Mondlane demands that lawsuits against him be dropped

Maputo, 23 Nov (AIM) – Mozambican presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane has demanded that the lawsuits against him opened by the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) must be quashed as a condition for his participation in the dialogue proposed by President Filipe Nyusi.

Nyusi has called all four candidates who ran for the Presidency in the general elections of 9 October to a meeting in his office next Tuesday. In addition to Mondlane, the candidates are Daniel Chapo, of the ruling Frelimo Party, Lutero Simango, leader of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), and the President of the former rebel movement, Renamo, Ossufo Momade.

Mondlane is currently in exile, and his exact whereabouts are unknown. He has made it clear that he will not take part personally in the dialogue, if he is at risk of arrest as soon as he sets foot in Mozambique. The PGR has charged him with conspiracy against state security. He also faces a civil suit in which the government is seeking damages equivalent to 505 million US dollars for losses incurred during the demonstrations that Mondlane called.

The authorities have also frozen Mondlane’s bank accounts. Doubtless the money will become accessible again if the PGR drops the charges against him.

One possibility would be for Mondlane to participate virtually. That would mean three of the candidates meeting in person in Nyusi’s office, while the fourth is speaking via an internet link.

On Friday, Mondlane submitted a proposed agenda of 20 points to Nyusi’s office. The key point is “the restoration of electoral truth and justice” – in earlier statements Mondlane made clear that this means accepting that he won the presidential election, and the Podemos party, which backed his presidential bid, won the parliamentary election.

Mondlane has not yet produced the polling station results sheets which, he claims, prove that he won.

No results are definitive until they are validated by the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in terms of constitutional and electoral law. The Council has been considering the results for almost a month, and the electoral law does not establish any deadline for the Council to take its decision.

Mondlane is also demanding that civil and criminal proceedings be initiated against those accused of falsifying election documents.

He wants the government to make a public apology for the police repression of the demonstrations and to compensate the victims of the police violence “to a sum not less than 500,000 meticais (about 7,800 US dollars)”.

He calls for a reform of the electoral legislation, and the abolition of the current National Elections Commission (CNE) and its executive body, the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE).

Several of the points on Mondlane’s proposed agenda have no direct connection with the elections. Thus, he calls for three million homes to be built for young people in five years, a demand he made frequently during the election campaign.

Mondlane insists that the target is possible – but three million homes in five years is 50,000 a month, and Mozambique does not possess the armies of skilled building workers to meet this target.

He also demanded that the Islamist insurgency in the northern province of Cabo Delgado be eliminated within a year, and that the wave of kidnappings of businesspeople be eliminated within six months.

As for the strikes among teachers, health workers and other professional groups, Mondlane wanted their grievances to be settled within six months.

Other of Mondlane’s agenda points are extremely vague – such as “constitutional and state reform” and “financial, economic and fiscal reform”.
(AIM)
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