14 November 2008
Maputo — The head of the local election brigade for Maputo province of Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party, Veronica Macamo, on Thursday accused opposition candidates of plagiarizing the Frelimo election manifestos, since they had no ideas of their own.
"Sometimes I feel sad when, after our candidate has promised to set up a municipal transport company, I hear an opposition candidate say exactly the same thing", she said. "When the Frelimo candidate promise to improve the water supply , the opposition says the same, but in a light-minded fashion, with no prior study".
The independent television station, STV, then asked Jose Samo Gudo, candidate of the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, for mayor of the city of Matola, for his opinion of Macamo's attack. He brushed aside the charge of plagiarism - but plagiarism was on display as he spoke, for his supporters were singing a well known Frelimo song. They had just adjusted the lyrics slightly so that it now praised Renamo.
Meanwhile the daily paper "O Pais" has witnessed intimidation of opposition supporters in the northern city of Nampula. Reporters watched as a brigade from the country's third largest party, the PDD (Party for Peace, Development and Democracy) attempted to campaign in the Gulamo market, in the Napipine neighbourhood..
The head of this market ordered a group of apparently drunken youths to expel the PPD supporters from the market and destroy all their campaign material.
The Renamo spokesperson in Nampula, Arnaldo Chalaua, told "O Pais" that his party's election posters were being torn down by children whom he believed were being used by Frelimo.
Local officials admit that violence is taking place in Nampula, but blame it on criminal elements pretending to be Frelimo supporters. The Napipine neighbourhood secretary, who identified himself to "O Pais" only as Felizardo, admitted that "groups of anti-social elements", claiming to be Frelimo members, were committing "acts of vandalism", mainly at night. He denied that the real Frelimo had anything to do with such behaviour.
In the central city of Beira, the Frelimo candidate, Lourenco Bulha, ran into a snag when he tried to inaugurate three standpipes in the neighbourhood of Inhamizua. Supporters of the current mayor, Daviz Simango, mobilized Inhamizua residents to boycott the ceremony and to flypost Simango's posters in the area.
The secretary of Inhamizua neighburhood, Alberto Zino, told "O Pais", that Bulha retaliated by sending his son and another campaign worker to remove the taps from one of the standpipes and thus deprive the area of water. The population immediately informed Simango, who contacted the chairperson of the government's Water Supply Assets and Investment Fund (FIPAG) and the Beira FIPAG delegate. The water supply at the Inhamizua standpipe was restored within 20 minutes.
However, Frelimo dismisses this story as fictional. Cremilde Sabino, the representative of the central state in Beira, denied that Bulha had sabotaged the Inhamizua water supply, although it was true that Simango's supporters had boycotted the ceremony.
As for complaints that Bulha should not be inaugurating public works when he is merely a candidate, Sabino said there was no problem since the central government is a Frelimo government and Bulha is a Frelimo candidate.
Zino had claimed that the new standpipe had operated for six days before Bulha sabotaged it. In fact, said Sabino, it was only on Thursday that she had ordered the taps to be installed.
Meanwhile, the Renamo candidate in Beira has threatened to sue a journalist on the weekly paper "Magazine Independente" (MI) for writing in this week's issue that supporters of Simango had prevented him from campaigning in one of the Beira neighbourhood. Pereira claimed that the journalist (whom he did not name) had been paid by Simango to damage his image.
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