MAPUTO: Betrayal accusations are now flying between presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane and PODEMOS, the party that backed him in Mozambique’s October 2024 general elections.
The eruption of tensions happens barely a day before Mondlane, currently in exile in Portugal, returns to Maputo. He has called his supporters to meet him at the Maputo Airport on Thursday and raises questions whether Mandlane will be among Members of Parliament to be sworn-in on Monday.
Yesterday PODEMOS (Povo Otimista para o Desenvolvimento de Moçambique (Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique)) leaders accused Mondlane of “seriously” violating their pre-election agreement, at the same time rejecting any accusations that it is betraying him.
“It is not possible to sustain allegations of betrayal on the part of Podemos, which has always remained within the agreed limits, and has often subordinated itself to the unilateral strategies of the other party… while Venâncio Mondlane has repeatedly and seriously violated the terms of the aforementioned agreement, on multiple occasions, since the campaign period,” reads a statement from Podemos sent to the media on Monday.
The Mozambique newspaper Club of Mozambique, Dinis Tivane, an advisor to Mondlane, who has refused to recognise the official results of the 9 October general elections – which handed victory to Daniel Chapo, the candidate of the governing Frelimo party – said on 3 January that if Podemos members of the new parliament also elected on 9 October are sworn in as announced, that would represent a “betrayal” – and calling for the outright rejection of the results validated last month by the Constitutional Council (CC).
Mondlane also accused the president of PODEMOS of violating the pre-election agreement between them by allowing the inauguration of members of parliament elected on the slate of the party. PODEMOS has dethroned RENAMO and is now the largest opposition party expected to hold 32 of the 250 seat Mozambique Parliament that will be sworn in on Monday.
In a statement sent on 4 January to political parties, diplomatic representations and Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, the authenticity of which the Portuguese news agency Lusa confirmed with Mondlane himself, the candidate recalls that he signed a “coalition political agreement” with Podemos on 21 August, valid until 2028, that “regulates a series of issues,” namely “PODEMOS’ political decisions.”
Podemos reiterates that its MPs will be sworn in, and that the party is “committed to full respect for the principles of law and electoral legality.
Of the 250 seats in parliament, PODEMOS will have 43 sears, Renamo 28, down from 60 gained in the 2019 legislative elections.
Frelimo, which has been in power since independence, maintained its parliamentary majority, with 171 deputies.
In the presidential elections, the CC proclaimed Chapo, the Frelimo candidate, the winner with 65.17% of the vote.
The result has been widely contested on the streets, with the CC’s announcement doing nothing to stem the turmoil that the country has experienced since late October, with protestors coming out in response to appeals from Mondlane, who according to the CC only obtained 24% of the votes but is claiming victory. Amid protests demanding the “restoration of electoral truth” the multiple clashes with the police have left almost 300 people dead, while more than 500 people have suffered gunshot wounds.
Thousands of refugees meanwile continue to pour through the Lubombo-long border. Among them, are an estimated 3000 inmates who broke out during violent protests around the Maputo metro during December.
Jm/today/CM/7.01.2025
