Dozens of motorcycle taxi drivers have today concentrated near the residence of the governor of Nampula, northern Mozambique, to demand a solution to the alleged shortage of fuel, a situation they claim to be compromising their activity and incomes.
© Lusa
21/09/2026
by
Lusa
Oprotesters claim that they spend several hours a day in the queues of the fuel stations, significantly reducing the time devoted to work, and accuse some places of supply not to make product available, despite the regular arrival of cistern trucks to the city.
“ Every day trucks appear here in Nampula, but when we go to the bombs they say there's no fuel. This is shocking ", told Lusa the motorcycle taxi driver João Lopes, claiming to be three days without being able to supply his motorized.
The difficulty in accessing fuel, they say, also contributed to the increase in prices on the informal market, where some say they are paying about 300 meticals per litre, more than twice the maximum tariff set.
“ We've been here almost two months. I, in particular, have been walking from bomb to bomb for two weeks and even sleeping in the bombs. When we arrived, they said the fuel was already purchased. After all, who buys the fuel?” asked Alfredo André Mário.
The motorcycle taxi drivers claim that the situation worsened after the authorities' guidance to combat the informal sale of fuel on the streets.
“ We accepted it when our governor told us to stop selling fuel on the streets. But if there are no streets and there are no bombs, where are we going to supply? ", questioned the same operator.
Another protester, Assamo José, reported that he left home at dawn to secure a place in the queues, without being able to supply at the end of the day.
“It’s not normal for a person to leave the house at 1:00 or 2:00, stay until 5:00 without fuel. We have children at home who need to eat and we have no other job”, he said.
After being informed of the concentration, the governor of Nampula province, Eduardo Abdula, went to the site and called for the withdrawal of the protesters, expressing willingness to hear their concerns.
“ I was going to my office. When they said they came here, I came back on foot and I'm here ", explained, on site.
The governor proposed that operators choose ten representatives for a meeting in his office, accompanied by the media, to present concerns and find solutions to the problem.
“ I'm here to listen, to listen. What I asked them to do is to bring ten more people to the office (...) but to have an immediate withdrawal from this place,” he said.
Eduardo Abdula defended respect for the laws and procedures applicable to demonstrations, warning that the protocol residence is not the appropriate place for this type of actions.
On the complaints of any withholding or irregular marketing of fuel, the governor stated that the proven situations will be forwarded to the competent authorities, including the prosecutor.
“ If it is proved that there are, in fact, bombs that are acting in bad faith, where is the law? Let's use the law. My commitment is to my people. It is not with anyone else”, he said.
The Mozambican Government said in August that it was examining the causes of the new wave of fuel shortages in several areas of the country, after weeks of relative normalisation of the supply that followed the crisis in April and May, caused by the conflict in the Middle East.