Mozambique to inaugurate new president in shadow of disputed vote

Protests that have engulfed the southeastern African country since Chapo’s disputed October election victory reignited this week, and the security forces once again fired bullets and teargas to disperse them.

When Daniel Chapo was sworn in as Mozambique’s new president on Wednesday, he took over as the leader of a nation shattered by months of protests that have claimed hundreds of lives and crippled the economy — and many people who don’t consider him legitimately elected.

Protests that have engulfed the southeastern African country since Chapo’s disputed October election victory reignited this week, and the security forces once again fired bullets and teargas to disperse them. Opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane has vowed to continue the demonstrations, saying his calls for dialogue have been met with violence.

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The nationwide unrest has disrupted mining operations, halted cross-border trade and seen widespread looting — Standard Bank Group expects national output to shrink for two straight quarters because of the turmoil.

“The economic crisis is incredibly immediate,” said Ziyanda Stuurman, an independent political-risk analyst. “What was already a small, nascent economy has seen confidence shattered among many investors. That’s going to be a really big challenge for Chapo.”

The inauguration ceremony in Maputo, the capital, took place in the shadow of a towering statue of Samora Machel, the first president of independent Mozambique, which the ruling party has governed for almost half a century.

The president, 48, served as a provincial governor, but has never held a leadership role at national government level. While he was declared the winner of the vote, the opposition rejected the outcome, and local and international observers flagged serious concerns over the count, including signs of ballot stuffing and tally manipulation.

The sixth child of 10 siblings, Chapo stood out as a basketball player. Michael Jordan is shorter than Chapo who, at 6 foot, 8 inches (2.04 meters), becomes the world’s tallest serving leader. A lawyer and former university lecturer, he has pledged to focus on rebuilding faith in the economy, tackling Mozambique’s structural problems and engaging his political opponents.

He faces an uphill battle.

Even before the demonstrations, poverty rates in Mozambique had soared over the past decade, with World Bank data showing that about three in four of its 35 million people live on less than $2.15 a day.

Filipe Nyusi, Chapo’s predecessor, leaves behind a debt pile that’s increasingly difficult to repay. Government wages and debt servicing absorb 90% of tax revenue.

Meanwhile, natural-gas export projects that were expected to draw some $50 billion in investment remain in limbo as an Islamic State-aligned insurgency continues to flare in the northern Cabo Delgado province, where vast resources of the fuel are located.

Chapo, who has helped administer the areas that are home to the gas projects, pledged to foster peace and utilize his government experience in dealing with big international companies to ensure they have contractual and legal stability.

“Mozambique remains a land of immense opportunity,” he said in an interview last month. “My administration is committed to restoring investor confidence.”

One priority will be to negotiate a truce with Mondlane, a fiery preacher whom authorities declaraed runner-up in the presidential elections, but he maintains he was the rightful winner. He is the main orchestrator of the protests that Decide Platform, a local monitoring group, says have claimed the lives of more than 300 people, most of whom were shot by the police.

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Mondlane has shown no signs of backing down.

“This regime does not want peace,” he said in a live stream on Tuesday. “And if they don’t want peace, it means we will not back down because of this. It means this term, if necessary, will be filled with protests — 365 days a year, we’ll protest every single day. If it means paralysing the country for the entire term, we will paralyze it for the entire term.”

Asked about the challenge to his legitimacy, Chapo said that while the Constitutional Council acknowledged electoral irregularities, it found they weren’t enough to significantly change the result. He also noted that while the vote outcome triggered the demonstrations, high living costs and other grievances fueled them.

A third of young people don’t have jobs and aren’t in training, and the informal sector — mostly farming — accounts for the vast majority of employment.

Mozambique’s economy took off after a 16-year civil war ended in 1992, but it was almost sunk by a $2 billion debt-corruption scandal involving a tuna-fishing fleet that erupted in 2016. Severe storms and drought have posed repeated setbacks in a country that’s among the most affected by climate change.

People close to Chapo say he is a good listener — a skill that will stand him in good stead if he is to resolve the political standoff.

Joaquim Tesoura, a lawyer who has known Chapo for almost three decades, said he has strong morals.

“In this country, it’s common for people in positions of power to accept corrupt commissions to facilitate business deals or investments,” he said by phone. “I’ve never heard of Daniel Chapo being involved in anything like that.”

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