Mozambique recorded 611 road accidents in 2025 that resulted in the death of 830 people, an increase of five deaths compared to the previous year, the Mozambican prosecutor announced today in parliament, admitting a lack of professionalism among drivers.
While presenting the annual information from the Public Ministry (MP) regarding 2025 to deputies, Attorney General Américo Letela indicated that Maputo province leads the number of deaths, with 152, followed by the city of Maputo, with 139, and Gaza with 88, all in southern Mozambique.
“The lack of professionalization of public transport, semi-collective, and cargo drivers contributes to the accident rate, making it necessary for this class of workers to be subject to a professional license for the exercise of this activity and to periodic evaluation, including of their individual conduct,” said the Mozambican Attorney General.
According to the official, the accidents are also related to the violation of preventive norms, deficiencies in road inspection, and poor technical conditions of vehicles, requesting, therefore, responsibility from the sector responsible for licensing public passenger transport.
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For the Public Ministry, it is necessary that public lighting and signaling keep up with the growth of the vehicle fleet to avoid accidents, also admitting challenges regarding the lack of rigor in driver training, corruption schemes, and falsification in the issuance of driver’s licenses.
“Still regarding accidents, we must share a growing and worrying reality that has been imposing itself as a risk to road safety (…) we refer to the proliferation of the use of motorcycle taxis, driven by unqualified individuals, without due observance of the minimum driving rules, in manifest violation of the permitted capacity limits of these means,” said Letela, requesting licensing and registration mechanisms for these operators, including due road inspection to stop accidents.
The Mozambican Public Ministry pointed to corruption at the National Road Transport Institute (Inatro) as one of the causes of road accidents, accusing the entity of “irregular or fraudulent” issuance of driver’s licenses, putting drivers on the road without proper preparation.
“This phenomenon contributes to the increase in road accidents, weakens the authority of the regulatory State, and turns the road into a space of permanent risk for citizens. Corruption, in this context, ceases to be an administrative or criminal problem to become a concrete threat to the life and physical integrity of people,” declared Américo Letela.
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The Attorney General assumed that there is corruption in the traffic police which also raises the rates of road accidents, weakening the State’s authority on national roads by accepting “illicit advantages” to allow the circulation of vehicles in poor condition, ignoring serious infractions, or tolerating driving under the influence of alcohol, or without a legal license.
“The practice of driving by unqualified people, the circulation of vehicles without minimum safety conditions, and semi-collective transport in an irregular situation are direct consequences of acts of corruption by inspection entities and weaknesses in inspection mechanisms,” he stated.
On November 27, the Mozambican President warned the police to take measures to stop road accidents, which he also associates with corruption practices in the corporation, not understanding how the commanders can “sleep” in this scenario. The Mozambican Attorney General also stated that lake, maritime, and rail accidents killed 54 people in 2025.
