Maputo, 25 Sep (AIM) – Venancio Mondlane, the independent candidate in the Mozambican presidential election scheduled for 9 October, has urged the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) to treat all electoral crimes equally, regardless of who commits them.
He was speaking to reporters after submitting to the PGR an appeal against dozens of alleged election crimes committed by the ruling Frelimo Party.
He noted that the media had paid great attention to the summons he had received from the PGR because of supposedly insulting language in songs used by his supporters. He regarded this as an example of the PGR’s bias, “giving the impression that Venancio is the greatest offender in this election campaign”.
The central question in the cases he had laid before the PGR, he said, was “the use of public assets for the campaign of a political party. It’s always the same political party that does this, and for me what is most serious is that these are key public assets, in the area of education, for example”.
“There has been large scale investment in vehicles acquired by the Ministry of Education, to support the provinces, the districts and places of difficult access. But these vehicles, and so many others registered as public property, are being used in the campaign of a political party”, said Mondlane.
He also mentioned the use of police vehicles “for the campaign of a certain political party”. Immediately prior to the election campaign, Mondlane added, the Frelimo candidate, Daniel Chapo, had even used the presidential plane for his political work.
The electoral law clearly bans the use of state-owned vehicles, buildings and other assets for purposes of political campaigning. Yet all over the country Frelimo has been caught using state vehicles and holding campaign activities in public buildings.
State-owned cars used in Frelimo campaigns have been photographed and filmed in election after election, but no Frelimo campaign manager has ever been taken to court over this.
Even worse is the abuse of state employees, particularly teachers, who have been forced to take part in the Frelimo campaign. Election observers from the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), have noted that the drafting of teachers into the election campaign means that in parts of the country children have been deprived of their classes. There have even been reports that teachers who refuse to join the campaign have been threatened with reprisals.
Mondlane said that, when it came to election violence, “we have 30 or 40 cases involving the ruling party”, but the police had taken no action.
He stressed the need to “depoliticize the state” – separating state functions from political parties.
(AIM)
Pf/ (447)
