Operations suspended at Lebombo border post after protesters seize Maputo corridor

Processing was temporarily halted at the Lebombo border post between South Africa and Mozambique once again on Wednesday afternoon.

Border Management Authority (BMA) commissioner Dr Mike Masiapato stressed the border post had not been completely closed but activities at Lebombo were suspended temporarily in light of protests in Mozambique.

Activities would resume once Mozambican authorities confirmed it was safe to do so.

Lebombo halts processing after Maputo corridor blocked

Speaking to the media less than a week after the post was reopened after the army was deployed on Friday, Masiapato explained the situation.

“We have temporarily suspended the processing of people as well as cargo at Lebombo port of entry,” he said.

“That is on the basis of continuing and the intensified protest on the Mozambican side of the port, mainly driven by the protesters who are protesting about the situation in Mozambique.”

He said the authority’s counterparts in Mozambique informed them protesters had blocked the Maputo corridor so that vehicles and cargo had been halted.

“This particular suspension is a temporary one until the situation stabilises and until the Mozambican authorities confirm to us that we can resume the processing.

“The port is not closed; the officials are on the ground on the South African side of the port, just awaiting to be guided otherwise by the Mozambican authorities.”

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Lebombo halted after call for crippling protests

Mozambique’s opposition leader on Monday called for crippling protests this week over contested elections won by the ruling Frelimo party, in power since the country’s 1975 independence from Portugal.

Venancio Mondlane, who won 20 percent of the October 9 vote according to the election authority, claims the ballot was rigged. Protests over the results have already claimed 30 lives, according to Human Rights Watch.

“We are going to paralyse all activities [from Wednesday to Friday],” Mondlane said on social media.

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