By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Ronald Lamola and Mozambican Minister of Interior Pascoal Ronda have agreed on the need for South Africa and Mozambique to work together to “mitigate the disruption” at the Lebombo and Ressano Garcia ports of entry.
Lamola led a delegation of South African ministers in a bilateral engagement with Mozambique on Wednesday, 18 December 2024.
The South African government delegation included Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau and Defence Minister Angie Motshekga. Authorities from the South African Revenue Service and the Border Management Authority were also present
The situation has been tense in recent weeks amid violent protests sparked by the outcome of last month’s elections in the neighbouring country.
At least 11 people have been killed since violence broke out after Frelimo, the party that has been in power since independence in 1975, won the 24 and 25 October elections by a landslide.
The Constitutional Council is scheduled to make an announcement on the validity of the October elections on Monday, December 23.
Lamola acknowledged that the crisis in Mozambique was putting South Africa’s national security at risk.
“In terms of energy security, this corridor is very important for South Africa … for petroleum products and for gas through the pipeline,” said Lamola.
He said SA was looking into measures to mitigate the risk to energy security.
Lamola said the outcomes of the Constitutional Council are important to South Africa on a bilateral level and for multi-lateral forums South Africa sits on, like the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union.
Last month, South Africa temporarily closed one of its busy border crossings with Mozambique due to the post-election violence in the neighboring country.
Ronda vowed that the Maputo Corridor would remain open, saying his government was doing “everything” to ensure the trade route would not be disrupted again.
“As far as the Maputo Corridor is concerned, both governments have committed themselves to [engaging and] working hand-in-hand to ensure that these disruptions that took place … will not take place again,” he said.
“There will be no disruptions in the coming days.”
Lamola and Ronda agreed “that both countries will endeavour to protect and secure the infrastructure for trade facilitation and continued collaboration to ensure minimum disruption for regional integration, including associated cross-border value chains,” according to a joint statement released after the meeting.
The country is still dealing with the economic and political fallout of the Secret Debt scandal that triggered a sovereign default in 2016. South Africa last year extradited former finance minister Manuel Chang to the United States to stand trial for his role in the corruption scandal.