Mozambique: Maputo Returns to Normal After Thursday’s Fare Rise

Maputo — Life in Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola returned to normal on Friday morning, after a day in which the two cities had virtually closed down, due to fears that a bus fare increase might spark off riots.

Businesses that had closed early on Thursday have now reopened, and the flow of traffic on the streets is also back to normal.

It is now clear that the disturbances in Maputo and Matola were minor, when compared with the widespread rioting against the previous attempt to hike fares, in February 2008, or the two days of turmoil that followed an abortive attempt to increase the price of bread in September 2010.

Attempts were made on Thursday to throw up barricades in some areas, notably the Nkobe neighbourhood of Matola. Here residents told reporters they were complaining, not against the fare rise, but against the decrepit state of the main road, which is preventing buses from reaching Nkobe. Four people, accused of being the ringleaders of this protest, were arrested.

Elsewhere (such as in the outlying Maputo suburbs of Jardim and Benfica, on parts of the main thoroughfares Avenida de Angola and Avenida Acordos de Lusaka, and near the toll-gate at the start of the Maputo-South Africa motorway) burning tyres were thrown onto the roads, and stones were thrown at some vehicles.

Unlike the 2010 riots, this time the police were not taken by surprise, and moved quickly to disperse groups of youth and clear obstacles from the roads. The General Command of the police say that only a handful of arrests were made, and that the police did not need to resort to ammunition (either live or rubber bullets) or tear gas. There are no reports of any deaths or injuries during the disturbances.

In the first few hours of the morning, transport seemed fairly normal, with both the buses of the municipal bus company TPM, and the privately-owned minibuses (known as “chapas”) circulating. So many people who live in the suburbs, but work in central Maputo arrived at their workplaces.

But when the reports of burning tyres and gangs of stone throwing youths spread through the city, the chapa owners took their vehicles off the roads. There was an exodus from workplaces, as people headed for home by whatever means they could find, often on foot. Most (but by no means all) shops closed.

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Mozambique: Maputo Returns to Normal After Thursday’s Fare Rise