CIP Mozambique Elections: Violence and bandits in Gurue
Photo: Miramar
The Mozambican police on Thursday prevented supporters of the main opposition party, the rebel movement Renamo, from marching through the streets of Maputo, reports the independent television station STV.
A group of Renamo members gathered in the Jardim neighbourhood, and intended to introduce the party’s mayoral candidate in the forthcoming municipal elections, Venancio Mondlane, to the public.
Mondlane told reporters the police prevented the group from advancing because Renamo had no authorisation for a march.
“They prevented us from continuing our political work”, said Mondlane, who regarded this as a violation of the Mozambican constitution.
“Since the 1990s up until now there has been no need for an authorisation to undertake political work”, he declared.
It became clear that the instruction to prevent the Renamo march came from Caciano da Silva, the chairperson of the Kamubukwane municipal district elections commission, who said the march was part of the election campaign, but the official campaign does not start until late September. He claimed that election-related activities outside of the official campaign period are illegal.
“No party should undertake campaigning activities before the campaign is launched”, Silva said. “This is like a football field. There are rules and we have to comply with the rules”.
The problem with this argument is that the previous day the ruling Frelimo party had held a rally in the Polana-Canico neighbourhood at which it introduced its mayoral candidate, Eneas Comiche, and the other Frelimo candidates for the municipal assembly to the public. This was clearly a campaign activity, at which Comiche outlined his plans for municipal governance, should he be elected mayor. Nobody tried to prevent the Frelimo rally.
Other campaign activities are taking place elsewhere in the country without interference. Thus a debate was held on Thursday in the central city of Quelimane between the Frelimo and Renamo mayoral candidates and nobody suggested it was illegal.
Cited in Friday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediadax”, Mondlane claimed that banning the Renamo march was “another example of political persecution, another example of political intolerance, another example of the political party fundamentalism which is leading the country to the precipice”.
“The political work we are doing is what any and very party should do”, he said. “We are selling our brand. We are making ourselves known to the community”.
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