Maputo, 3 Nov (AIM) – “There are infiltrators in Frelimo who have won positions and have taken the President of the Party (Filipe Nyusi) down paths never before taken”, accused Samora Machel Junior (Samito), son of Mozambique’s first President, Samora Machel, cited on Thursday by the independent television station STV.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an international symposium in Maputo, marking the 90th anniversary of the birth of his father, Machel said the situation within the ruling Frelimo Party “is not good”.
“We, as a party, have to see how we can improve our internal situation”, he continued. “We have members who have infiltrated the Party, joining in a process that was not clear”.
Some of them had now “risen to positions within the Party, which make them very close to the President. And they have taken the President down paths we never trod on before as a Party”.
Nyusi could not be blamed for all of this. Machel admitted that, when he became President in 2015, Nyusi faced “a complicated situation right from the start”.
From his predecessor, Armando Guebuza, he had inherited the crisis of the “hidden debts” – the illicit loans for more than two billion dollars that three fraudulent, security-linked companies (Proindicus, Ematum and MAM) had obtained from the banks Credit Suisse and VTB of Russia. Guebuza’s finance minister, Manual Chang, had signed illegal guarantees covering a hundred per cent of the loans.
When the fake companies went predictably bankrupt, the Mozambican state became liable to repay the full amount. These hidden debts, Machel said, led to cuts in financial support to the country.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) suspended its programme with Mozambique, and the 14 donors who had provided aid in the form of direct budget support suspended all further disbursements.
On top of this financial crisis, Machel added, the country was struck by natural disasters and by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While Nyusi’s government was attempting to deal with all of this, “the infiltrators were rising to significant positions, and influenced many internal processes within the Party”, Machel said.
Machel had come under criticism earlier for a letter he wrote accusing the police, in the wake of the municipal elections, of shooting dead four protestors, in Chiure municipality, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The police replied that they had “only” killed one person and threatened to sue Machel.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve written letters”, said Machel. “These letters have been addressed to the President of the Party, as a way of participating and making my contribution to the Party”.
As for the municipal elections, described as “a mega-fraud” by the opposition parties, Machel said “something went wrong in these elections and we need, as a society, to look at the situation, to discuss and to solve the question. For as long as we do not solve this situation, we are going to have problems”.
(AIM)
Pf/ (494)
