- PODEMOS may lose popular credibility if it allies with FRELIMO
- Reforms announced by Daniel Chapo risk running into internal opposition within FRELIMO
By MOZTIMES
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – Daniel Chapo took office as the fifth President of Mozambique, in a context of mass opposition to the election results and to FRELIMO governance. Venâncio Mondlane, Chapo’s main adversary, claims victory in the elections and enjoys great popular support. Analysts believe that political dialogue between Daniel Chapo and Venancio Mondlane is indispensable to make governance viable.
In the Thursday debate on MOZCAST (the podcast of THE MOZAMBIQUE TIMES - MOZTIMES), analysts stressed the urgency of dialogue to avoid prolonging the post-election crisis.
“It will not be possible for Daniel Chapo to govern this country without finding a platform of understanding with the main force of the opposition, represented by Mondlane”, said Fernando Gonçalves, journalist and editor of Savana, one of the most important weekly papers in Mozambique.
For Gonçalves, the initiative to establish dialogue should come from Daniel Chapo, stressing that it should be “an honest and productive dialogue”.
Xavier Nhanala, a political analyst who took part in the same podcast, warned that Venâncio Mondlane, is being left on the margins of the current dialogue, begun by outgoing president Filipe Nyusi. He feared that this could undermine Chapo’s governance.
“Daniel Chapo is entering a minefield and, if he does not demine it, we shall witness daily social explosions”, he declared.
In his inaugural speech, Chapo promised far-reaching reforms, including reducing the privileges of State leaders to invest in social sectors such as education and health, which were completely marginalised during the 10 years of Nyusi’s governance. For Nhanala, the FRELIMO Party could be one of the main obstacles to Chapo implementing the reforms he announced.
“There is a need for Daniel Chapo and his party to reconcile with the people”, said Nhanala.
The journalist of Zitamar, Fernando Lima, agrees that the first step of the governance of Daniel Chapo should be dialogue with Venâncio Mondlane.
“If he achieves this, I am sure that the first hundred days will go much better and without the climate of confrontation that we are living through right now”, said Lima in Tuesday’s MOZCAST. “No other head of state has inherited such a miserable country and in such deplorable conditions as this”, he added.
Lima also stressed the absence of the opposition parties, the MDM and RENAMO, from the investiture of the parliamentary deputies on Monday, in the Assembly of the Republic. He said that if the PODEMOS party had also boycotted the investiture, the message would have been even stronger.
“If PODEMOS had boycotted this ceremony”, said Lima, “we would have a situation with much more political impact, because it would have been a ceremony with just one party, which is involved with the electoral fraud”.
The presence of PODEMOS at the investiture was interpreted as its alignment with FRELIMO. For Lima, this could strip the party, which was formed by Frelimo dissidents, of its legitimacy as a genuine opposition.
“If PODEMOS remains aligned with FRELIMO, even against popular opposition, its credibility will be irremediably compromised”, Lima warned, “PODEMOS would come to be seen as a crutch for the dominant party, losing its identity as an opposition party and consequently its political relevance on the Mozambican stage”.
MOZCAST is a podcast for democratic debate, offered by MOZTIMES, which discusses the burning themes of society, It is broadcast every Thursday at 21.00, with special editions whenever necessary. It is presented by the journalist Slide Mutemba. (MT)
