Elias Dhlakama
Maputo, 18 Jan (AIM) – Col Elias Dhlakama, brother of the late Afonso Dhlakama, who led Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, from 1979 until his death in 2018, has announced his intention of standing for the leadership of the party at its next congress.
Interviewed by the German agency DW Africa, Dhlakama claimed he has support from the party’s grass roots and from unnamed “senior members” of Renamo.
He said he is not afraid of competing against Venancio Mondlane, the Renamo candidate for mayor of Maputo in the recent municipal elections, who declared his intention of standing for the Renamo presidency last week.
Dhlakama made his announcement on the very day, 17 January, that the term of office of the current Renamo leader, Ossufo Momade, expires. Momade was elected President of Renamo at a congress held in January 2019. The Renamo Congress should be held once every five years – but no date has yet been fixed for the 2024 Congress.
“It is public knowledge that the term of office of the Party bodies expires on 17 January”, said Dhlakama. “So, before anything else, a meeting of the National Political Commission must be called in order to prepare the decisions”.
“We must draw up the balance of the municipal elections, which Renamo lost”, he added.
Dhlakama blamed the Renamo defeat on fraud. “We know that we won but were robbed”, he said. “We were given some insignificant municipalities in order to shut Renamo up. But this matter must be debated by the National Council”.
Dhlakama called on Renamo to observe its own statutes which he described as “the Bible and the Constitution of the party”. All Renamo members, he said, must respect the statutes.
The Congress, Dhlakama added, is not just to elect a new President of Renamo, but also the party’s National Council.
Dhlakama said he wanted to revive Renamo and make it “a party of inclusion”. He suggested that the DDR (Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration) of the former Renamo militia, agreed between Momade and President Filipe Nyusi, “should, if possible, be renegotiated, because the soldiers who benefitted from this process are all muttering”.
Dhlakama stood for the Renamo presidency in the 2019 Congress, and came second, with 228 votes from Congress delegates to 410 for Ossufo Momade.
Another candidate in that election, Juliano Picardo, on Wednesday also announced his intention of standing. But in 2019, he only obtained five votes from Congress delegates. He is a former Renamo member of parliament, and currently a political advisor to Momade. He is also a member of the Council of State, a body that advises the President of the Republic.
Interviewed by the Portuguese news agency Lusa, Picardo claimed that he has a “phenomenal” relationship with Momade. “I never distanced myself from the President”, he said.
“The members know that Picardo is very humble”, he said. “They know that I am always willing to train cadres inside the party, and I am always ready to assist the party’s grass roots”.
(AIM)
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