Mozambique: Renamo Accuses CDD of Defamation

Police and Frelimo in Chimoio tried to stop a planned Podemos motorcade with a large crowd passing the Frelimo headquarters on October 3. Five people were taken to the emergency services of the provincial hospital. Four of them were injured in accidents involving motorcycles and a vehicle, while the fifth suffered a physical assault. The police fired several shots to prevent the Podemos motorcade from passing. Some of the shots were fired from behind the Frelimo vehicle that was blocking the road. In addition to the Frelimo vehicle, in the video shared on social media, the police can be seen placing a vehicle to block the road behind the red vehicle used by Frelimo in order to hinder the passage of the Podemos parade.

Maputo — Renamo, the largest opposition party in Mozambique, has accused the prominent NGO, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), of denigrating the image of its leader, Ossufo Momade.

According to Domingos Gundana, the Renamo political delegate in Maputo city, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the CDD has been trying to denigrate the image of its leader since it published a report in which it claims that Momade is negotiating a fraud with the ruling Frelimo party in the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 9 October.

"There are attacks that he [CDD chairperson, Adriano Nuvunga] has been making for a long time... the month of September has been devastating in its quest to denigrate the image and good name of the Renamo leader by attacking him and his family', he claimed.

According to Gundana, Renamo will sue the CDD and its chairperson "so that they may prove their allegations in court.'

He claims that the CDD went too far by saying, via its social media channels, that Momade's birthday celebration was paid for by the Head of State and Frelimo president, Filipe Nyusi.

"CDD said there was sufficient evidence that Momade and his family were involved with figures linked to Frelimo. We want to say that, this time, Renamo is not going to be silent, we are going to file a criminal complaint so that Mr Nuvunga and the CDD can prove by A plus B when and how the Renamo leader would have negotiated for these upcoming elections', he said.

"They are going to prove to us how much money, how and where the money used for the birthday came from', he added.

According to Gundana, in recent times, Renamo has watched with great concern the political persecution of its presidential candidate, carried out by the CDD, in the person of Adriano Nuvunga.

"In these elections, everyone had the opportunity to register, so Mr Adriano should have registered as a candidate and, from then on, he would have had the legitimacy to do what he has been doing', he said.

What may moved Nuvunga to say that Renamo is negotiating a fraud with Frelimo in the upcoming elections are the words made public by Momade himself, "when we go to elections, they [Frelimo party] cause fraud and this time, in 2024, if they cause fraud they won't make a deal with me, they'll have to make a deal with the Mozambican people. I won't accept fraud because we weren't born to be in the opposition, we also want to govern.'

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