Ex-boyfriend’s

The Maputo City Judicial Court has decided to prevent Josina Machel, daughter of the first Mozambican president, Samora Machel, from using her ex-boyfriend’s name in campaigns against domestic violence. The source said that the court’s decision was taken in response to a request for an injunction, requested by Rofino Licuco, Josina Machel’s former boyfriend. The decision is provisional and its final effectiveness depends on Licuco’s bringing a principal case.

Last week, the court published an edict giving Josina Machel eight days to pronounce on the injunction filed by her ex-boyfriend. The court also prohibited the NGO Kulhuvuka, founded by Josina Machel, from associating the name of Rofino Licuco with campaigns on violence against women.

Josina Machel and Rofino Licuco are awaiting a decision on the appeal that Samora Machel’s daughter brought before the Supreme Court. The appeal was brought against the annulment, decreed in June 2020, of the sentence against the ex-boyfriend for alleged domestic violence, to three years in prison and to the payment of compensation of 200 million meticais (€2.3 million at the time) for non-pecuniary loss and 579,000 meticais (almost €7,000) for pecuniary loss. In a first instance decision, Rofino Licuco had been sentenced in June 2017 for acts of aggression that caused Josina Machel to partially lose her sight. The alleged aggression occurred in October 2015, during an argument between the two, on one of the avenues in the centre of the Mozambican capital.