Former Renamo Deputy Trying to Sue his Party

By Paul Fauvet

Maputo (MOZTIMES) – No end is in sight for the convulsions that are tearing apart Mozambique’s former rebel movement, Renamo.

The latest stage in this drama is the attempt by a former Renamo parliamentary deputy, Antonio Muchanga, to drag the party to court and even force it to pay him compensation for his allegedly illegal suspension from the party.

Muchanga was once one of the most outspoken deputies in the Renamo parliamentary group, and a constant thorn in the side of the ruling Frelimo Party. But ever since Renamo’s heavy losses in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, Muchanga has switched his attentions to overthrowing the current Renamo leadership, led by Ossufo Momade.

In February, the Renamo Jurisdictional Council suspended Muchanga from party membership. The Council accused him of “deliberate disobedience of party bodies, directing offensive words at the party leader”. At a recent national conference of Renamo demobilised guerrillas, he had demanded the resignation of Ossufo Momade as party president. For many months Momade’s opponents had been occupying Renamo offices across the country, demanding the resignation of Momade, widely blamed for Renamo’s poor showing in the 2024 general elections.

The Jurisdictional Council banned Muchanga from speaking in the name of Renamo, or using Renamo symbols.

According to the Council, “Muchanga used demobilised guerrillas to misuse the party headquarters and conduct campaigns aimed at attacking and discrediting Renamo. Muchanga’s actions have had internal consequences for the party and he forced the leadership to suspend him from the party”.

On Tuesday, Muchanga took the Renamo leadership to court, claiming that his suspension was illegal and violated, not only the Renamo Statutes, but also the Mozambican Constitution.

Muchanga submitted a lawsuit to the Maputo City Law Court, demanding that his suspension be annulled and that he be compensated for the damages he has supposedly suffered. He did not say how much money he will demand as compensation.

He told reporters that his suspension had affected his reputation and his political trajectory within Renamo. He went to court, he said, to defend the principles which had always guided his political actions.

Muchanga stressed that he has no intention of resigning from Renamo, despite his current dispute with the party leadership.

He added that he is not thinking of running for the presidency of the party at the next Renamo internal elections. Those elections will be held at the next Renamo Congress, for which no date has yet been set.

Renamo used to be the main opposition party, but it has clearly been overtaken by the National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique (Anamola), the political party set up by the former presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane.

Judging by the huge crowds that follow him wherever he goes, Mondlane is now the most popular opposition figure in Mozambique, and has eclipsed Ossufo Momade. The disputes inside Renamo have paralysed the party, and it seems unlikely that it can recover its former status. (PF)

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