Ronald Lamola, Minister of International and Cooperation and his Mozambican counterpart, Pascoal Ronda, on the occasion of the South Africa/Moçambique Joint Inter-Ministerial Meeting held In Malelane, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, yesterday. Picture: Supplied/GCIS
Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, has warned that tourism to Maputo by South Africans was going to be challenging over the festive season.
This comes as a bilateral meeting between South Africa and Mozambique yesterday came up with stop-gap measure that hinges on the announcement by that country’s Constitutional Council of the recount of the disputed October 9 vote in Mozambique.
Lamola yesterday said the bilateral engagements in Malelane, Mpumalanga province, came up with commitments from Mozambique to be more vigilant on the all important Lebombo Corridor leading to the Maputo port.
He said that the declarations list had been whittled down to bare essentials as tensions over elections in that country start to bite on South Africa’s export industry for minerals, including coal and chrome.
Lamola said the Maputo corridor posed a big threat in energy security as it was passage for petroleum products and the all too important gas pipeline.
“The situation remains tense. There is commitment in transporting the essential goods. The commitment will be carried by our counterparts in terms of all modes of transport, rail, land and also the port, which is an important corridor,” Lamola said.
“It will not be easy for people to just go in terms of tourism and the situation remains tense. We will continuously assess the situation, at the right time we will issue an alert to our citizens in terms of tourism in Mozambique. For now the transport is moving in both countries, including private individuals, but we have to monitor and allow the agreements made here to take its course.”
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Tuesday this week told Parliament the amount of declarations are down 20% compared to the same period last year Oct 9 to 06 December, costing the economy about R4.8 billion in lost trade, though the figure was not final..
Godongwana said contingency plans considered included routing goods through Eswatini to the Lomahasha border post, urging the use of the Komatipoort border point as well as suspending the passage of cargo through the Lebombo border.
Meanwhile, Lamola said South Africa expressed the need to respect the processes being carried out according to Mozambique law, especially the the Constitutional Council, which is the final arbiter in matters of the elections.
“We agreed that we will wait for the outcome of the Constitutional Council. As you are aware that outcome is important for us as a country at a bilateral level between the two countries, it is also important for the multilateral forum we sit in in the SADC region and also the AU, which also continues to monitor the situation,” Lamola said.
“At this stage we are focused more on the bilateral relations between the two countries on the issues of security and continuing to facilitate trade in all the sectors of transportation, land, rail and ports that could be disrupted.”
Pascoal Ronda, Mozambique’s Minister of Interior, said the disruptions have had a significant impact on the economies of both countries and free movement of goods and people.
“Many companies suffered loss due to the disruption. Should the situation persist, there is a grave danger of food and energy insecurity,” Ronda said.
“As far as political situation is concerned, we as Mozambique assured our counterparts that we are awaiting the results by the Constitutional Council, in the next coming days, everybody will be aware.”
Ronda said Mozambique President, Filipe Nyusi, had extended an invitation for negotiations with opposition leader, Venâncio Mondlane, who has not shown up at the table.
“On the Maputo Corridor, the government has committed to working hand-in-hand to ensure that disruptions that took place do not take place again. We will ensure nothing like what happens before,” Ronda said.
“We will implement it in a way that is efficient so we don’t have the same problems like before. Protection and security, whenever necessary, we will also call for escorts.”
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