
Maputo, 18 Sep (AIM) – The President of South Africa and of its ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), Cyril Ramaphosa, on Tuesday received Daniel Chapo, the Frelimo candidate in Mozambique’s presidential election scheduled for 9 October.
This was described as a “courtesy visit”, along the lines of those that Chapo has made to other members of SADC (Southern African Development Community).
He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Veronica Macamo, Frelimo Political Commission member Alcinda Abreu, and Manuel Mazuze, the adviser on diplomatic matters of the current president, Filipe Nyusi.
The ANC has consistently supported Frelimo in previous Mozambican elections.
The content of the discussion was not made public, apart from jokes about Chapo’s height. “I didn’t know you were so tall”, remarked Ramaphosa.
Immediately afterwards, Chapo met with Frelimo members and sympathisers among the Mozambican diaspora in South Africa. Helder David, the secretary of the Frelimo Committee in South Africa, told Chapo that, in the first fortnight of September, his working group had reached over 70,000 Mozambican voters – 32 per cent of the total registered in South Africa.
Chapo described his candidature as a “renewal” of Frelimo. He said he was a candidate who wanted to serve the Mozambican people rather than make use of the privileges that the post of Head of State offers.
He added that he wants to govern “in a different way” from his predecessors in the Frelimo governments that had ruled the country for the past half century, in order to achieve “different results” which would relaunch the economy and improve the life of the people.
Chapo then returned immediately to the election campaign in the northern province of Nampula, where, on Wednesday, he is scheduled to visit the district of Nacala-a-Velha, the first place that Chapo had governed as a district administrator.
(AIM)
Pf/ (304)