Mozambique: Opposition claims that members and sympathisers are being denied Covid-19 aid

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Mozambique: Opposition claims that members and sympathisers are being denied Covid-19 aid

4:26 CAT | 24 Nov 2020

Photo: DW

MDM and RENAMO accuse authorities of Inhambane province of excluding their members from the lists of people eligible for Covid-19 aid, a claim which the National Institute of Social Action (INAS) denies.

Both the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) and the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) in Inhambane province accuse the authorities of denying their members and supporters a subsidy of 2,000 meticais (about €23.00) per month for six months in assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Opposition members in the neighbourhoods were totally excluded,” MDM Inhambane spokesman Joel Jeremias says, with many party members not registered because of the guidelines adopted by neighbourhood secretaries.

“This act is politicised,” Jeremias says.

*MDM spokesperson in Inhambane Joel Jeremias: “This act is politicised”*

The same has happened to Renamo members, Inhambane delegate Carlos Maela also confirmed.

Unpaid allowances

Bernadete Gulube, a supporter of one of the opposition parties in the district of Homoíne, confirms that she has not been registered and that no community leader or neighbourhood secretary has contacted her about receiving government assistance.

“They haven’t gotten us together about it yet. Even our leaders haven’t spoken to us yet, unless there have been exclusions from certain houses, but here in my house no one has passed,” she says.

Sandra Marrengula is another potential beneficiary living in Inhambane, but she also says she has not received any aid.

“We have not yet been registered. We need it because we are not working properly because of that disease, and we are suffering,” she says.

What does INAS say?

A community leader in Maxixe told DW Africa that she put together the registers just as INAS requested.

Isac Mucavele, INAS delegate in Inhambane, says that his institution did not deny anyone the support, because the money is for all Mozambicans.

“That is not true, we have nothing to do with political parties,” Mucavele said. “This money is to support all Mozambicans in that condition, but the priority goes to those who are not employed and to pensioners. It has nothing to do, people are being supported, that’s all,” he insists.

Source: Deutsche Welle