Maputo, 24 Feb (AIM) – Dinis Tivane, the legal adviser of former Mozambican presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, has denounced a murder attempt against him and his family after unknown assailants machine-gunned his house.
Tivane, through his Facebook account, showed the 24 bullet holes in his house left by the attackers, who struck after midnight on Sunday. Tivane and his family were not at home at the time: he had travelled to South Africa on personal business.
Tivane believes that the murder attempt was politically motivated, since Mondlane’s supporters have been the victims of harassment, especially those who organized and participated in the mass protests against the fraudulent results of the elections held on 9 October, giving victory to the ruling Frelimo party and its candidate, Daniel Chapo.
“I can no longer remain silent in the face of these attacks. Since the last time they came to my house and shot at the security guard, I’ve had to make these posts. This time it was dawn and they machine-gunned my house from my gate”, Tivane said.
“A neighbour told me that the individuals were transported in a white Toyota Hilux GD-6. They were initially on the other side of the road and then positioned the car right in front of my gate and opened fire”, he said.
“The other neighbours say it was a real scene of terror”, he added.
According to Tivane, these attacks are aimed at intimidating him and forcing him to stop supporting Mondlane’s political campaigns, “but we will never stop. We will continue fighting in order to save Mozambique from these criminals who control the state.”
“We are being hunted down for expressing our own ideas, but this is a free country and we have the right to express our thoughts. Our opponents are weak, they only have guns and this is their response against those who have different ideas. If Frelimo controls the state institutions, why does it have to shoot against those who have different ideas?”, he asked.
Last October, before the mass demonstrations got started, Elvino Dias, who was Mondlane’s lawyer, and Paulo Guambe, an election agent for the Podemos political party, which had supported Mondlane’s presidential bid, were gunned down by a death squad in central Maputo.
(AIM)
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