'Internet cuts leave Mozambique's businesses in dark amid protests’ 16 November 2024

Uber driver Rofino Fiel said the ongoing post-election protests in Mozambique have wreaked havoc, not just from the violent clashes on the streets of Maputo, but also from crippling internet shutdowns that are draining his business. Like many in small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in the informal sector, the repeated blackouts have hit him hard, with no end in sight as protests over alleged vote-rigging show no signs of stopping. "This is too much. We are having a very negative experience, and it costs us a loss of 8,000 meticais ($126) a week," the 25-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

…Amnesty International has condemned the government's "violent and widespread crackdown on human rights," calling it the worst suppression of protests in the country in years. Civil society groups and international observers said the vote did not meet democratic standards, and the Constitutional Council has requested clarification from the electoral commission on discrepancies in the vote count. Digital rights groups say there have been at least five mobile internet shutdowns since Oct. 25, along with social media shutdowns lasting several hours. According to the constitution, the government can force mobile phone operators to shut down internet services in cases of national emergency, but the government has not declared the current unrest a national emergency.

…Mozambique's three mobile phone operators – South Africa's Vodacom and Mozambique's Tmcel and Movitel – have sent messages to users saying the outages were beyond their control. When contacted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Vodacom and Movitel declined to comment, while Tmcel did not immediately reply to a request for comment. "This (the blocking of the internet) is not helping to end the protests, but rather is intensifying popular dissatisfaction," Lazaro told journalists Monday during a press conference in Beira, in central Mozambique.