Maputo, 6 Jan (AIM) – Venancio Mondlane, the candidate for mayor of Maputo of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, in the recent municipal elections, announced on Friday that he is considering running for the presidency of Renamo.
Should he succeed, Mondlane will almost certainly be the Renamo candidate for President of the Republic in the general elections scheduled for October.
Mondlane was speaking to reporters outside the Administrative Tribunal where he submitted an appeal against the Constitutional Council, for its failure to explain its ruling validating the municipal elections.
Reporters wanted Mondlane’s reaction to the announcement two days earlier by the Renamo national spokesperson, Jose Manteigas, that the current Renamo leader, Ossufo Momade, will be the party’s presidential candidate.
Mondlane replied that he considered the statements by Manteigas as “illegal”, and not supported by any Renamo bodies.
Videos from people claiming to be young Renamo supporters have appeared on Mozambican social media declaring their support for an eventual presidential bid by Mondlane.
Cited by the independent television station STV, Mondlane said he is assessing his base of support, and will announce in the near future whether he will stand for the leadership of Renamo and for the Presidency of the Republic.
He did not believe this would cause any friction with Ossufo Momade. Mondlane is currently an advisor to Momade.
“I admit that the statements by Jose Manteigas have acted as a catalyst for the reflection I was making”, said Mondlane. “If I reach the conclusion that there is indeed support from the members of Renamo and also from the voters, from young Mozambicans, then I guarantee here and now that I shall put myself forward”.
This was part of a pre-election debate, he added, and he saw no reason why it should cause friction within Renamo.
The mayor of the central city of Quelimane, Manuel de Araujo, who is a member of the Renamo National Council, also condemned the statements made by Manteigas. He said they violated the Renamo statutes, and suggested that the Party’s Jurisdictional Council should intervene.
“Either Jose Manteigas does not know the statutes and has not read them, or he has violated them flagrantly”, accused Araujo.
“Renamo is the father of democracy, and this implies complying with democratic precepts”, he continued. By declaring Momade the party’s presidential candidate, Manteigas “is usurping the powers of the National Council, of which I am a member”.
He suggested that Renamo should set up a Department of Sociology and Anthropology to study voting trends and public opinion, “because you don’t make politics outside of public opinion”.
Araujo stressed that Renamo is owned “not by the Political Commission, the National Council or the President, but by the party members. So there must be a mechanism whereby party members are consulted every now and then through processes and platforms, for the good of the organization”.
Araujo recalled that Momade’s term of office ends this month, five years after the Renamo Congress that elected him the party’s president. That, he warned, made it urgent to call a meeting of the National Council to fix the date of this year’s Congress.
(AIM)
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