Minister of International Relations Ronald Lamola. Photo: Phil Magakoe/Gallo Images
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola expressed concern on Tuesday about post-election violence in Mozambique, denying that South Africa was wrong to celebrate the Frelimo party's victory until the results were confirmed.
Lamola said he wanted to echo calls for calm made by outgoing President Filipe Nyusi and incoming President Daniel Chapo after at least 30 people were killed in post-election unrest.
“We continue to call for peace. Any protests must be carried out within the law, without destroying property,” he said at a media briefing. .
Chapo claimed victory with more than 70% of the vote, but runner-up Venancio Mondlane of the Podemos party said the poll was rigged and his lawyer and chief of staff tried to contest the results. claimed to have been murdered.
Mr Mondlane, who received 20.3% of the vote, then fled to Johannesburg.
The South African Border Agency intermittently closed the Lembobo border crossing last week after infrastructure on the Mozambican side was destroyed and authorities sought refuge in South Africa.
The Department of International Relations issued a travel warning for Mozambique a week ago and Lamola said on Tuesday it was continuing to monitor the situation to advise South Africans accordingly.
He said South Africa was naturally concerned about conflicts in neighboring countries spilling over into its own territory.
“There will be spillovers to South Africa, so we will continue to engage with our Mozambican counterparts and with the SADC process. [Southern African Development Community] I'm working on it. ”
The situation in Mozambique will be discussed at an extraordinary summit of the SADC ad hoc body Troika in Harare next week. Ahead of the summit, a meeting of ministers and senior officials will begin on Friday.
Lamola said South Africa considers Mozambique's Constitutional Council to be the final legitimate arbiter of any objections to the election results and is awaiting its decision.
“So ultimately Mozambican law will mandate a body to declare the election results and we will be able to make a decision from there. We therefore urge all parties that the court will consider We ask that you allow us to make a final decision.”
Lamola said it is common to congratulate election winners after preliminary results are announced.
“We know when the congratulations are due. What South Africa has done regarding the Mozambican election results is not special or unusual. Right after the preliminary results… that is the norm.
“So we didn't go out of our way to protect our friends from Frelimo, as has been implied. We just stuck to the process, because it would be seen as protecting our friends. , we cannot fail to uphold standards,” he said.
Frelimo has ruled Mozambique since independence in 1975, and its relationship with the ANC goes back decades, when the ANC was a liberation movement fighting apartheid.
Civil society groups have accused the ruling party of registering nearly a million fake voters, and European Union election observers have reported irregularities in the counting process.
The country is still grappling with the economic and political fallout from a secret debt scandal that led to a sovereign debt default in 2016. Last year, South Africa extradited former finance minister Manuel Chan to the United States to stand trial for his role in a corruption scandal.
