JOHANNESBURG

South Africa and a regional bloc are ready to help Mozambique move through the ongoing political crisis in the country, the South African president said on Thursday.

“We are watching very closely what is happening in Mozambique, and obviously Mozambique is such a close neighbor to us, a very good trading partner, and member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC),” Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters in Cape Town.


Ramaphosa said SADC members are prepared and willing to give Mozambique the much-needed support to enable it to navigate its way out of the current political challenges they are facing.


Mozambique has been gripped by protests since Oct. 21, with the opposition disputing the victory of 47-year-old Daniel Chapo of the ruling Frelimo party who has been declared winner of the Oct. 9 presidential elections.

Chapo got 71% of the vote, defeating opposition candidate Venancio Mondlane who got only 20%.

Mondlane, who had been in a self-imposed exile, returned to the country today amid escalating tensions, declaring himself "president elected by the people."


Addressing reporters at Maputo International airport, Mondlane claimed that he is a "president elected by the Mozambican people, not by the Constitutional Council," reiterating his rejection of the October election results validated by the country’s highest electoral authority.


Last week, Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania's president and current chairperson of the 16-member SADC, called for an immediate end to all hostilities in Mozambique, where nearly 300 people have been killed since the main opposition party began protesting.


Ramaphosa told reporters he hopes the inauguration of Mozambique’s President-elect Daniel Chapo will go well but did not confirm if he would attend the event.

Last month, Ramaphosa sent Sydney Mufamadi as his special envoy to Mozambique to discuss escalating post-election violence that threatens regional stability.

Non-Profit organizations in Mozambique this week wrote a letter to Ramaphosa requesting his intervention in the political crisis in the neighboring country, but the presidency has yet to comment on the letter.