Maputo, 26 Nov (AIM) – Several dozen members and supporters of Mozambique’s main parliamentary opposition party, Renamo, on Monday occupied the party’s headquarters in Maputo, and demanded that the party’s leader, Ossufo Momade, be sacked.
They blamed Momade for Renamo’s poor performance in the 9 October general elections. The preliminary results from the elections, announced by the National Elections Commission (CNE) on 24 October, showed that Renamo dropped to third position, behind both the ruling Frelimo Party and the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), which had supported the independent presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane.
According to a report on the independent television station, STV, the protest began with 26 demobilised Renamo fighters, but they were joined by groups from the Renamo youth and women’s wings.
All blamed Momade for the party’s current poor condition. They included old enemies of Momade, such as the former spokesperson for Mariano Nhongo, who called himself leader of the “Renamo Military Junta”, and died in a clash with the Mozambican army in October 2021.
“Ossufo Momade is ignorant and a tribalist”, he said. “We don’t want to work with an individual of this sort. He must resign.”
The Renamo national spokesperson Marcial Macome on Tuesday called for calm, and told the dissidents to present their concerns “at the appropriate forum”.
“Things take time, and they will be solved”, he promised. “The question of leadership is nothing new in any part of the world”.
In any democracy, it was normal for leaders to face opposition, he said, but this did not mean “subverting the institutions”.
An advisor to Momade, Mohamed Yassine, claimed that the concerns of the dissidents were related to the holding of a meeting of the Renamo National Council. He promised this meeting would happen later this year.
He claimed a consensus had been reached, but gave no details.
(AIM)
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