Maputo, 15 Mar (AIM) – Manuel Bissopo, the former general secretary of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, on Thursday urged members of the Renamo National Council to call a party congress to elect a new leadership.
Speaking at a press conference in the central city of Beira, Bissopo joined the chorus of voices, inside and outside Renamo, calling for the immediate convening of a party congress.
The last Congress was held in January 2019, and elected Ossufo Momade as President of Renamo. The Renamo statutes state that the Congress should be held every five years. But the current leadership, under Momade, has not set a date for the 2024 Congress, and Momade’s term of office expired on 17 January.
Cited by the independent television station STV, Bissopo said Momade has lost the confidence of Renamo members and of civil society. “If anyone still has confidence in him, it’s a very small group”, he stressed. “This can’t be brushed under the carpet”.
He claimed the current crisis in Renamo was the result of the attitude of Momade’s advisers whom he believed were only interested in their own future.
“I’m not part of the day-to-day management of the party”, said Bissopo. “But I feel there is no will on the part of the leadership and those around them. The party president is one person and he doesn’t do everything. There are people whom he consults, and they also bear part of the blame”.
Bissopo also distanced himself from Venancio Mondlane, the Renamo candidate for mayor of Maputo in the recent municipal elections. Mondlane has become the best known opponent of Momade within the party. He resorted successfully to the Maputo City Law Court for an injunction to stop Momade from running Renamo even after his term of office has expired,
The court granted the injunction and suspended all decisions taken by Momade since 17 January. The court thus seemed to agree with Mondlane that Momade had lost his legitimacy.
Bissopo recalled that Mondlane had been a political advisor to Momade for five years, but Momade sacked him when it became clear that Mondlane intended to run for the presidency of Renamo.
“First, he (Mondlane) should have advised the President not to fall into these follies”, said Bissopo. “Second, he should not have waited to be sacked. He should have resigned to show that he is a person of integrity”.
“I’m not a specialist in law”, added Bissopo, “but I feel it will not be the courts that solve the internal problems of the party”.
He believed the time had come for the 120 members of the National Council to show that Renamo is democratic and that it does not defend merely personal interests.
The Renamo statutes say that the party congress is called, either by the Renamo President, or by a third of the members of the National Council. “This means that 40 Council members can officially convene the Congress, without needing to go to court”, he stressed.
In an interview broadcast on Wednesday on the independent television station STV, Momade claimed that Bissopo had distanced himself from Renamo. Bissopo retorted that this was untrue.
“The Party President came here to Beira, he stayed for a week, and did not invite me to any meeting of cadres. So how am I isolating myself?”, Bissopo asked.
Meanwhile, in Maputo the court proceedings are continuing. The Maputo City Court summoned Momade to give his version of events, and thus respond to Venancio Mondlane’s accusations.
Mondlane went to the court on Friday morning, accompanied by his lawyer, and told reporters he was there “to prove the facts” which the court had announced last week.
(AIM)
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