By Ricardo Dias
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – Bishops of the protestant Christian churches in Mozambique are opposed to the threat made by fugitive presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, to cancel Christmas celebrations this year, as part of his protest against the results of the general elections held on 9 October.
Last week, Mondlane repeated his now familiar threat to cancel this year’s Christmas and New Year holidays, replacing them with yet more street demonstrations intended to bring down the government.
Addressing his followers in a live broadcast transmitted on his Facebook page, Mondlane said “We’re going to lose the festivities, we’re not going to the beach, we’re not going to visit our families, because we are organising this country”.
“The Christian Council of Mozambique regards this as an exaggeration”, said David Manuel Castigo Pavando, the Deputy President of the Mozambican Christian Council (CCM) in a telephone interview with MOZTIMES. “In all that we do, we must praise God, and everything else comes later”.
Mondlane has said Christmas cannot be celebrated while the truth about the elections has not been restored and Mozambicans are still dying at the hands of the police.
But David Pavando thought cancelling Christmas was a very bad idea. “When we are dealing with demonstrations, we cannot forget that there is a God”, he said. “We must praise the glory of God. Otherwise, we shall be exaggerating”.
The CCM thought the current situation of the country was a matter of great concern, and is proposing dialogue, from which everyone should win, as the way forward.
The Emeritus Bishop of the Mozambican Anglican Church, Dinis Sengulane, took a similar position. He called for an immediate dialogue in search of peace, as well as actions and gestures which give more hope to young people.
“The current situation demands an immediate halt to all physical and verbal violence, because it benefits absolutely nobody”, declared Sengulane. “Let there be an immediate and comprehensive dialogue between the stakeholders, which leads to reconciliation”.
As for the possibility of cancelling Christmas, Sengulane said that Christmas will go ahead regardless of the state of Mozambican politics.
“This isn’t the first time that ill-intentioned politicians have tried to boycott or prevent the celebration of Christmas, and they were all proven wrong. Those who follow Jesus Christ always celebrated Christmas”, he added.
The CCM is trying to speak with the leaders of all political parties. It has met with the leader and presidential candidate of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), Lutero Simango, but is finding it difficult to arrange a meeting with the leadership of Podemos, the main party that supports Venancio Mondlane. This is because the demonstrations called by Mondlane have imposed serious restrictions on road traffic.
Podemos says that last week it submitted a proposal for dialogue to the office of President Filipe Nyusi and to the Frelimo leadership, and it is awaiting a reply. (RD)
