Nampula — A group of 10 youths, who claimed to be members of Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party, on Saturday publicly defected to the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), at a rally in the northern city of Nampula, addressed by the MDM presidential candidate and mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango.

The youths said they had become dissatisfied with Frelimo and were inspired by the ideals espoused by Simango. One of them, Sandrique Mario, said that when he had first heard the name Daviz Simango, in 2005, he sought to find out what Simango stood for.

"At the time I was still a member of Frelimo", he said. "I remained in Frelimo, but I was always listening to and inspired by what Daviz Simango was doing".

Mario, who said he works at Nampula City Council declared "now I don't need this card (his Frelimo membership card) any more. This example should be followed by everyone, because this Frelimo only knows how to use us".

Similar statements were made by the other youths. This public display of young Mozambicans switching from Frelimo to the MDM was clearly intended to boost the image Simango has been painting of the MDM as the party of youth.

"We shall work hard with young people", he said shortly after his arrival in Nampula earlier in the day, "because we believe that young people now have a very great opportunity since there is a young leadership that can look to them, unlike those who have argued that young people might sell the country. We are young, we have energy, and at no time can the country be sold".

Today, all politicians are saying they want young people, he continued, "but recently the same people were saying in the papers that young people are going to sell the country. But today, since we're in an election campaign, they're wiping the boots of youngsters".

Since the start of the campaign, Simango has been portraying himself as a young leader, and at the age of 45 he is the youngest of the three presidential candidates (the incumbent, Armando Guebuza is 66, and Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the main opposition party, Renamo is 55).

The attacks on claims that young Mozambicans might "sell the country" refers to an interview given by the former Minister for Veterans Affairs, Antonio Hama Thai, in July 2008, to the weekly paper "Magazine Independente" in which speculated that young people might sell the country out. He based this on the rampant consumerism in Mozambican society, on the spread of drunkenness, and on the fact that most people in Mozambican jails are youngsters.

Hama Thai's words did not represent any Frelimo policy, and have not been echoed by other Frelimo leaders. But they were a propaganda gift to the opposition and have been flung back at Frelimo ever since.

Simango has been designing youth friendly policies, notably in the area of housing. "Young people want to get married, but they don't have the money to buy or build a house", he said. He pledged that under an MDM government, a sum equivalent to one per cent of Mozambique's GDP would be used on credit schemes that would enable young people to borrow money to build their own houses.

Frelimo has dismissed the defection of the ten youths as meaningless. The Nampula city Frelimo spokesperson, Joao Mauricio, told AIM "this thing of being a party member is a political game. Often there are people who join a party maybe out of personal interest".

Mauricio did not believe that the ten were real Frelimo members. They might have held Frelimo membership cards, he admitted, "but they just wanted to take advantage of Frelimo".

Real members of a party stuck with it when times got tough, he argued, just as football fans support their club "even when it's losing".

As for the arguments presented by the ten, Mauricio denied that Frelimo had ever "used" young people. "Any party is like a club, and you join it voluntarily", he said. "Frelimo never used anybody".

"People analyse the situation, they look at Frelimo's achievements, and then they join Frelimo", he added. "Frelimo doesn't go hunting after people. People go to Frelimo".

During this campaign Frelimo, Renamo and the MDM have each been claiming defections from the other parties.