This incident is greatly concerning, as it forms part of a series of similar shootings of outspoken opponents of the government. On 3 March last year, the esteemed Mozambican academic Prof Gilles Cistac was assassinated by unknown gunmen on the streets of Maputo. Acting as advisor to Renamo, Prof Cistac spoke out in favour of federalism and decentralisation, arguing that such options are compatible with the country’s constitution. Prof Cistac was a staff member of the Faculty of Law of Eduardo Mondlane University, with whom the Centre collaborates in presenting its Master’s programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa.

The Centre is concerned that, almost a year after his killing, the ongoing investigation still has not yielded any results.

We have submitted a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, urging him to take up this matter with the Mozambican government.

We request the Government of Mozambique to bring its investigation into Prof Cistac’s death to finality, based on the principle of independence and impartiality and in keeping with the maxim that justice delayed is justice denied.

We also request the South African government to take note of this trend, and to engage with, and if needs be, support its counterparts in the government of Mozambique to bring the perpetrators of these killings to justice.

For more information, please contact:

Prof Frans Viljoen
Director, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 3228
Email: [email protected]
www.chr.up.ac.za