Mozambique: Government sacks mayor of Quelimane – AIM report

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Mozambique: Government sacks mayor of Quelimane – AIM report

6:18 CAT | 28 Aug 2018

File photo: DW

The Mozambican government on Tuesday sacked the Mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araujo, has lost his post because he has switched his party allegiance.

The decision was taken at the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), and it follows a decision by the Quelimane Municipal Assembly to sack the mayor last week. Unusually, the Municipal Assembly was unanimous – Araujo had managed to unite against him the members of his former party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) and of the ruling Frelimo Party.

Araujo had made a habit of switching parties. He was elected to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, in 2004 as a member of the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo.

He became disillusioned with the autocratic style of the late Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama, and joined the breakaway faction, headed by the Mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, which formed the MDM in 2009.

It was as an MDM member that he fought and won a by-election for Mayor of Quelimane in 2011. Two years later he was confirmed as mayor in the nationwide municipal elections of 2013.

Quelimane MDM members wanted Araujo to run for a further term of office in the municipal elections scheduled for 10 October.

But they were disappointed when he announced, not only that he was returning to Renamo, but that he would be the Renamo candidate for Mayor of Quelimane. Adding insult to injury, Araujo declared that the MDM “is a party of bandits” – even though he had been a senior member of this party for the best part of a decade.

The Council of Ministers justified its decision to sack Araujo on the basis of a clause in the 1997 law on administrative supervision of municipalities, which states that “office holders in municipalities shall lose their office if, after the elections, they join a party or list different from the one for which they presented themselves to the electorate”.

Under the current legislation, the chairperson of the Municipal Assembly should become interim mayor until whoever wins the October election is sworn in as the new mayor of Quelimane.

Araujo has 20 days to appeal against the government decision to the Administrative Tribunal.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the government spokesperson, the Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism, Ana Comoana, agreed with Araujo on one thing – the Municipal Assembly did not have the power to sack him. That power lies exclusively in the hands of the Council of Ministers.

ALSO READ: Breaking: Quelimane mayor leaves MDM, local media reports he will run for Renamo

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Source: AIM