Mozambican journalist and editor of the weekly Ponto por Ponto, João Chamusse, was found dead on the morning of Thursday, inside his yard, in Ka´Tembe, across the bay from Maputo city.
A neighbour claimed to have heard the noise of an altercation in the wee hours of the morning. He said that someone was calling for help while other voices kept asking for a PIN, he said, adding that “my wife has just had a child,” so he had not dared to go out and help.
In the morning, the lifeless body of Chamusse was found lying on the ground, with a shattered skull and no clothes on him. A machete, which is presumed to have been the murder weapon, was found nearby.
The Mozambican chapter of Media Institution of Southern Africa (MISA) organised a silent march on Monday to repudiate Chemusse’s death. However, police impeded the march close to the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) because it is forbidden to make noise in front of the PGR – but there is no such a law in Mozambique.
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For nearly two years Chamusse was a resident commentator in the independent television station, TV Sucesso, and he was very vocal in his analysis of Mozambican political, social and cultural life, especially of the disastrous and blatant rigging and handling of the October municipal elections.
TV Sucesso did not shy away from espousing the shenanigans behind the rigging, and its owner, Gabriel Júnior, a member of parliament for the ruling Frelimo party, received death threats and was ostracised by his peers in the parliamentary bench.
And the television station found itself surrounded by a heavy armed police unit and a casspir vehicle parked close to the front entrance of the building housing it.
Meanwhile, last week’s edition of Ponto por Ponto features an article titled “Judges received death threats for talking about electoral fraud,” which has led other journalists to suspect that Chamusse might have received a “hot file” from a source within the (judicial) system, which his murderers tried to retrieve at any price, ending up by taking his life.
The public, civil society and personalities in many fields reacted with grief over Chemusse’s assassination and began a pressure campaign demanding a swift resolution of the crime, and indignation at the police state and political persecution.
Contrary to its usual inertia, the police issued a press release on Friday announcing the detention of the alleged murderer. Surprisingly, it was a neighbour who had spoken to the media. The police said that it was a “crime of passion.”
TV Sucesso reported that the motive was “bad neighbourliness”, that is, that they had argued over the noise Chamusse apparently made with his sound device. However, this narrative is disputed by his family and friends who said that Chemusse did not have a sound device.
In the press release, the police say that Chemusse’s clothes were found in the house of the detained neighbour, but is silent about the cell phones and laptop, which were not found in the list of his belongings.
The family of the alleged assassin deny the accusations and say that apart from being a good neighbour, the detainee was more like a brother to Chemusse.
Colleagues and former retired policepersons claim that the detainee is just a scapegoat – it just does not make sense that the murderer would keep bloody clothes in his premises and leave the murder weapon behind.
Regardless, this is the fastest criminal investigation undertaken by police in the country’s history. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official of the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) told Mozambique Insights that the clothes were planted to offset the possibility of political consequences from the case. “They are afraid of the whites (meaning by whites the embassies, international community, funders and donors, who normally demand good governance and respect to law and citizens’ rights).
Meanwhile, the state has become more arrogant and intolerant, according to a Frelimo veteran.
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