Maputo, 5 Jan (AIM) – Jose Manteigas, the spokesperson for Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, has claimed that the party’s leader, Ossufo Momade, will be its candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for October, even without any decision by the party’s National Council, which will meet in the near future.
According to Manteigas, interviewed on Thursday by the independent television station STV, an attempt is under way to discredit Momade.
Some self-styled political analysts”, claim Momade is a weak candidate because of his allegedly feeble communication capacity when compared to his predecessor the late Afonso Dhlakama.
In reality Momade has several advantages over Dhlakama – notably his ability to negotiate a peace accord with President Filipe Nyusi. While Dhlakama violated every agreement he ever signed, Momade brought the remaning Renamo guerrillas to lay down their weapons, and accept integration into Mozambican society, under the DDR (Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration) programme.
On Mozambican social media, there are frequent opposition claims that Momade is a leader who accepts everything that is proposed by the ruling Frelimo party. It is openly said that Renamo needs a younger leader, and one of those suggested is Venancio Mondlane who was Renamo candidate for mayor of Maputo in the municipal elections held on 11 October.
“Running in the local elections is not enough for people to consider themselves better than the President of Renamo”, Manteigas told STV, obviously referring to men such as Mondlane and the Mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araujo.
But according to Manteigas, Ossufo Momade is the only figure capable of representing the party, because “President Ossufo Momade has demonstrated his ability. We give the example of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme. Many people criticized it. They even said that the DDR had no legs to stand on, but he brought it to a successful conclusion and today the Renamo fighters are demobilized, some with pensions and others waiting for pensions.”
In November Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced that at least 645 former Renamo guerrillas are receiving their pensions under the DDR programme, agreed between the government and Renamo.
Between 2019 and June of this year, about 5,000 members of the Renamo militia were demobilized under the DDR, and the final 16 Renamo military bases were closed.
Manteigas stressed that Ossufo Momade is the only candidate with the requirements for the presidential contest, but he acknowledged that Momade’s candidacy may not be consensual within Renamo.
“We know that there is an attempt to discredit President Ossufo Momade, because some are in the party to achieve personal goals and not the interests of the Renamo party, which is why these people are creating tentacles of internal instability”, said Manteigas. “But these people are not going anywhere, because this party has solid foundations and knows the people who are committed to the Renamo cause”, Manteigas said.
“Just because we had a great result in Maputo, does that mean that the mayoral candidate is better than the President, the one who ratified his nomination for Maputo City? And those others, who won, don’t they have the capacity too?”, he questioned.
“When it is said that Venancio must be the candidate, where was that decided?”, asked Manteigas.
Manteigas pointed out that, as in many other parties, it is the leader who becomes the presidential candidate. According to the Renamo statutes, the party leader is elected at a Congress held every five years.
Momade has democratic legitimacy, since he won election at a Renamo Congress held in January 2019. The next congress should be held this year, although no date has yet been set.
(AIM)
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