starter as long as insurgency and insecurity loom large. Rescue and recovery plans for the desperately fragile economy have been spoiled by country instability. Large-scale transformative investment projects have been placed on hold. The Industrial Association of Mozambique (AIMO) has warned that a loss of confidence amongst investors will further exacerbate high living costs and unemployment.
The long-delayed $20 billion Mozambique LNG project needs to be urgently re-activated but in a manner that ensures that this major investment benefits local communities.
AIMO has proposed that the new government set up “an industrial rehabilitation and recovery programme, as a way of quickly restoring business confidence and jobs, to reduce the deterioration of the social fabric.”
For now, the state of Mozambique is volatile and vulnerable, both politically and economically. President Daniel Chapo has spoken of the need to recover the country economically. He has said, “It's easy to destroy, but building is not an easy task." Chapo has declared national reconciliation, creating more jobs, reforming electoral law, and decentralising power as his chief priorities.
Chapo takes the presidential reins at a time when Frelimo is at its weakest. Journalist Adonis Byemelwa wrote that the task is about “rebuilding a nation’s soul after years of disillusionment.” If Chapo can achieve this, he will herald a new era for Frelimo and Mozambique.
* Kim Heller is a political analyst and author of No White Lies: Black Politics and White Power in South Africa.
** The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The African.