Accusations Against Frelimo in Zambezia

Mozambique's former rebel movement Renamo has accused the ruling Frelimo Party of ordering the arrest of a traditional chief ("regulo") and his collaborators in Milange district, in the central province of Zambezia.

According to a report in Tuesday's issue of the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique", the Renamo Zambezia provincial delegate, Evaristo Wachave, alleged that the chief, whom he only named as Mucunha, was arrested for refusing to mobilise people to join Frelimo.
He said Mucunha was detained for seven days, and described his arrest as "inhumane" and "anti-democratic".

Wachave added that Frelimo is coercing people in Zambezia to join its ranks, and is sacking, or beating up chiefs who refuse to collaborate. Renamo also alleges that Frelimo is taking over churches in Zambezia, in order to mobilise the faithful to join the ruling party.

Wachave cited two Frelimo members, named Antonio Maulana and Maria Fijamo, who had allegedly formed nuclei of Frelimo supporters in catholic churches, in order to assist Frelimo in future elections.

When "Diario de Mocambique" contacted these two people they confirmed that they are Frelimo members, but denied undertaking campaigns inside churches to recruit more members to the party.

A parish priest named Daniel, at the Catholic cathedral in the provincial capital, Quelimane, claimed that some people had used meetings in churches as recruiting grounds for Frelimo.
He objected to this since "the church is not the place indicated to mobilise believers to join this or that party". He lamented that "when we allow people to speak, they campaign for their parties, mainly Frelimo".

Wachave also alleged that the administrator of the Zambezia district of Alto Molocue, Joaquim Fernando, had bribed a Renamo delegate named Rosario Mario to collect their party cards from more than 50 Renamo members in exchange for large sums of money.

But Renamo seems to have its wires crossed on this issue, for in Alto Molocue there is a different version of the story, according to which Renamo itself had to suspend Rosario Mario after he stole 450,000 meticais (about 18 US dollars) in Renamo membership fees. In this version it was Mario who took the membership cards, and then had to return them at a public ceremony in the presence of the administrator.

The Frelimo first secretary in Zambezia, Jaime Imede, said that Wachave was making such accusations because of a mass defection of Renamo members who have decided to join Frelimo. He claimed that in the first quarter of 2006 about 600 former Renamo members in Zambezia defected to Frelimo.

Imede described all Wachave's claims as false, and showed that Renamo "only survives by telling lies".

Zambezia is one of the three provinces won by Renamo in the 2004 general elections. But Frelimo did considerably better than in previous elections, increasing its number of Zambezia parliamentary seats from 15 to 19, while Renamo's fell from 34 to 29.

Source: Allafrica - 2006-06-21