Maputo, 5 Feb (AIM) – The office of Mozambique’s former presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane has announced that it is breaking all ties with Podemos (Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique).
Podemos supported Mondlane’s bid for the Presidency, but Mondlane now regards Podemos leader, Albino Forquilha, as “a traitor” because he disobeyed Mondlane’s order that Podemos should not take up its seats in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.
A Tuesday press release from the “Office of the President of the People”, signed by Mondlane’s legal adviser, Dinis Tivane, accuses Podemos of taking its parliamentary seats “against the will of the people”.
“Our political struggle is fundamentally for the salvation of Mozambique and not for the obsessive achievement of material goods or any financial advantage based on the martyrdom of the people”, declared Tivane.
He claimed that Podemos has done nothing in the fight for justice, but has instead “distanced itself from the legitimate claims of the people”.
Tivane repeats, without any evidence, “rumours of large sums of money and of German vehicles offered to members of Podemos to sell out the people’s struggle. If this is true, it is another betrayal”.
Tivane attacked Forqilha’s decision to take part in a “political dialogue” with President Daniel Chapo and other opposition parties. He regarded this as “the old tactic of accommodation under the mask of inclusion”.
Tivane also claimed that Podemos is in breach of the coalition agreement Forquilha had signed with Mondlane in Manhica, on 21 August 2024. He said all attempts at dialogue with the Podemos leadership had failed.
“Podemos has shown that it is insensitive and inflexible”, accused Tivane. “Podemos is not worth the paper it signed”.
Tivane announced that all relations between Mondlane’s office and Podemos are at an end, and the local delegations of Mondlane’s office have been instructed to act accordingly.
(AIM)
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