Declined

Mozambique’s Minister of Justice, Helena Kida, has declined to comment on the scandal at the Matalana police training centre, on the outskirts of Maputo, where male instructors impregnated 15 women trainees. An internal dispatch from the general commander of the police, Bernadino Rafael, widely circulated on social media earlier this month, suspended all the instructors involved from their duties and barred them from setting foot in the centre. The abused women were sent to their home provinces, but will be allowed to complete their training at a future date. Questioned about the scandal on Monday by the independent television station STV, Kida said she had not yet had “enough time to sit down and study what happened at Matalana”. She said it would be better to wait for an official statement from the Ministry of the Interior. “I think the best thing to do is wait”, she said. But the scandal has been in the public domain for over a week, and there is no sign of any statement from the Interior Ministry.

The Ombudsman, Isaque Chande, was more forthright. He told STV that what had happened to the women trainees was “lamentable”, and similar abuses could well be happening in other institutions. “It’s possible there are other situations we don’t know about”, said Chande. “The most important thing is that Mozambican society has condemned this behaviour”.