SA defers to SADC and AU assessment of Mozambique elections

In the face of calls to intervene in the post-election unrest in Mozambique, sparked by widespread accusations of rigging, the South African government says it will be guided largely by the election observation missions of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) — which reported that the elections were essentially legitimate.

This became clear at a press briefing on Tuesday given by International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola and his officials.

Lamola was asked for Pretoria’s view of the freeness and fairness of the 9 October Mozambique presidential and legislative elections, which the electoral authorities declared to have been won by the ruling Frelimo party and its presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo. However, opposition parties and candidates, civil society and some international election observers have reported election rigging. Many believe the opposition won.

Tebogo Seokolo, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s acting deputy director-general for Africa, told the briefing that though there had been other international election observer missions in Mozambique, for Africa the important ones were from SADC and the AU.

In the main these two had observed that the elections “were conducted in a calm and professional manner, that is up to the end of the electoral process”, he said.

He added that the unrest had happened after the electoral process was over.

“So in the main in South Africa, we have been guided by the observations of those missions and our views as South Africa would be confined within what SADC says and what the AU says,” said Seokolo.

Lamola noted that the SADC observer mission, in which SA participated, had observed that the pre-election and voting phases of the elections were “professionally organised, conducted in an orderly, peaceful and free atmosphere”.

However, it was mainly the counting of the votes that sparked the accusations of rigging.

Read more: ‘Maputo is like a warzone’ — Activists lament global inaction as protest and state suppression deepen in Mozambique

By contrast with the SADC and AU electoral observers, the European Union election observer mission reported that it had “noted irregularities during counting and unjustified alteration of election results at polling station and district level”.

As a result, the EU observer mission reiterated “its call to the electoral bodies to conduct the tabulation process in a transparent and credible manner, ensuring the traceability of polling station results”.

It added: “The publication of disaggregated results by polling station is not only a matter of good practice, but also a strong safeguard for the integrity of results.”

Seokolo said SADC had an election reference group and a Panel of the Wise which was ready to intervene in Mozambique and elsewhere if called upon.

A burnt car in Maputo on 8 November after violent demonstrations contesting the results of the 9 October general elections. (Photo: Luisa Nhantumbo / EPA-EFE)

Lamola said South Africa had called for any protests against the election results to be peaceful and lawful and had also called on the law enforcement authorities to deal with the protests lawfully and peacefully.

He said the Mozambique Constitutional Council needed to be given time and space to validate the elections. He welcomed the reopening of the border between SA and Mozambique, which had been closed because of political violence on the Mozambique side.

He noted that SADC would address the election at a summit next week.

US-SA relations

On Donald Trump’s victory in last Tuesday’s US elections, Lamola said that during his recent visit to the US when he met a wide variety of politicians, including in Congress, he had gained the impression that both Republicans and Democrats felt the US-SA relationship was mutually beneficial. He said SA would continue to engage with the White House on US foreign policy, including on Agoa, which is due for renewal by Congress next year.

He added that there would inevitably be challenges in the relationship but was confident both sides could find mutually beneficial solutions, particularly for projects like Agoa, which provides duty-free access to the US market for most SA exports; and Pepfar, which has provided billions of dollars of support to SA for fighting HIV/Aids.

Read more: Uncertain future: how a Trump presidency could reshape South Africa’s economic landscape

He said President Cyril Ramaphosa had reappointed Ebrahim Rasool as SA ambassador to the US as the best person to manage these challenges. As Rasool had already been SA’s ambassador to the US (between 2010 and 2015) he would be ready to do so again quickly.

Lamola was asked how SA intended to manage the fact that Taiwan had refused an instruction by Pretoria to vacate its offices in Pretoria by the end of October and why Pretoria had suddenly decided to evict it from its “Taiwan Liaison Office” in Pretoria which it had occupied for 26 years and force it to move to Johannesburg.

Read more: Defiant Taiwan says it won’t bow to SA’s demand to vacate Pretoria office

His spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, answered the question, saying that Taiwan had not refused to vacate its office in Pretoria.

“They have informed us there are some financial challenges, which we are still discussing. Two, they have not been evicted. They have been asked to relocate. It’s a big difference. They are a liaison office. Liaison offices are often found in the commercial hubs of the country and not in the capitals. That is the preserve of embassies and diplomatic missions.”

Lamola condemned and rejected what he called a campaign of disinformation about the genocide case against Israel which SA had brought to the International Court of Justice. DM