The price of resistance

Good afternoon. Taking the Cereals Institute (ICM) to court has a price, and Companhia Industrial da Matola (CIM) is paying it. Both the economy minister and ICM were served on 12 October with CIM’s challenge to the rules governing rice and wheat imports. The following day, ICM announced the suspension of CIM’s imports and the seizure of 3,300 tonnes of wheat at the Port of Matola. On 22 October, it asked commercial banks, copying the Bank of Mozambique, to continue requiring its authorisation and reject CIM’s court certificate as a substitute.

Jurists consulted by Zitamar consider ICM’s actions against CIM unlawful. They argue that service triggered a provisional suspension barring further enforcement against the company, including blocking the wheat and restricting banking access for future imports. That protection applies to CIM; other importers would need their own proceedings to obtain equivalent relief. ICM says the Economy Ministry invoked the exception for serious urgency in the public interest and informed the court. We have not seen that declaration, verified when it reached the court or obtained any subsequent ruling. Whether it justified the action against CIM depends on when and how it was invoked.

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The letter is signed by director-general Luís José Jobe Fazenda, himself a lawyer, who oversees the mechanism alongside Secretary of State for Commerce António Grispos. It asks banks to notify ICM if CIM presents the certificate to unblock transactions. Institutions expressly named as recipients of the court certificate are being enlisted to maintain the controls challenged by the company.

The sums involved are substantial. Canal de Moçambique reports that the charge rose from $5 to $16 per tonne. ICM’s figures record about 615,000 tonnes of rice and wheat imports between May and mid-October. Applying $16 to that volume would yield roughly $9.8m, although this does not establish that every tonne was charged or payment collected. One importer told Zitamar it paid $2m on its wheat last month alone. The jurists question both the charge’s legality and where the proceeds are held.