Maputo, 15 May (AIM) – Attempts to exclude Venancio Mondlane from the Congress of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, failed on Wednesday when a court declared that Mondlane had every right to attend the Congress.
Mondlane was the Renamo candidate for mayor of Maputo in last year’s municipal elections, and led the subsequent demonstrations against the fraudulent results announced by the National Elections Commission (CNE).
He is one of the best known public faces of Renamo, and had declared his intention of running for the Renamo Presidency at the Congress.
Mondlane was elected a delegate to the Congress from the Maputo municipal district of KaMabukwana, but the chairperson of the Renamo Maputo City Provincial Conference, Samuel Manjate, announced that Mondlane would not be allowed to attend the Congress.
Mondlane’s reaction was to take out an injunction against Renamo demanding, in the name of democracy, that he be allowed to attend the Congress.
The injunction went to the district court in Alto Molocue, the district in the central province of Zambezia where the Congress is being held. The court gave its ruling on Wednesday morning, in favour of Mondlane and ordering the Renamo leadership to let him into the Congress.
The Congress should have begun at 09.00, but proceedings did not get under way until 14.00. The Renamo spokesperson, Jose Manteigas, claimed this was because of the logistical problems involved in bringing the provincial delegations to Alto Molocue from all over the country.
The opening session was carefully choreographed – there were formal speeches from the leader of the Renamo Women’s League, its Youth League and its organization of former guerrilla fighters. This is a carbon copy of how events of the ruling Frelimo Party are organized, with greetings from the party’s women’s, youth and veterans’ organisations.
But then messages were presented to the Congress by each of the ten provincial political delegates – and the main point in these messages, repeated over and over again, was unflinching support for the current Renamo President, Ossufo Momade, who is hoping that this Congress will re-elect him for a second term.
For example, the Gaza provincial delegate declared “We want to confirm that we have come to give a vote of confidence for the re-election of Ossufo Momade”, while from Sofala came the message “the time has come to hold a party at this Congress, and to leave convinced that victory belongs to General Ossufo Momade”.
The Zambezia delegate went much further, declaring that he was willing to die for Momade.
These speeches were clearly planned in advance to give the impression that Momade enjoys overwhelming support inside Renamo.
Momade himself gave a short opening speech, in which he did not mention Venancio Mondlane, but claimed that unnamed party members “want to turn Renamo into a battle ground”.
He denied the claim that Mondlane’s repeated resort to the courts had forced Renamo to hold a Congress. The argument that his term of office had expired on 17 January was untrue, since the party’s statutes allowed Renamo leaders to remain in office beyond the five year limit, and they need only resign when a new Congress was held.
“No-one is forcing us to hold this Congress”, declared Momade. “They shouldn’t lecture us about democracy, since we are the fathers of democracy”.
(AIM)
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