In the early hours of 19 October, 2024, Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe were brutally murdered, their bodies riddled with bullets, at the behest of someone who believed that this would silence the VOICE of the people that these two citizens made a point to defend! Five months ago today. In the last five months, the murderers have not been identified, nor have the masterminds, nor is there any effort to solve this and other heinous crimes that have been committed in our country. There is no justice! Since then, many more Mozambican citizens have been silenced in the same brutal way, many others have simply disappeared, and even more remain lost in the meanders of our prison system… deliberately forgotten and mistreated in our police stations and prisons, in a deliberate strategy to stifle and repress our constitutional right to protest. While this and other unsolved crimes remain like a gangrene in our social fabric, our Attorney General’s Office is carrying out investigations that are exposing their politicised and partisan nature.
It is with great anger and sadness that we remember our comrade Elvino, who was always ready to defend the rights of the poorest, most forgotten and most vulnerable people in our country… it is with even greater anger that we continue to witness the total devaluation of the lives of Mozambicans, we are killed for demonstrating, killed for passing near a gathering, killed for thinking differently, killed for no longer agreeing to stand by and watch our country being squandered, killed for pointing out the serious violations of the law, the rampant corruption that everyone swears to fight only to show that it is possible to loot even more… killed for denouncing the constant and endless plunder of the state coffers, the abuse of power, the arrogance and incompetence that is paraded in our public institutions.
Never before in the history of independent Mozambique has our ethical and moral compass pointed to such a deep abyss. From electoral fraud, which Elvino decided to fight “to the end”, to corruption at the highest levels, to the partisanship of the state, to the serious and constant violations of human rights, to the open incitement to hatred and violence by those who misrule our country, we have never sunk so low. However, despite the evidence and the current state of our country, the support of the Global North remains… just so that they can continue to exploit and profit, their greed to exploit our wealth is so superior and “makes impossible” the countless hollow commitments to freedom, democracy, justice and human rights! But we don’t even need to go that far, even African governments, our own brothers and sisters, also pretend not to see while the Mozambican government violates all the precepts of freedom of expression, of demonstration and the most basic human rights, the right to life, perhaps in the hope that the awakening of the people will not spread to their own dynasties.
Today, 18 March, we write these lines and remember Elvino Dias, to the sound of gunfire, because today the People have decided to honor and celebrate their heroes by decreeing a People’s holiday. 18 March marks 2 years since our beloved rapper-activist Azagaia died and the police attacked the mourners as we mourned our fallen hero at his funeral. The police have decided to maintain “order” and “tranquility” in the way they do best, by arresting and killing! As dead, we certainly won’t be able to protest! As dead, we certainly won’t be able to shut down roads or display our posters with our heroes! How many more will have to die before they realize that the more of us they kill, the more revolt they create? How many more have to die before the country comes to a standstill? What do they think, that guns will guarantee peace? We can’t all be silenced!
As dissenting voices are silenced one by one, or two by two with bullets in their cars, we are not just witnessing political crimes, but the crumbling of the very moral fabric that should unite us as a nation. To all those who stubbornly continue to raise their voices, who stubbornly continue to demand justice, freedom and rights for all… the struggle continues!
Enough of state terrorism!
Enough of impunity!