Four people were detained in Mozambique after allegedly plotting to vandalise one of the largest hydro-electric dams in Africa. Foreigners caught with materials designed to damage the Cahora Bassa dam in northwestern Mozambique reportedly tried to put a corrosive chemical in the dam’s turbines.
National police spokesperson Pedro Cossa told a weekly briefing in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, that the officials had confiscated 1,100lb (500kg) of an unidentified corrosive substance from the saboteurs – a 21-year old South African, a 28-year old Botswanan pilot, a 50-year old German soldier, and a 30-year old Portuguese hotel worker.
Tete police chief Jamal Chande said samples of the substance had been sent to the capital for analysis and criminal charges have been filed against the men.
The Cahora Bassa dam, on the Zambezi River, is a vital source of electricity for Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Mozambique is among African countries which have pledged to provide electricity to South Africa during next year’s World Cup to prevent power cuts.