10 December 2007
Maputo — From January to November this year, Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party recruited 178,959 new members.
according to the party's general secretary, Filipe Paunde, addressing a Monday press conference in Maputo.
He claimed that this brings Frelimo's total membership to almost two million - to be exact, to 1,963,410. They are organised into 102,629 party branches.
13,072 new branches were formed this year, because Frelimo has opted for smaller, more efficient branches, formed of between 11 and 20 members.
Paunde added that Frelimo built 1,648 new offices in 2007, some out of conventional modern building materials, and others using traditional construction techniques. Most of these (1,175) are branch offices, and the remainder are for circle, zone and district committees.
Pande said that the amount of membership fees paid this year has risen by 20 per cent. He did not put a figure on the amount paid, but pointed out that many of the party's rural members are allowed to pay in kind, handing over a portion of their crops to the party.
Frelimo's top priority for 2008, said Paunde, was to win the country's third municipal elections. A particular goal is to win control of those five municipalities (out of 33) that are currently run by the opposition Renamo-Electoral Union coalition.
The most important of these is the central port city of Beira, the second largest city in the country. Paunde declared that the major improvements this year in Beira - including protection against coastal erosion, the new water supply system, a new morgue, and new health facilities - were not the work of the Renamo municipal council, but of the Frelimo central government.
"The amount of money Beira Council raises from its own resources in a year isn't even enough to pay their staff for five months", he said.
Currently, the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, is waging a war against political party flags flown in allegedly "improper" places. The Ministry of State Administration has warned that confiscation of the party flags (mainly belonging to Frelimo and to the country's third largest party, the PDD - Party for Peace, Democracy and Development) is illegal and undemocratic.
Paunde stressed that Simango cannot use a Beira by-law to overturn the legislation on political parties passed centrally.
Asked whether this warning also applied to Frelimo-run local authorities who have been removing Renamo flags, he said that it did.
The administrator of Chemba district, in the central province of Sofala, has publicly claimed that no party flag can be flown within 500 metres of a road - which would ban all party flags from Chemba town.
Paunde said "The law must not be violated either by Frelimo or by Renamo local authorities. No-one can alter the law on their own".
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"Frelimo's top priority for 2008, said Paunde, was to win the country's third municipal elections. A particular goal is to win control of those five municipalities (out of 33) that are currently run by the opposition Renamo-Electoral Union coalition"
Is that priority(win control of those five municipalities (out of 33) that are currently run by the opposition Renamo-Electoral Union coalition) based on the fact that there is something wrong with the Renamo-Electoral Union coalition leadership or simply because Frelimo should have control over all munincipalities? If its based on the former reason(Renamo bad leadership) it should be the people(voter) to decide and not Frelimo. As far as I know(I live in Beira) Renamo´s leadership is highly apreciated. It must be based on the "Hunger for power" where the people´s(voter) will does not count.