Presidente do município de Quelimane, capital da província central da Zambézia, Manuel de Araújo
Maputo, 19 Jan (AIM) – Manuel de Araujo, the mayor of the central Mozambican city of Quelimane, has said that he may run for the Presidency of the main opposition party, Renamo.
In an interview with the Portuguese news agency Lusa, Araujo said “If I note that there is no candidate who meets the interests of young people, who responds to the interests of women, who meets the interests of the veterans who fought for freedom, at that time I, as a militant of the party, will feel obliged to run as an alternative candidate”.
Araujo is Renamo’s most successful politician. He has been elected mayor of Quelimane four times – in a mayoral by-election in 2011, and in three nationwide municipal elections, in 2013, 2018 and 2023. In 2011 and 2013 he stood as the mayoral candidate of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), but in 2018 he defected from the MDM and switched his allegiance to Renamo.
Five people have now indicated their interest in contesting for the Renamo presidency. They are the incumbent, Ossufo Momade, Elias Dhlakama, who is the younger brother of the late Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, a former Renamo parliamentarian, and advisor to Momade, Juliano Picardo, and the two most visible faces of Renamo in last year’s municipal elections – Araujo, and the Renamo candidate for mayor of Maputo, Venancio Mondlane.
Until this week, Mondlane was also a political advisor to Momade, but he has now been removed from that post. According to the Renamo national spokesperson, Jose Manteigas, cited by the independent television station, STV, Mondlane’s dismissal from the post of adviser has nothing to do with his desire to become leader of Renamo.
On the contrary, it is intended to give him more time to prepare his campaign for the top party position.
The successor to Momade should be decided at a Renamo congress. The Congress that elected Momade was held in January 2019, and Momade’s five year term of office expired on Tuesday. But no date has been fixed for the next Congress, or even for a meeting of the Renamo National Council.
Araujo insisted that Renamo must obey its own statutes, and rapidly organize meetings of the National Council and the Congress. He noted that Renamo calls itself “the father of democracy”. This should not just be a slogan, he said, but should be put into practice.
He added that a further term of office as Renamo President would be possible for Momade, but “only if he undergoes a metamorphosis”, in order to become more prepared, forceful and active.
(AIM)
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