Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican social activist Graça Machel argues that the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo – the ruling party) must “honestly acknowledge the defeats” and “apologise to the people”, considering that the organisation was “appropriated by a minority group”.
“The humility I refer to necessarily involves recognizing the mistakes made by Frelimo and, if necessary, apologising” and “it involves distancing ourselves from the minority group that appropriated part of the party’s machinery,” Graça Machel says in a letter to which Lusa has today had access.
The party must “recognize and accept the victories” it has achieved “honestly, and recognize and honestly accept defeats where they exist”, continues the text by Graça Machel, a former member of the Frelimo Central Committee and former Minister of Education.
Electoral observation groups, civil society, opposition parties and various figures consider that the October 11 municipal elections were fraudulent in Frelimo’s favour, granting it victory in 64 of the country’s 65 municipalities.
For Graça Machel, widow of the first President of Mozambique, Samora Machel (29 September 1933 – 19 October 1986), “the inertia, inaction and complacency of [party] cadres allowed the generation and consolidation of the narrative that Frelimo is made up of thieves, murderers and arrogant people”.
As a Frelimo member, she says she subscribes to the proposal by party members to urgently hold a national meeting of cadres to reflect, in an open manner, on the life of the party.
The meeting, she continues, would serve to find ways that would lead to the recovery of trust, credibility and empathy with the people.
“We have witnessed, in recent years, the capture of the party’s administrative machinery by a fraction of members, responsible for the erosion and distortion of Frelimo’s reason and sense of being,” the document reads.
This minority group, “which acts in the name of Frelimo, but against Frelimo itself”, has its own agenda, says Graça Machel, currently president of the Foundation for Community Development (FDC).
Graça Machel maintains that the appropriation of the party by a minority led to difficulties in Frelimo maintaining itself as “a mass party”.
On Monday, former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano stated that the affairs of Frelimo, the party he led, must be dealt with internally, and that he would only comment on the local electoral process after the final decisions of the Constitutional Council.
“Frelimo matters are not [to be discussed] here, [but] in its own headquarters. Because, here, I am speaking to America, to Australia… . I want to speak to Mozambicans, in Mozambique, and above all to members of Frelimo, so, not here,” Chissano said when asked by journalists about internal criticism within the ruling party of the processes involved in the municipal elections on October 11th.
“I will start thinking about this issue after hearing what the Constitutional Council says. For now I am silent. When I hear the Constitutional Council, then I will know. I don’t like to act hastily,” added Chissano, who served as President of Mozambique from 1986 to 2005.
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