Frelimo says Machel Junior kept party in the dark – AIM report

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Frelimo says Machel Junior kept party in the dark – AIM report

7:01 CAT | 15 Aug 2018

File photo: RM

Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party said on Tuesday that Samora Machel Junior (better known as “Samito”), the son of the country’s first President, Samora Machel, did not inform the party before deciding to run as an independent in the municipal elections scheduled for 10 October.

Machel accepted an invitation from the civil society coalition “Ajudem” to stand as the head of its list of candidates for the Maputo Municipal Assembly. The head of the list is automatically the candidate for mayor.

The spokesperson for the Frelimo Central Committee, Caifadine Manasse, interviewed by the independent television station STV, said “officially, we have no information”.

He pointed out that Machel remains a member of the Central Committee, and so he had “the moral obligation to inform the Party leadership that he is putting himself forward as a candidate”.

But Manasse claimed that Frelimo is not worried by Machel’s decision. “Frelimo is a party that is clear about its principles”, he said. “We are not concerned about this matter. We are working for the 53 municipalities, and we are looking to the Frelimo programme approved by our 11th Congress (held last year)”.

Since Machel has not yet resigned from the Central Committee, or been in contact with the Party leadership about his decision, Frelimo has so far taken no disciplinary measures against him.

But the Party’s statutes are quite clear. They forbid Frelimo members from standing in elections for any other party or movement without explicit authorisation. The penalty for breaking this rule could be expulsion from the party.

But since Machel is a member of the Central Committee, only the Central Committee has the power to expel him.

It would obviously be highly embarrassing for the Party to expel the son of the man who led it to military victory over Portuguese colonialism, and who proclaimed Mozambique’s independence in 1975.

Samito is the son of Samora Machel and of his first wife, Josina, who was a liberation war hero in her own right, and died of illness in Tanzania in 1971.

The Frelimo candidate for mayor of Maputo is former Finance Minister Eneas Comiche, who was mayor of the city between 2004 and 2009. He has a reputation for competence and integrity, and waged war against corruption in the City Council when he was mayor. This made him enemies, and, despite Comiche’s willingness to stand for a second term, he was not selected as the Frelimo mayoral candidate in the 2008 municipal elections.

Currently Comiche is a member of the Frelimo Political Commission, and the chairperson of the Plan and Budget Commission of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. What will tell against him is his age – Comiche is 79, and “Ajudem” clearly intends to mobilise the youth vote.

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Source: AIM