Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has lost another of his advisers.

Agostinho Ussore was a political adviser to Dhlakama up until last Friday, when he announced his resignation at a press conference in the central city of Beira. Ussore remains a Renamo member of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.

His announcement follows the resignation last month of two other advisers to Dhlakama, Ismael Mussa and Joao Colaco, who are also Renamo deputies. Mussa was Dhlakama's adviser on parliamentary affairs, and Colaco on public administration.

This wave of resignations was clearly provoked by Dhlakama's decision to ditch the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, the most successful Renamo municipal politician. Instead of running Simango for a second term of office, Renamo has replaced him with parliamentarian Manuel Pereira as the candidate for mayor in the 19 November municipal elections, a decision which has outraged Renamo supporters in Beira.

Ussore made it very clear that Dhlakama has simply not been listening to the advice he receives. He said "any leader who takes any position must know when he is useful, and when he is no longer useful. Naturally, when the service he provides is not useful, the best thing that a sensible man should do is resign, so that somebody else, perhaps with better qualities, can be appointed to the same position".

He took the opportunity to state his support for Simango's bid to win re-election as mayor of Beira as an independent candidate. Ussore said that neither Dhlakama, not anybody else in the Renamo leadership, had consulted him about the sudden change of candidate for Beira.

He revealed that on 2 July, Renamo general secretary Ossufo Momad had addressed a conference of Renamo militants in Beira, which culminated with the confirmation of Simango as the candidate. On 8 August Dhlakama stated publicly, in front of television cameras, that all five current Renamo mayors, including Simango, would be candidates for a second term of office in November. This position was only overturned on 28 August.

Ussore said that, after he found that Simango had been ditched in favour of Pereira, he spoke to Dhlakama, who was deaf to all appeals to change his mind

Ussore said he had resigned in a letter sent to Dhlakama's office on 2 October. He was speaking about the matter publicly in reaction to a statement by the Renamo national spokesperson, Fernando Mazanga, who claimed that Ussore had not been an adviser to Dhlakama since 2004.

Mazanga remains touchingly loyal to Dhlakama, despite the Renamo leader dismissing him a fortnight ago as "a kid who knows nothing"