Mulevala (Mozambique), 21 Sep (AIM) – Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party on Friday claimed that 345 members of the main opposition party, Renamo, have defected to Frelimo in Mulevala district, in the central province of Zambezia.
At an election rally in Mulevala, chaired by Gueta Chapo, the wife of the Frelimo presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo, 29 of these defectors were presented to the public. They handed over their Renamo membership cards, and in return received Frelimo propaganda material for the election campaign.
A representative of the group, Paulo Moteia, declared “We used to be in Renamo, and now we are proud to be members of Frelimo”.
Reports of members of one party defecting to another are common during Mozambican election campaigns. In most cases, it is difficult to know whether the supposed defectors were indeed members of their previous party.
From what members of this group said to reporters, it seems that there were no ideological reasons for the defections. Instead, they were disappointed that they had not received the material advantages they claimed that Renamo had promised them.
24 year old Isaura Jose said she had been a member of Renamo for three years, and she left “because I wasn’t seeing anything, I wasn’t seeing good things”.
Faced with “false promises”, she said there was no advantage in being a member of Renamo, and so “I prefer to be in Frelimo”.
50 year old Argelino Muembe said she was a former guerrilla and a member of Renamo for ten years. She said she was a community leader in Mulevala, but had not been paid anything for the last eight years.
She described Frelimo as “a party of good actions”. Frelimo, she claimed, “has done good things here in the district. It has installed electricity, and complete primary and secondary schools. We didn’t have a secondary school here, but now we do”.
The defectors thanked Frelimo for raising Mulevala to the status of a district, and for providing bicycles which allowed students to go to school and complete their studies.
Renamo has not yet responded to this alleged mass defection.
Mulevala used to be part of Ile district, from which it was separated in 2013. In 2012, its population was estimated at about 82,000.
(AIM
Pf/ (372)
