Podemos confirms break with Mondlane

Maputo, 19 Feb (AIM) – The Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) has confirmed its break with former presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane.

A Podemos press release issued on Tuesday said that the coalition agreement between Podemos and Mondlane was now at an end. The coalition agreement dates from August 2024, and was the basis for the support from Podemos for Mondlane’s presidential campaign.

The end of the coalition was announced on 4 February by Mondlane’s legal adviser, Dinis Tivane, who accused Podemos of “selling out the people’s struggle”.

Podemos retorted that at no stage had it violated the coalition agreement. Those responsible for the breach, it accused were Mondlane himself and his advisers such as Tivane.

Mondlane’s main complaint against Podemos is that its parliamentary deputies, elected last October, defied his instructions and took their seats in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.

Podemos retorted that the question of boycotting the new parliament was not covered by the coalition agreement, and so Podemos could not be obliged to obey the boycott.

Mondlane’s use of the term “traitor” to describe Podemos was no way to treat partners in the same struggle, said the Podemos release. It was the attitude of someone “who is adopting inconsistent and extremist positions”.

Podemos noted that Mondlane had taken his own parliamentary seat after previous elections, which were also marked by accusations of fraud. Mondlane was first elected as a member of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), but then defected to join Renamo, on whose ticket he was elected in the 2019 elections. Podemos is thus the third political party that Mondlane has broken with in the space of a decade.

The Podemos parliamentary deputies and members of the provincial assemblies took their seats transparently and without any cowardice, said the release. “They took office in broad daylight, under the eyes of all Mozambicans and of the world”, Podemos said. “This did not violate the agreement, and it is not an act of betrayal. It shows a culture of State”.

It warned that henceforth all the statements and acts of Venancio Mondlane “no longer have any political connection” with Podemos.
(AIM)
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