Mozambique: Former guerrillas insist Ossufo step down as Renamo leader

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Mozambique: Former guerrillas insist Ossufo step down as Renamo leader

7:33 CAT | 31 Oct 2025

File photo: Lusa

Former Renamo guerrillas called again on Thursday for Ossufo Momade’s resignation from the leadership of the Mozambican party, promising a new occupation of provincial delegations and the installation of management committees until a new National Council is held.

“He just has to write, he enjoys his mandate, yes, but he has to write to resign. If he likes and loves the Renamo party, he has to write about it. We’re not crazy, we’re well aware people and we’re making every effort to get him to leave for the good of Renamo,” said the spokesman for the demobilised guerrilla group, the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), João Machava, at a press conference in Maputo.

At issue is the criticism by Renamo’s secretary general, Clementina Bomba, of the demobilised guerrillas for having reoccupied some delegations in the provinces of Manica and Zambézia, in the centre of the country, calling for dialogue and the return of order in the face of respect for the party’s rules.

The spokesman for the ex-guerrillas said that this group would continue, over the next few days, to take over provincial party offices and set up management committees while preparing for a new “broader and more inclusive” National Council, in which Renamo’s life will be discussed in the run-up to the congress, which could elect a new leader.

“Clementina reportedly said yesterday [Wednesday] that she needs dialogue, but before we were at the national headquarters, we sent four letters. We already met with Clementina Bomba at the National Headquarters, but she abandoned us. We were there because we needed to meet with Ossufo. He didn’t turn up. There’s no room for dialogue; what we want is for Ossufo Momade to resign, that’s all,” said João Machava.

As well as rejecting dialogue, the former guerrillas accused Ossufo Momade of continuing to lead the party because of “money”, saying that “he is using party funds” and receiving government subsidies because of his status as the second largest opposition party, a place that now belongs to the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) party, “just to destroy Renamo”.

The spokesman for the former guerrillas also criticised the party’s National Council, held this month in Nampula, northern Mozambique, and pointed out that the demobilised no longer have a good relationship with the party.

Renamo held a National Council on 16 and 17 October, with the former guerrillas calling the meeting “a farce” and referring to it as “a delaying manoeuvre” to keep Momade in the presidency.

Renamo lost its status as the second-most-voted political force in the general elections of 9 October 2024, dropping from 60 deputies in the 2019 legislative elections to 28. Since then, a wave of protests against the party’s current leader has grown, with former guerrillas shutting down headquarters and branches and demanding that a National Council be convened.

The Renamo leader is also accused of alleged “mismanagement”, non-payment of pensions and allowances and “total incompetence” in the face of the party crisis.

Ossufo Momade took over the presidency of Renamo in January 2019, after the death of Afonso Dhlakama (1953-2018), and was re-elected to the post in May 2024, in a process that was strongly contested internally.

The leader of the political formation was a presidential candidate in the last elections, obtaining 6% of the votes, the worst result for a candidate supported by the party, the main opposition force in Mozambique since the first elections in 1994.

Source: Lusa