What You Need to Know
Mozambican Attorney-General Americo Letela suggested that the late assassin Nini Satar may have been involved in the murders of opposition activists Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe. This claim was made during a parliamentary debate, where Letela proposed alternative theories for the politically charged killings that occurred on October 19, 2024.
Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican Attorney-General Americo Letela dropped an unexpected bombshell during a parliamentary debate in Maputo on Thursday, when he suggested that the country’s most notorious assassin, the late Momade Assife Abdul Satar (better known as Nini Satar) might have been involved in the murders of opposition political activists Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe on 19 October 2024.
Dias was the lawyer of presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, and Guambe was an election agent of Podemos, which, at the time, was the main party supporting Mondlane.
They were murdered when their car was ambushed in a densely populated area of central Maputo on the night of 19 October 2024.
Dias and Guambe were outspoken supporters of Mondlane, and so it was assumed that the murders were politically motivated, in the wake of the 2024 general elections, which Mondlane and his supporters argued were fraudulent
But Letela suggested the murders might have nothing to do with the elections. He threw out two alternative theories which, as far as AIM is aware, had never been publicly mentioned before.
One attempted to tie the murders to the supposed attacks suffered by Elvino Dias during the congress held by the former rebel movement Renamo in the central municipality of Alto Molocue in May 2024. The disputes at the Congress led up to Venancio Mondlane resigning from Renamo, running as an independent presidential candidate, and eventually setting up his own party.
The second alternative involves an alleged forgery committed by Edite Chilindo, supposedly the lover of Nini Satar at the time.
Satar was serving a sentence for his part in ordering the murder of investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso in 2000. Satar was also regularly accused of organising kidnappings from his prison cell.
Cylindo was serving a 22 year prison sentence for her part in the 2016 murder in Matola of prominent prosecutor Marcelino Vilanculos. Dias was supposedly the lawyer for Cylindro, who was accused of falsifying her own death certificate.
The key figures mentioned by Letela are not available for questioning – Satar because he died in his prison cell last year, on 28 March 2025, apparently of natural causes, while Letela described Cylindo as “a fugitive”.
Letela claimed that Cylindo had simulated her own death. A South African death certificate was forged, he claimed – but he did not explain how she had left the Mozambican prison.
Elvino Dias was accused of the forgery, and the case should have come to court on 20 October 2024, by which time Dias was dead.
Letela did not produce any evidence to back up this strange story. It was completely absent from his written report, delivered on Wednesday, and was only mentioned when he was replying to questions from parliamentarians on Thursday.
Venâncio Mondlane, on his Facebook page, denounced Letela’s story as untrue, but only cited as his evidence Letela’s “verbal insecurity”, his body language and his stuttering.
Letela claimed three people had been interrogated in connection with the murders of Dias and Guambe, and two of them are currently being held in the Maputo Preventive Penitentiary. He did not name any of these suspects.
The political landscape in Mozambique has been fraught with tension, particularly surrounding elections and opposition activities. The murders of Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe, both supporters of presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, occurred amidst allegations of electoral fraud in the 2024 general elections. The involvement of notorious figures like Nini Satar, who had a history of violence and criminal activity, adds a layer of complexity to the ongoing political strife in the country. The implications of these murders highlight the risks faced by political activists in Mozambique, where political violence has been a recurring issue.
