Mozambique opposition leader claims assassination bid in South Africa

A protester gestures while protesting in the Hulene neighbourhood of Maputo on October 31, 2024, during the first day of the nationwide strike called by Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane. [AFP]

Mozambique's leading opposition politician, Venancio Mondlane, claimed in a video Monday to have escaped an attempted assassination in South Africa where he had taken refuge after last month's disputed elections.

Mondlane rejects the results of the October 9 vote that the electoral authority says were won by the candidate of the Frelimo party, in power of the impoverished and war-scarred nation since 1975, and says he won.

Opposition parties and electoral observers say the vote was flawed. In protests against the result, security forces have killed at least 11 people, according to Human Rights Watch.

"When I was in South Africa, assassins were at my door to kill me," Mondlane said in the video on Facebook. "I had to jump out the back door, slip out through a hair salon... and run with my bags and my family."

He said he had been staying in Johannesburg's upmarket Sandton area and had since left the country. He did not say when the alleged assassination attempt was meant to have occurred.

South Africa's foreign ministry told AFP it had no knowledge of Mondlane being in the country and that such a matter should have been reported to the police.

Mondlane has used social media to call for protests against the election result, including a march in the capital Maputo due this Thursday that he promises will be "the day of Mozambique's freedom".

After his lawyer and another associate were gunned down on October 19 as they prepared to challenge the results in court, Mondlane said they were assassinated and he could be next.

Mozambique's electoral authority announced on October 24 that Frelimo's Daniel Chapo had won more than 70 per cent of votes, compared to Mondlane's 20 per cent.

In two days of protests directly after the announcement, security forces killed at least 11 people and more than 50 others suffered serious gunshot wounds, Human Rights Watch said last week.

Police used tear gas on Monday to disperse more than a dozen demonstrators on a main road in Maputo, according to AFP reporters in the capital.

Social media coverage was again limited on Monday, reporters said, as confirmed by London-based Internet watchdog NetBlocks.

A temporary Internet blackout was imposed a day after results were announced. Access to social media was restricted again on October 31.

Mozambique anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity said last month's elections were the country's most fraudulent in 25 years.

Election observers, including from the European Union, have also noted serious flaws before, during and after the vote, with the electoral body accused of manipulation to keep Frelimo in power.