Economic impact of the post-electoral demonstrations of October 2024 on informal commerce: a case study of the municipality of Matola-Rio

Abstract

On October 9, 2024, Mozambique held the seventh general election in its democratic history. While the results of all previous elections generated waves of dissatisfaction and protests from the legally declared defeated political actors, nothing compares to the post-election demonstrations recorded in this final vote. This article aims to understand the economic impact of the October 2024 post-election demonstrations on informal commerce in the municipality of Matola-Rio, Maputo province, as well as the strategies used by vendors to cope with the situation. Methodologically, the research constitutes a qualitative study, where, using bibliographic review and semi-structured interviews, it was possible to collect data related to the phenomenon under study. The results suggest that, despite this municipality being based on an industrial capitalist economy, the informal sector proves to be of paramount importance for the survival of a large part of the population. With the post-election demonstrations and consequent restrictive measures on the movement of people and goods, there was a shortage in the supply of products for sale and a consequent inflation of basic food products, since the supply markets for these are geographically distant. Furthermore, due to the nature of the relationship between informal vendors and their potential buyers, marked by face-to-face contact, with the restrictions on movement, sales became unfeasible, making the informal sector the most economically vulnerable to the aforementioned post-election crisis.