Mozambique: Calls for debate on’ health’ of Renamo after election losses – Watch

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Calls for debate on’ health’ of Renamo after election losses – Watch

7:34 CAT | 18 Apr 2025

Screen grab: Miramar

A former secretary-general of Mozambique’s Renamo party has called for a debate on the “health of the party” after it lost its status as the main opposition force in parliament the last general elections, in October 2024, and is facing an internal crisis.

“The party’s situation is very worrying,” said André Magibire in comments to journalists in the city of Beira, in Sofala province, central Mozambique. “It does have disgruntled members who are protesting against the current leadership – that’s no secret to anyone – but we call [for] a meeting for the reconciliation of the Renamo family.”

At issue is the ongoing challenge to the leadership of Ossufo Momade, the party’s president, who was also its candidate for president of Mozambique in the general elections of 9 October – in which he came third out of the four candidates. In the legislative election, the party lost its historic title as the largest opposition party, dropping from 60 to 28 seats as it was overtaken by Podemos, which had backed the second-placed presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane.

The opposition to Momade’s leadership of Renamo has prompted party activists – mainly former guerrillas from the 16-year civil war that ended in 1992 – to close down party offices in various parts of the country, sometimes using force and with outbursts of violence.

“It’s no secret what’s happening,” said the former Renamo secretary-general. “The offices are closed in Manica, Gaza and so on.”

He added that “as we speak” there are 251 combatants (former members of Renamo’s one-time military wing) “that we are unable to locate, just because the headquarters are closed.”

On 26 February, the party announced the postponement of a meeting of its national council scheduled for 7 and 8 March, without setting a new date. The meeting had been supposed to analyse the political situation in the country and the party, according to Renamo spokesman Marcial Macome.

The holding of the meeting was among demands put forward by several Renamo members and former guerrillas who in recent months have demonstrated outside party premises across the country, demanding that Momade step down from the leadership.

The Renamo leader won 5.81% of the votes in October’s national presidential elections – the worst-ever result for a candidate backed by the party.

Momade, whose leadership had already been questioned at previous times, took over as president of Renamo after the death of its historic leader and founder, Afonso Dhlakama (1953-2018).

The candidate who won last October’s presidential elections, according to the official results – which have been contested in particular by Mondlane – is Daniel Chapo, who was backed by the governing Frelimo party. He was sworn in as Mozambique’s fifth president on 15 January.

Mozambique suffered a 16-year civil war between government forces and Renamo guerrillas that ended with the signing of the General Peace Agreement in Rome in 1992 between the then president of the country, Joaquim Chissano, and Dhlakama. That agreement paved the way for the first multiparty elections two years later.