Mozambique Elections: Dhlakama’s son, Bilal Sulay, explains why he left Renamo for CAD – DW

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Mozambique Elections: Dhlakama’s son, Bilal Sulay, explains why he left Renamo for CAD – DW

8:46 CAT | 08 Jul 2024

Image: DW

Dhlakama’s son has left the family’s political home to join the Democratic Alliance Coalition, but says it is not a betrayal of his father’s ideals – he is just pursuing them in a different shirt. Sulay says he leaves with the blessing of Dhlakama family members who remain in Renamo.
Bilal Sulay is the son of the emblematic Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) leader, Afonso Dhlakama, now deceased. In the vigour of his youth, he has shown nonconformity with the direction that Mozambique’s largest opposition party is taking and has changed his path, but all the while carrying the proposals of the “father of democracy” with him.

Today, he wears the colours of the political formation of the moment: the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD). Sulay teamed up with Venâncio Mondlane, another “deserter of the ‘Partridge’ party”. Dhlakama’s son is sure that his new home will make a difference to the country. Read Bilal Sulay’s exclusive interview with DW.

DW Africa: Aren’t you betraying your father’s ideals by joining CAD?

Bilal Sulay (BS): No, I’m not, for one simple reason: during this journey with Renamo, I felt sure of my father’s ideals. What made me move away from Renamo is that my father’s ideals practically only remained on paper; they are not being exercised. So, I don’t see the relevance of staying in a place where the ideals of my father, of André Matsangaissa and others who joined Renamo, are not being implemented. I see no reason to remain in a place where things are just said in vain, but not implemented.

And this is so visible that one needs not make anything up. I’m in the new organisation to be able to implement my father’s ideals, but in a different way. I will always implement his ideas. Within Renamo I didn’t have that space. And it’s so obvious that there were many circumstances there that didn’t allow me to implement them. I’m fine where I am and I’m going to implement the ideals there and that’s what makes me proud.

DW Africa: Do you leave Renamo with the blessing of your relatives who remain there?

BS: Exactly. And of many, I think 100% [of them]. They all support me, because at no point did I fail to respect my father’s ideals. The path I will take is different, but I will continue to implement my father’s ideals. So, nothing’s lost – I just changed my ‘shirt’.

DW Africa: Do you foresee your Renamo relatives being able to one day join you in the CAD?

BS: I don’t know, because that takes a lot of courage from each person. I had the privilege of working with my father during the last four years of his life and I learned a lot from him. The courage I found to join CAD was because I am implementing everything I learned from him. And he always gave me that freedom, saying “don’t become a member of Renamo just because I’m your father, I’m the Renamo leader, but because Renamo’s ideals convince you”.

Just to let you know, I was never a member of Renamo, but I have always been a supporter. I was born in Renamo, my father was a general and my mother was a colonel, I was born in the midst of these rumbles of war, but the moment I was going to become a member was the moment my father lost his life. With all that turbulence I didn’t join, thank God! And I say that because I would become a member at a time when his ideals are not being implemented. So I feel free.

DW Africa: Many Mozambicans place their hopes on the CAD and its candidate, Venâncio Mondlane. Do you see the risk of this coalition becoming a Renamo or an MDM, which today are without political relevance?

BS: If Renamo’s to become the Renamo of Dhlakama, I see it. But if it becomes the Renamo of Ossufo Momade, of course not. If we (CAD) continue with the leader we have, Venâncio Mondlane, he will surpass these two organisations you mention. And I am sure that, with Venâncio Mondlane, CAD is the hope of Mozambicans.

Source: Deutsche Welle