Mozambique's Regulator Failed Its Constitutional Law Test
Shutdowns · 23.09.2026

Mozambique gave its telecom regulator a homework assignment in constitutional law, and it failed.

The country's Constitutional Council has ruled 18 provisions of the Telecommunications Traffic Control Regulation (Decree No. 48/2025) unconstitutional. The document handed Mozambique's National Communications Institute (INCM) a generous set of powers: to monitor traffic, collect user data, interfere with operators' networks without their consent, and surveil communications — all, of course, "to protect state security and combat fraud." As usual.

The core of the ruling isn't about any specific shutdown, but about a principle: the government cannot grant itself powers to restrict fundamental rights through a mere decree. The Council called this "organic unconstitutionality" — the executive branch overstepped into the legislature's role, deciding on its own what could be done with citizens' rights. Under the Constitution, only the Assembly of the Republic gets to decide such matters — not an agency with broad powers and a short fuse.

And this isn't an isolated case of judicial heroism. In Zimbabwe in 2019, the High Court told the Minister of State Security he had no legal authority to shut down the internet during protests over fuel price hikes. The ECOWAS Court ruled the three-day shutdown in Togo in 2017 illegal and ordered compensation. In Nigeria, the seven-month Twitter ban was declared a violation of freedom of expression. In Guinea, a court reminded authorities that even having a law on the books doesn't help — restrictions must still be necessary and proportionate. In Senegal, the 2023 shutdown deprived a man not only of his right to speak, but of his right to work — he's an IT consultant.

Meanwhile, in 2025 the #KeepItOn coalition recorded 30 shutdowns across 15 African countries. So courts keep writing brilliant rulings, while the executive branch keeps living in its own parallel regulation.

A court victory is good news, but after-the-fact justice doesn't restore weeks lost without internet, work, or connection. What's needed is independent oversight, transparency, and real mechanisms for appeal before the switch gets flipped — not years afterward.

Source: https://cipesa.org/2026/09/mozambiques-internet-shutdown-case-african-courts-draw-a-line-on-executive-power/