A state of emergency, in order to combat the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, has been imposed in Mozambique, with effect from 1 April 2020. This follows the Presidential Decree issued by President Filipe Nyusi on 30 March 2020 and ratified by the Mozambican Parliament.

This unprecedented state of emergency is intended to last until 30 April 2020.

Some of the measures that have been introduced to try to halt the spread of COVID-19 include the following:

• Restrictions on gatherings have been imposed. On 14 March 2020, all gatherings in excess of 300 people were banned, and this limit has now been reduced to 50 people.
• As from 1 April 2020, all meetings except state events and unspecified "social" occasions are banned. The ban covers all political, cultural, sporting and recreational activities, and all religious ceremonies.
• All commercial entertainment establishments must be closed, or "when applicable", their activities need to be reduced. It is still unclear whether this ban extends to restaurants and bars as well.
• A 14-day mandatory quarantine period has been imposed on any person who has been outside the country recently, and on any person who has been in contact with people known to be infected with COVID-19.
• The entry of people at the airports, ports and land borders of Mozambique has been stopped, except for reasons of state, or for reasons related to public health, or for the transport of goods by duly authorised operators. To this end, all entry visas for Mozambique have been suspended.
• Shift work, or other forms of work that reduce person-to-person contact must be introduced in both the public and private sectors. Many employers in Mozambique have already been operating on a reduced staff basis since March and many employees have been sent home.
• The state of emergency also allows the president to limit the movement of people within Mozambique, but this will only be activated “if there is an exponential increase” in cases of contagion. As of 3 April 2020, Mozambique has recorded 10 cases of the virus, with no deaths having yet been suffered.
  
  

The various measures that have been imposed fall short of a full “lockdown”, as is being experienced in South Africa and many other parts of the world at present, but they correspond to level three of the government’s plan to halt the spread of COVID-19. Levels one and two were activated on 14 and 23 March, respectively. Level 4 would implement a total lockdown, and would ban all travel and require all residents in Mozambique to stay at home.

One of the important legal effects of the state of emergency is that all legal time periods have been statutorily suspended for the duration of the state of emergency. From an employment law perspective, this includes the various obligatory time periods applicable to disciplinary proceedings. It will therefore be practically impossible for employers in Mozambique to conclude disciplinary processes against their employees during the month of April and, for example, dismiss employees who may be guilty of serious misconduct.

In terms of Article 68 of the Mozambican Labour Law (Law no. 23/2007 of 1 August), disciplinary proceedings will be invalid if there has been a failure to observe any legal formality, including the time limits that apply to such proceedings. Employers will, therefore, need to wait for the state of emergency to be lifted, and for the time periods to resume once again, in order for them to be able to comply with the procedural requirements that Mozambican law imposes on employers.

Alex Ferreira Executive Employment aferreira@ENSafrica.com +27 82 787 9606

COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus, is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. The disease has since been reported in over 190 countries.