Mozambique: CAD coalition denies any involvement in alleged coup attempt – report

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Mozambique: CAD coalition denies any involvement in alleged coup attempt – report

2:53 CAT | 26 Jun 2025

Screen grab: Fred Jossias Show /Facebook

Before entering the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Maputo today, he president of the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD), the coalition that was the first Mozambican political party to support Venâncio Mondlane’s presidential candidacy, denied any involvement in an alleged attempted coup d’état.

“Manecas Daniel [president] and Justino Mondlane [spokesperson] never participated at any time in an act of organizing a coup d’état, because we were not there in the preparation, either of the electoral campaign, or in other actions related to the [post-election] demonstrations,” the leader of the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD) told journalists outside the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) in Maputo this morning.

Manecas Daniel said he did not have a formal indictment from the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) regarding the crime of attempted coup d’état, but the member of his party, Justino Mondlane, who is also being heard today, was arrested on April 23, accused of the crime of “conspiracy against the security of the state”.

In the document, signed by a judge of the criminal investigation section of the Judicial Court of the City of Maputo, the Mozambican authorities consider that Justino Mondlane was linked to a group that “concerned to commit crimes against the State, violent alteration of the Rule of Law”.

The arrest warrant from that period referred to there being “evidence of a group of people who, through violence, attempt to destroy, alter or subvert the constitutionally established Rule of Law”.

Today, the CAD president denied any involvement in a possible coup attempt, accusing the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) party, a force that later supported Mondlane’s candidacy, of direct involvement in the post-election demonstrations.

“We were not there. We are surprised that we are being asked, as if we had been part of this coup d’état process that is being touted,” said Manecas Daniel, stating that he was “calm” regarding his statements to the MP.

“We were excluded, we did not actively participate in the [electoral] process, we put forward the candidacy of the young Venâncio Mondlane for the Presidency of the Republic and we think that our sin may lie there,” added the CAD president.

The CAD was a coalition that attempted to support the candidacy of Mozambican politician Venâncio Mondlane approximately a year ago in the elections of October 9, but it was rejected due to alleged irregularities, with Mondlane subsequently signing a “political agreement” with Podemos, a commitment that was annulled months after the elections due to disagreements between the parties.

On the CAD lists, rejected due to alleged irregularities, Venâncio Mondlane was also running as the head of the list for the legislative elections in Maputo, in addition to the presidential race.

In March, the Judicial Court of the City of Maputo also ordered the preventive detention of Venâncio Mondlane’s finance manager, Glória Monteiro Nobre Chire, a 59-year-old accountant.

The Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened a total of 742 criminal proceedings, 31 of which involve members of the police, linked to the demonstrations that have affected Mozambique in the last five months, according to previous data from the PGR.

The proceedings aim to “hold the perpetrators criminally and materially accountable, with 385 cases having been concluded, 356 of which were indicted and 29 were archived due to insufficient evidence, and 357 are still under investigation,” as stated in the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s annual report.

Since the October 2024 elections, Mozambique has experienced a climate of strong social unrest, with demonstrations and strikes called by Mondlane, who rejected the election results that gave victory to Daniel Chapo, a presidential candidate supported by Frelimo, the ruling party.

Around 400 people died in clashes with the police, conflicts that ceased after two meetings between Mondlane and Chapo, with a view to pacifying the country.

READ: Mozambique’s ruling party says protest calls are inciting coup

Source: Lusa