CIP Mozambique Elections: Following Frelimo instructions does not always pay

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CIP Mozambique Elections: Following Frelimo instructions does not always pay

7:09 CAT | 20 Dec 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Screen grab/ Renamo Moçambique / Facebook ]

Juidinaldo da Costa Reffel was director of the Namarrói, Zambézia, Secondary School, but had political ambitions. Through a circular of 12 September, STAE-Central instructed the district branches of STAE (Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat) to launch local public tenders to select district directors where these did not exist. Namarrói was one of the districts without a STAE director, and Juidinaldo da Costa stood unopposed – on the specific indication of Frelimo.

Also on the instructions of Frelimo in Zambézia, the Quelimane district STAE recruited Reffel to be chair of a polling station at the Coalane EPC, in the city of Quelimane, 345 km from Namarrói.

He abandoned his school in order to carry out a political party mission of chairing a polling station with a clear purpose: to manipulate the election results in favour of Frelimo.

In the early morning of 12 October, Reffel was the protagonist in a scene worthy of an action movie. He refused to sign the edital and minutes of the polling station where he was chair at Coalane EPC. He kept the documents with him, which obliged supporters of the opposition to grab him and assault him when he tried to run away, still in possession of the documents.

And he was apparently rewarded. On 23 November, a month after the elections, Juidinaldo da Costa Reffel became aware that he would take office in Ile as director of the Namarrói district branch of STAE. The ceremony took place on 29 November, and he would begin his new duties on 1 December.

What he did not know was that Frelimo was not protecting him. His 12 October actions would prevent him from occupying the post for which he had fought so hard. The Provincial Attorney General’s Office had opened two criminal cases against him for electoral crimes.

On the day when he should have begun his duties as STAE district director in Namarrói (1 December), the STAE provincial director in Zambézia received a notification from the Zambézia Provincial Attorney’ Generals Office requesting that Juidinaldo da Costa Reffel be relieved of the duties to which he had been appointed just two days earlier.

On the same day, Reffel wrote a letter resigning from the post of Namarrói district STAE director. He alleged that his resignation request was due to “professional reasons”, without mentioning that his removal was at the request of the Provincial Attorney’s Office.

In prior elections Frelimo has increasingly used education to supply the electoral work force, both campaigners and directors and officials in management posts in distant districts and localities.

But teachers have turned their backs on the government after the failed wage reform which led to the collapse of their finances. Furthermore, the government owes teachers overtime pay. Many teachers had threatened that they would retaliate in the municipal elections. In previous elections teachers assigned by Frelimo to polling station staffs have been the main protagonists of fraud. But Frelimo no longer trusts teachers. This led Frelimo to instruct STAE to avoid placing teachers in key positions in the polling stations. For this reason, it sought directors and others in education managerial positions to be sent to distant districts.

One such was Juidinaldo da Costa Reffel, a loyal servant of Frelimo. He naturally expects a reward. Instead he could receive prison terms (usually converted into fines). Will Frelimo ensure he keeps his original job and is still on the way up?

Source: Centro de Integridade Pública - CIP