Good afternoon. While the political turmoil in Mozambique continues, opposition party Renamo seems to be having a miniature political crisis of its own. For several months now, former guerrillas of the party have been protesting at party offices across the country and defacing pictures of Momade (see below). They say that they are unhappy with him over Renamo’s disastrous performance in last year’s elections, and some of them also complain that they have not received the state pensions which they were promised in return for handing over their weapons.
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From the Zitamar Live Blog:
That Momade has been an ineffective leader of Renamo was obvious long before the elections, although it was only afterwards, when the party had lost 32 seats in parliament, pushing it into third place, and lost money to pay wages as a result, that the war veterans chose to act. If, as is suggested by the recent protests outside party offices in Zambézia and Nampula, Momade has lost his support base among his fellow former guerrillas in the northern provinces, then he is unlikely to remain as leader.
But Momade himself has been out of contact for some time now, receiving medical treatment in India for diabetes, according to Zitamar News’ sources. Not that Renamo has made any announcement: the party is traditionally secretive about such problems. It is the second time in the space of twelve months that Momade has been absent without an official explanation: he also went missing during the initial part of the election campaign last year. As a matter of fact, Momade did reportedly say he was willing to step down in October last year, following the elections. But since then, he has not spoken on the subject.
