Judicial magistrates today suspended the strike that had been scheduled to start this Friday (09) after talks with the government, announced the president of the Mozambican Association of Judges (AMJ).

As Esmeraldo Matavele explained to journalists in Maputo, the reason for this is that, for the first time since the announcement of the demands, the government has opened up lines of dialogue "to seek solutions to the problems we raised in our demands booklet". But also because work has begun that should culminate in the financial independence of the judicial sector.

"For the first time in the Republic of Mozambique, the state as a whole is taking on the issue of the financial independence of the judiciary as a priority," he said, noting that it was the central point of the list of demands.

In particular, he said that a multisectoral task force had already been set up, comprising members of the judiciary, including the AMJ, and members of the government.

"This team is responsible for drawing up the anti-proposal for a law, which will then make its way through parliament, so that once and for all we have financial independence for the judiciary. We want the judiciary to stop kneeling and humiliating itself in order to be able to carry out its activities," he said.

Matavele also said that progress had been made on the implementation of the Single Salary Table (TSU), "which has caused serious problems for the judiciary".

"The TSU has practically strangled the careers of the judicial magistrature, as well as the Public Prosecutor's Office, and our fellow bailiffs," he said, noting that "the Ministry of State Administration and Civil Service and the Ministry of Economy and Finance have already completed the process of reviewing the National Career and Remuneration System. The information we have is that in this legislative process, which ended this week, the specific nature of the judicial function has been respected. We hope this is the case, because the TSU issue is very complex and painful for us."

He warned that the TSU issue is "enough to cause the strike to be reactivated at any moment".