Maputo — Mateus Malaposse, the former head of transport in the office of Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Mozambique's former rebel movement Renamo, has been detained in connection with a stolen vehicle, and is begging Dhlakama to pay his bail.

According to a report in Thursday's issue of the weekly paper "Zambeze", Malaposse has been held in Maputo central prison since October. He wrote to Dhlakama on 3 January, asking the Renamo leader to pay bail of 60 million meticais (about 2,500 US dollars), so that he can await his trial at home.

He promised Dhlakama he would repay the money "within 90 days", and that it was urgent he leave prison because of the state of his health and "the critical situation of my family".

"Zambeze" says that sources within Renamo link Malaposse to various shady deals with vehicles - including the notorious case of a Mercedes Benz, purchased for Dhlakama, but eventually seized by customs because it turned out to have been stolen at gunpoint in South Africa.

His arrest in October was in connection with another car, apparently also illegal, that he was fraudulently selling to a Maputo woman.

The paper also reports that, on Monday, a former nurse named only as Candida dumped a six month old baby on the doorstep of Dhlakama's house. She was demanding that the child's father help care for it: thus implying that Dhlakama was the father.

Candida used to work in what the article described as "a Renamo health centre" near Maputo airport. However, this centre has closed down, and Candida told Dhlakama's guards she has no job, and no way of supporting the child.

On Tuesday, Dhlakama's bodyguards went looking for Candida but could not find her. They bought some milk for the baby girl and left her with a woman named Catija, who was still looking after her when the paper went to press.