MAPUTO: Mozambique’s prominent opposition leader Venancio Mondlane has claimed he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt while in South Africa.
Mondlane, who fled Mozambique following October’s contested elections, posted a video on Monday detailing his ordeal, in which he described fleeing from alleged assassins in Johannesburg’s Sandton district.
“When I was in South Africa, assassins were at my door to kill me,” Mondlane said in a video uploaded to Facebook. He recounted how he narrowly evaded them by escaping through a nearby hair salon before leaving South Africa with his family.
Mondlane did not provide the exact date of the alleged attempt, nor did he report it to local authorities. South Africa’s foreign ministry said it was unaware of Mondlane’s presence in the country, noting that any threats should have been reported to the police.
The alleged assassination attempt is the latest development in a tense post-election climate. Mondlane, who represented Mozambique’s main opposition, rejected the election results, claiming he was the true victor.
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On October 24, Mozambique’s electoral authority announced a decisive win for the ruling Frelimo party’s candidate, Daniel Chapo, who reportedly secured over 70% of the vote. Mondlane’s party, however, alleged widespread fraud, marking these elections as the most manipulated in the past 25 years, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a Mozambique-based anti-corruption NGO.
The opposition leader’s lawyer and another associate were shot dead on October 19 as they prepared to file a legal challenge to the election results. Mondlane has since labeled the killings as assassinations, saying he fears he could be next.
Following the announcement of the disputed results, Mozambique experienced two days of protests, during which Human Rights Watch reported that at least 11 demonstrators were killed and more than 50 others suffered gunshot wounds as security forces attempted to quell the unrest.
