Maputo — The newly elected mayor of the central Mozambican town of Marromeu, Palmeirim Rubim, has accused his predecessor, Joao Germano, of the former rebel movement Renamo, of ruining the municipal finances.

Interviewed by the independent television station STV, Rubim said the Renamo administration, which ran Marromeu for the past five years, had left the municipal treasury empty. He had found that the Municipal Council under Germano had not even been paying its workforce.

Rubin said he had inherited a debt of about two million meticais (about 75,000 US dollars) in unpaid wages to the workers, and unpaid bills from suppliers.

"We have no alternative - we have to pay these debts", said Rubim. "It's known that Renamo has no culture of respecting the law. They did whatever they liked in Marromeu".

He added that he also found the municipal construction and urbanization department completely disorganized. He accused Germano of granting plots of land to citizens without consulting anyone else on the Council.

Rubim said there had been disorderly construction, favouritism and usurpation of power by the outgoing mayor. "This isn't a witch hunt", he said. "These are situations that happened and which we must correct immediately".

The mayor also claimed that his predecessor had done nothing to improve water and sanitation in the town. He said the few standpipes on which the population depends for its water are dilapidated, and require urgent rehabilitation or replacement.

Fortunately, the central government this week provided money to Marromeu from the local authority compensation fund, which Rubim intends to use at once to clear the Council's debt to its workforce.