Africa-Press – Mozambique. A group of former Renamo guerrillas who are contesting the party’s leadership took over General Ossufo Momade’s office and the party headquarters this Wednesday (28-05).
Residents in the area revealed that the disgruntled people even changed the locks on the national headquarters of the second largest opposition force in Mozambique.
In an interview with DW, João Machava, spokesman for the former Renamo guerrillas, confirmed that the occupation of Ossufo Momade’s office was a “way of pressuring” the party leader to resign.
Machava denies that the cause of the guerrillas is related to “regionalism” or “ethnicity” and guarantees that the group will also reach Momade’s residence. The only solution is for Momade to step down from the Renamo leadership, he says.
DW Africa: Can you confirm that they took over General Ossufo Momade’s office? Why?
FILE – João Machava, spokesman for the former Renamo guerrillas, [File photo: DW/A. Sebastião]João Machava (JM): Yes, we did occupy General Ossufo’s office this morning.
DW Africa: Is that a way of pressuring General Ossufo to resign as president?
JM: Yes, that is one way. We will also go to [Ossufo Momade’s] residence.
DW Africa: Do you intend to go to General Ossufo’s residence?
JM: Yes. We intend to meet him so he can tell us something, because he cannot be silent, he has to say something.
DW Africa: What do you want to hear from him?
JM: We want to hear that he resigned. That is the only thing we want.
DW Africa: In Mozambican society, some people say that you are being driven by a regionalist cause, that is, you are fighting Ossufo Momade because he is not from the central region, much less a person from the southern region. Do you confirm this thesis?
JM: We are fighting Ossufo Momade because he is unable to manage Renamo. He is bankrupting the party, which is why we are fighting him. There is no regionalism or ethnicity. We have Macuas here who came from Cabo Delgado, we have Makondes, we have Macuas from Nampula. We defend the ideals of our late Afonso Dhlakama.
DW Africa: Ossudo Momade was elected president of the party about a year ago. Why didn’t they reject him long before the elections? At the congress?
JM: We didn’t want to make the elections unviable, because they could blame us for the defeat. We preferred to remain silent and see how the elections were managed. Once again, he mismanaged the elections, he didn’t even campaign, he was introducing a sweeping policy into the campaign, while that sweeping was supposed to sweep Renamo. That’s why we’re uniting across the country to fight against him. He must resign, there’s no other way.
DW Africa: If you’re resorting to force, that means that Ossufo Momade will be removed by force. Can’t this also be interpreted as a “coup d’état” within Renamo itself?
JM: We made many attempts, we sent letters, he didn’t respond. We asked for a meeting with him, he didn’t accept. So, the only way we found was this, to close the delegations, to stop the party’s work.
DW Africa: Do you have an idea of when you’ll arrive at Ossufo Momade’s house?
JM: No. We don’t have an idea, but we’ll get there.
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