Maputo, 23 Mar (AIM) – Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, announced on Friday that it will hold its next Congress on 15-16 May.
Saimone Macuiana, the election agent of Renamo President Ossufo Momade, revealed the date on the Renamo Facebook page. The date has yet to be approved by the Renamo National Council, which is scheduled to meet in the second fortnight of April.
Macuiana did not say where the Congress will be held, nor how many delegates are to be elected.
The previous Congress was held at a Renamo base in the central district of Gorongosa in January 2019. It was this Congress which elected Momade leader of the party.
Macuiana’s announcement came on the date when the Maputo City Court was due to analyse the injunction proposed by the Renamo candidate for Mayor of Maputo in last year’s municipal elections, Venancio Mondlane, who wanted the court to insist that a date be set for the Congress.
The Renamo statutes say that the Congress should be held every five years, and that the term of office of the Renamo President is five years. Momade’s term of office expired on 17 January and Mondlane argues that the acts he has taken since then – such as dismissing Renamo provincial delegates and appointing new one – are null and void.
Mondlane makes no secret of his desire to replace Momade at the helm of the party. If that happens, Mondlane will almost certainly become the Renamo candidate in the presidential election scheduled for 9 October.
Speaking at a Maputo press conference last Tuesday, the spokesperson for the Renamo parliamentary group, Arnaldo Chalaua, guaranteed that “the National Council will meet as soon as possible to deal with our internal questions”.
“The election clock is ticking and we are not going to be distracted by these little games”, he added.
The parliamentary group, he stressed, does not approve of Mondlane’s court actions against Momade, and considers them “devoid of foundation”.
(AIM)
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