-The group also wants the dismissal of the General Secretary, Clementina Bomba, and other party cadres
-They suspect that most of those who benefitted from the DDR are not former Renamo guerillas
By António Cumbane
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – A group of former Renamo guerrillas on Monday seized control of the party’s provincial and national headquarters in Maputo city, and demanded the removal of Renamo president Ossufo Momade, and the party’s General Secretary, Clemetina Bomba.
The revolt was due to Renamo’s poor results in the 9 October general elections, which caused tension to rise inside what used to be regarded as the largest opposition force in
Mozambique.
The group spent the night inside the Renamo national headquarters. It closed the doors and halted all the Party’s activities. The police were mobilised to contain the fury of the angry dissidents.
In the elections, Renamo only won about 5% of the votes. This means that the number of Renamo members of parliament will fall from the current 60 to just 20 in the incoming legislature.
The PODEMOS party, which supported Venancio Mondlane in his bid to become President, has supplanted Renamo as the runner-up, with 20% of the votes.
“We are demanding the removal of Ossufo Momade because of the bad results. He created many divisions inside the party, and the people no longer want him”, declared one representative of the group, speaking to MOZTIMES, on condition of anonymity. “There is distrust that most of the people who benefitted from the process of Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) are not former Renamo guerrillas. We want Momade to present a list of names”.
The group also insists that a meeting of the Renamo National Council must be held by 31 December this year, at which Ossufo Momade should resign. “This has to happen this year, so that a Congress can be held next year”, said the group’s representative.
The Renamo top leadership has now reacted. At a press conference on Tuesday, the Renamo spokesperson, Mohamed Yassin, recognised the demands made by the former guerillas. “I think this situation is not so difficult to solve”, he said. “It was just a matter of sitting down with our elders, our soldiers, understanding their demands and seeing how this can be surpassed”.
(AC)
