Africa-Press – Mozambique. Politician Venâncio Mondlane stated this Monday in Maputo that his new party, whose formalization has been approved, will begin political activity on Tuesday, promising to defend the “interests of the people” above private interests.
“Tomorrow we will hold the first extraordinary session of Anamola’s Executive Committee, where we will define the main lines, pillars, and strategies for what will happen in the future. We will continue to defend the people above our pockets. We will continue to defend the people above private interests. We will continue to prefer to die for the people than to die stealing from the people,” Mondlane stated to journalists upon returning from a trip abroad.
On August 15, Mozambique’s Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs accepted Venâncio Mondlane’s party registration application, which had been filed in April. This decision was celebrated this Monday by Venâncio Mondlane and dozens of supporters, as he left the airport.
“I received this news with great pleasure because many people said it was impossible for our party and our project to be approved, and we were able to prove that, after all, we have intelligent people and extremely professional lawyers,” Mondlane said, responding to reporters as tear gas and gunfire were heard outside the airport in an apparent police attempt to prevent more supporters from entering.
“I don’t understand. It’s incomprehensible, but that’s what I was saying. We have to make many sacrifices, we have to be extremely resilient, we have to know that it’s a very tough fight, that it will demand a lot from us,” the politician responded, adding: “We don’t come with weapons, we come with ideas.”
As they left the airport, police fired several more shots in an attempt to deter supporters from following the politician’s entourage.
In the same speech at the airport, Venâncio Mondlane, who arrived waving the flag of his new party, Anamola, called for unity among his supporters: “That’s why the symbol, the logo of our party, is precisely a clenched fist, which signifies unity, cohesion, coherence, solidarity. It means that among Mozambicans, if we are not strongly connected, if we don’t have the same vision, if we don’t have the same focus, we will never win.”
He promised to wage a “fight based on legal instruments,” recalling the electoral challenge to the results of the Maputo local elections, in which he ran for the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), refusing to recognize the victory of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power since 1975).
“In 2023 alone, when we ran for the city of Maputo, we submitted seven official letters to the Constitutional Council, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Administrative Tribunal, none of which have yet received a response. So we know how to use the law, and we will use it until the rope breaks. We are willing to do this because we have intelligent young people, we have young people who are deeply committed to their country, highly patriotic, and upright, and who want to fight for this country to the last drop of their sweat and blood,” Mondlane said.
Mozambique has experienced a climate of intense social unrest since the October 9th general elections, with demonstrations and strikes called by Mondlane, who rejects the election results that gave victory to Daniel Chapo, supported by the ruling Frelimo party.
According to non-governmental organizations, approximately 400 people died in clashes with the police. These conflicts ended after two meetings between Mondlane and Chapo, aimed at pacifying the country.
The former presidential candidate announced on August 7th that he had changed his party’s name from Anamalala to Anamola, following a request from the Mozambican government, which considered the previous acronym to carry “a linguistic meaning.”
Anamala means “it will end” or “it’s over,” an expression used by Venâncio Mondlane during the campaign for the October 2024 general elections – the results of which he still does not recognize – and which became popular as a rallying cry during the protests he called in the following months.
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