Southern African Bishops call for Mozambican authorities to address election “disgruntlement”

SABC Communications – Pretoria

In the Friday, 8 November letter, the Bishops reiterate the call for “authorities to address the causes of disgruntlement” following the 9 October general elections that declared the ruling party Frelimo candidate winner of last month’s election by a landslide.

Respect the will of the Mozambican people

“We join you in calling on the authorities to address the causes of disgruntlement about these elections and to respect the will of the Mozambican people,” said the Bishops in the letter signed by the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) Bishop Sithembele Anton Sipuka.

According to news reports, at least 30 people have been killed and hundreds injured in three weeks of demonstrations over contested election results. In the 8 November letter, SACBC members say they regret the decision of the South African government “to endorse the elections despite such widespread complaints.”

Appeal to SADC to deal with the fallout

The Bishops called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to deal with the “fallout,” as thousands of people took to the streets of Mozambique’s capital Maputo on Thursday, 7 November chanting “Frelimo must fall.”

Before Thursday’s protests, the biggest Mozambique has seen against Frelimo since 1975, the Catholic Bishops in Mozambique issued a statement calling on “all those directly involved in the electoral process and in the resultant conflict to acknowledge guilt, offer forgiveness and embrace the courage of truth.”

“This is the path that will return the normalisation of a country that wants to be alive and active and not silenced by fear of violence,” said the Mozambican Bishops in the 22 October statement.

Mozambique deserves truth, peace, tranquillity

 In the 8 November letter addressed to CEM members, the SACBC members express their wish to pay a solidarity visit to the Southern African nation and suggest the creation of “spaces for collaboration in governance and consider a possible government of national unity; involve competent and serious institutions in the country in the management of electoral processes, present and future; and give Mozambique a future of hope.”

“We intend to visit you soon as an expression of our solidarity with the Mozambican people and the Church in Mozambique in these times of trial. Mozambique deserves truth, peace, tranquillity, and tolerance,” they conclude.