2 September 2008
Maputo — Supporters of Daviz Simango, mayor of the central Mozambican city of Beira, are threatening to run him as an independent candidate in the municipal elections scheduled for 19 November, if Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the country's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, does not reverse last week's decision to jettison Simango.
At first all seemed to be going well for Simango and Renamo. Repeatedly Dhlakama had insisted that Renamo would run all five of its current mayors (in Beira, Marromeu, Nacala, Angoche and Mozambique Island) for a second term of office. As recently as 8 August he stated this as Renamo policy. Simango's most prominent rival, Renamo parliamentarian Manuel Pereira, was persuaded to withdraw his candidacy.
But last Thursday, everything was thrown into reverse. Renamo national spokesperson Fernando Mazanga told the press that, due to "pressure from the grass roots", Renamo would run Pereira, not Simango, as its candidate for mayor of Beira. Pereira told television cameras that the decision had been taken by Dhlakama himself.
In Beira, acting on Dhlakama's instructions, the Renamo Sofala provincial delegate, Fernando Mbararano, called a press conference announcing the change of line, and claiming that Pereira was the choice of "the grass roots" of the party in Beira. Renamo members wanted to know who these "grass roots" were - for they knew of no consultation exercise, let alone an inner-party election, in Beira.
Simango supporters demonstrated on two successive days, took control of the Renamo Beira offices, and set up a "Renamo Management Commission" to run the party's affairs in Beira. Mbararano, and the Renamo Beira city delegate, Faque Inacio, both disappeared from public view.
There has been no sign of the "grass roots" support allegedly enjoyed by Pereira. On the contrary, all the public support among Renamo members on the streets of Beira has been for Simango.
On Monday, the Renamo Management Commission drew up a letter addressed to the party's general secretary, Ossufo Momad, which will be delivered to his Maputo office on Tuesday. "We are telling him that if we don't receive a positive response, we shall advance with the candidature of Daviz Simango as an independent", the Commission's spokesperson, Chico Jose, told the independent newsheet "Mediafax".
The Commission was also preparing a demonstration of "more than a thousand people" on Wednesday in support of Simango.
Simango has refused to make any public comment about the divisions inside Renamo, but Jose said "we are sure Mayor Daviz will not refuse, because he knows that Beira and the people of Beira need him".
The problem, for both Simango and Pereira, is to ensure that all the necessary paperwork for their nomination is delivered to the National Elections Commission (CNE) by Friday, the last day for nominations. All candidates for mayor need supporting signatures from at least one per cent of the registered voters in the municipality. In the case of Beira, that is 2,300 signatures - and Simango's supporters claim they already have 4,000.
Geraldo Carvalho, a senior Renamo Beira official who works in Simango's office, told the paper "Diario Independente" that the pressure on Dhlakama to get rid of Simango had come from former officers in Renamo's guerrilla army. Mbararano held the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and Faque Inacio was a brigadier. They, plus another brigadier, Moises Machava, "have been fighting against Daviz Simango for a long time", Carvalho claimed. "They've done everything to overthrow him, and at the last moment, when the people were convinced that the mayor would be re-elected, they've succeeded".
"These developments show that ambitious people are destroying this country. They don't build and they don't let others build", he said.
There seem to be two reasons for the Renamo officers' annoyance with Simango. First, he refused to offer large numbers of jobs in the City Council to former guerrillas, and second, he started his political career, not in Renamo, but in one of the minor parties allied to Renamo, the PCN (National Convention Party), which is headed by his brother, the parliamentarian Lutero Simango. Today, however, Daviz Simango insists that he holds a Renamo membership card.
Meanwhile, the Renamo dissident group known as the JNSR (Renanmo National Salvation Junta) has announced that it will support neither Simango nor Pereira. The JNSR spokesperson Saimon Muterua said his group will boycott the local elections in all municipalities where the candidates are chosen by Dhlakama rather than by an inner-party election.
Speaking to the weekly paper "Scorpiao", he added that in at least six municipalities (Mozambique Island, Nampula, Cuamba, Gondola, Manica and Tete) the JNSR will support independent candidates.
Predictions made in Maputo that Dhlakama would quickly realize that he had made a major mistake and would rapidly reinstate Simango seem unfounded. Instead, the Renamo leadership has reacted to the Beira demonstrations by digging in its heels. Mazanga has repeatedly declared that there is "no chance" of Renamo reversing its position.
The true winner of this battle is likely to be Lourenco Bulha, the Sofala first provincial secretary of the ruling Frelimo Party, and its candidate for mayor of Beira. Under normal circumstances, Frelimo's chances of taking Beira, so often regarded as a Renamo stronghold, would have been slight.
But the disarray inside Renamo gives Bulha a real chance. In the 2003 election, Simango won with 29,610 votes (53 per cent) to 23,405 (42 per cent) for the Frelimo candidate, Djalma Lourenco. That gap of 6,000 votes could easily be closed if the struggle inside Renamo leads many Renamo supporters to abstain.
If a three way battle develops between Pereira, Simango and Bulha, and none of them win over 50 per cent of the vote on 19 November, a run-off must be held - something that has never yet occurred in Mozambican elections.
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