Report by Elias Mambo in Mozambique, Tete Province
Violence has marred the pre-election campaign trail ahead of next week’s general election in Mozambique scheduled for October 15.
This comes on the backdrop of reports of the killing of a Mozambique poll observer who was gunned down in the ruling Frelimo party stronghold on Monday.
Reports say unidentified gunmen fired several shots at Anastacio Matavele – head of a local election observation mission – as he was driving away from a workshop in Xai-Xai, the capital of the southeastern Gaza province.
Four presidential candidates are vying for the top job where close to 14 million voters are expected to cast their vote.
Incumbent, Frelimo leader, Philip Nyusi is eyeing a second term in a country that has never had a fair share of peace.
The killing comes at a time when Zimbabwe’s Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri is leading Sadc’s observer mission in Mozambique.
Zimbabwe in its capacity as chair of SADC’s Organ on Politics Defence and Security is leading the regional body’s observer mission to oversee the elections in Mozambique.
According to a statement from the Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zimbabwe is heading the SADC Electoral Observer Mission (SEOM) advance team to the presidential, provincial and legislative elections to be held on 15 October 2019 in Mozambique.
