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How high cost of living affects human rights in Angola, Mozambique and Malawi
Protesters take cover after police fired teargas during an anti-government demonstration in Luanda, Angola, on November 11, 2020.
The respect for human rights must be enhanced throughout the world and especially in Africa.
However, in some African countries, the situation is even more fragile as civil society groups insist that governments must lower the rising cost of living and ensure that fundamental freedoms are observed.
Despite having vast mineral resources, many people in Angola and Mozambique are suffering.
Angola is the second biggest sub-Saharan African oil producer after Nigeria while Mozambique is the third-largest exporter of gas in Africa.
The two Portuguese-speaking countries are also marred with high poverty levels and inequality. Most people are living on less than a dollar a day.
“When various social groups protest for their rights, the cost of living is the main issue,” Prof João Pacatolo told Nation.Africa.
Some members of civil society and human rights groups have urged their governments to change.
In Luanda, Angola’s capital city, dozens of hawkers demonstrated on May 22, 2023, over the high cost of living in the country.
They marched from the São Paulo market to the provincial government office. They planned to march to the Presidential palace before they were stopped by the police.
Education sector
Carlos Rosado de Carvalho, a political analyst, told local MFM Radio that frequent strikes in the education and health sectors in Angola are due to the high cost of living.
“The government must improve living conditions in Angola,” he added.
Bishop Belmiro Chissengueti of the Catholic Church in Cabinda Province said, “God has blessed our country and social problems should not exist.”
Angola’s Cabinda province produces up to 70 per cent of its oil revenues which makes up half of the country’s GDP. The oil-rich province has a population of 400,000 people.
On May 16, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the government to end crackdowns on political and human rights activists.
According to HRW, since President João Lourenço took office in September 2017, Cabinda authorities have allegedly arrested and detained over 100 activists for engaging in peaceful protests in the province.
In this regard, President Lourenço has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor José Eduardo dos Santos, Ms Zenaida Machado, HRW senior Africa researcher said.
In its World Report 2023, HRW said security forces in Angola continued to use excessive force, intimidation, and arbitrary detention against peaceful protesters.
As for Mozambique, HRW said that the government security forces continued to use force and arbitrary detentions to restrict people’s right to peaceful protests.
Strikes over poor working conditions also affect Mozambique. More strikes in the education and health sectors have been seen over the last couple of years.
Mozambique has been experiencing financial hardship that affects the lives of its 33,7 million people.
In December, the government cancelled the end-of-the-year bonus pay for contracted civil servants due to harsh economic challenges.
Recently, the cabinet has approved a bill proposing pay cuts for ministers, deputy ministers, state secretaries and MPs as the government grapples with a rising wage bill.
The move came as the International Monetary Fund highlighted the need for the government to reduce public wage expenditure.
Finance and Economy Minister Max Tonela did not indicate the amount of the proposed cuts.
On May 25, he said that the proposal was also seeking to address concerns over provincial assemblies members’ salaries.
Mr Tonela said some of their salaries were significantly higher than those paid to other executives and specialised professionals.
In Malawi, the police used excessive force against peaceful protesters in 2022, according to the Amnesty International (AI) 2022/2023 annual report.
In October, protesters and opposition supporters demonstrated in Blantyre and Lilongwe over the high cost of living and alleged corruption. They later presented a petition to the office of President Lazarus Chakwera.
Angola, Malawi and Mozambique are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The SADC bloc also includes Botswana, DR Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, out of the SADC region, there are other Portuguese-speaking countries like Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe where civil society groups are also pressing their governments for the high cost of living.
Cape Verde is poor in natural resources, prone to drought and with little arable land but won a reputation for achieving political and economic stability.
Last year, it declared a social and economic emergency in the archipelago, which was driven by the effects of the war in Ukraine after those of Covid-19 and drought. Last year the capital Praia’s firefighters and teachers went on strike.
Severe droughts have caused the deaths of 200,000 people.
In Guinea Bissau, where legislative polls are scheduled for June 4, 2023, civil servants from the education and health sectors held a five-day strike between May 15 and 20.
They demanded that the government pays their salary arrears and allowances.
According to Freedom House, restrictions on the media and freedom of association have eased somewhat, though police continued to disrupt some demonstrations in Guinea Bissau.
Corruption is a major problem that has been exacerbated by organized criminal activities including drug trafficking, Freedom House adds. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2022 ranks Guinea Bissau 164 out of 180 countries surveyed.
In Seychelles, things are not as rosy. In March, the International Monetary Fund said the country’s economy was facing serious challenges. It experienced large imbalances, sluggish growth and high inflation.
Social discontent and strikes are rampant in the tiny country.
In April, civil servants from the Institute of Public Works staged a strike over poor working conditions and pay. Five health sector unions announced a general strike to begin this month due to poor pay, lack of medical equipment and drugs in hospitals.
