Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
23 October 2008
Maputo — The Minister of State Administration, Lucas Chomera, has rejected the call by Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, for him to sack the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango.
Simango was expelled from Renamo in September, because of his decision to stand as an independent candidate, in the municipal elections scheduled for 19 November. For many months Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama had promised that Simango would be the party's candidate in Beira - but on 28 August Dhlakama performed a volte-face, ditched Simango and appointed parliamentarian Manuel Pereira as the Renamo candidate.
Simango is being backed in his campaign for a second term by the Beira independent citizens' organisation, the GRM (Reflection and Change Group). This led Renamo to write to Chomera arguing that Simango was now in breach of the 1997 law on local authorities.
Article 10 of that law states that, if a holder of an elected municipal office changes his party allegiance after the municipal elections, he loses that office. Furthermore, a person in that situation becomes ineligible for future elected municipal office. Renamo argued that since Simango had been elected on the Renamo ticket n 2003, but was now running as a GRM candidate he should lose his job.
Chomera told reporters on Wednesday that the article in the law cited by Renamo was not applicable in Simango's case. In fact, in 2003 Simango had been the candidate, not of Renamo, but of the Renamo-Electoral Union coalition. When the coalition (formed by Renamo and 10 minor parties) re-registered with the Ministry of Justice in 2003, it did so with the specific intent of standing in the municipal elections of that year, and the general elections for 2004.
The coalition pact, Chomera pointed out, was valid only for that period and said nothing about future elections. Furthermore, in legal terms, Renamo is not the same thing as the Renamo-Electoral Union. The body with legitimacy to challenge Simango would be the coalition, and not merely one of its constituent parties. (In fact, Renamo has made it perfectly clear that it regards the coalition as dead - it is standing on its own in the local elections and has promised to do the same in the 2009 presidential and parliamentary elections).
Chomera added that, since the coalition was only set up for the 2003 and 2004 elections, "it is legitimate that members of the coalition can be proposed by bodies other than the Renamo-Electoral Union for the 2008 municipal elections and for subsequent elections".
So, as far as Chomera was concerned, Simango remains the legitimate mayor of Beira until his term of office expires. As for disqualifying him from the 19 November elections, that is a decision, not for the government, but for the National Elections Commission (CNE), and the CNE has already stated that it can find nothing irregular in Simango's nomination papers.
Nonetheless, Simango is facing other difficulties. concerning the City Council's alleged mismanagement of Beira. Chomera warned that he, and Finance Minister Manuel Chang, could "activate the mechanisms necessary to set up an inquiry or inspection and draw the due conclusions as regards disciplinary, civil and criminal responsibilities".
One of Simango's collaborators, his cousin Obadias Simango, the City Councillor for Fairs and Markets, is already under arrest on charges of stealing over 150,000 meticais (about 6,225 US dollars).
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