Mozambique: Renamo dissidents accused of undermining the party

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Mozambique: Renamo dissidents accused of undermining the party

9:55 CAT | 24 Apr 2023

Photo: O País

Ossufo Momade, the leader of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, has attacked those calling for his resignation, alleging that they are seeking to undermine the objectives of the party.

Speaking to reporters in Maputo on Saturday, Momade was reacting to demands made a week earlier, at a press conference in Beira, by people calling themselves Renamo generals, who accused him of marginalizing former Renamo guerrillas, and of secretly working for the ruling Renamo Party. The dissidents demanded his resignation.

Momade said such demands were “lamentable” – but also “normal” during election periods.

As elections approached, “we ought to be united in order to have positive results, and take Renamo to power. But every time we are on the eve of elections, these voices appear. This time they appeared just three days before the start of voter registration”.

Asked about the environment inside the party, Momade insisted that democracy prevails inside Renamo.

He recalled that he had worked closely with his predecessor, Afonso Dhlakama. “I met President Dhlakama in 1978, and we learnt a great deal from him. If we did not have any internal democracy, then I would never have been appointed coordinator of the party”.

Momade also announced that Renamo will hold a nationwide march, in homage to Dhlakama, who died of diabetes on 3 May 2018.

“On 29 April, we will have a national demonstration in memory of our late President, Afonso Dhlakama”, he said. On the anniversary of his death, 3 May, Renamo would hold a rally in Dhlakama’s birthplace, Mangunde, in the central province of Sofala.

A major problem for the dissidents is that Momade enjoys undoubted democratic legitimacy. He was elected, in a contested election, at a Renamo congress in January 2019. Renamo has promised there will be another congress, and another leadership election, next January.

Source: AIM