Maputo — The former chairperson of the Mozambican Bar Association (OAM), Tomás Timbane, believes that the current post-election crisis, which is characterized by social upheaval and mass demonstrations, must serve as an opportunity to "rebuild the Mozambican State through an holistic debate.'
According to Timbane - who was speaking on Monday, in Maputo, on behalf of a group of Mozambican intellectuals received in a meeting by President Filipe Nyusi to discuss the current post-electoral crisis and present a document named "Manifesto for Citizens' - this is the right time to seek solutions for the various problems that the country faces.
"This moment is an opportunity to sensitize society to the need to discuss not only electoral issues. We realize that people's main concern at the moment is to discuss electoral justice, but that's not all Mozambique is about. There are many other problems. Our issue is to discuss Mozambique from the bottom up', Timbana said, as spokesperson of the group.
Since 21 October, the country has been facing mass demonstrations called by the presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, backed by Podemos (Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique), in order to protest against the allegedly fraudulent results already announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) giving victory to the ruling Frelimo party and its candidate, Daniel Chapo, 70.67 per cent of the vote.
The CNE figures claim that Mondlane had 20.32 percent of the votes, However, Mondlane claims that he won the presidential election and the CNE announcement was based on fraudulent figures.
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In order to bring the crisis to an end, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi invited all four candidates who stood in the 9 October presidential elections for a dialogue on Tuesday.
According to Timbana, President Nyusi and the four candidates, taking advantage of the freedom to debate what they see fit, must consider the country's matters and bring solutions to the country's real problems.
"We presented the manifesto to the President, at a time when Mozambique is called upon to re-found the state, with conflicts between demonstrators and the police resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries all over the country', he said.
According to the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), over 60 people were shot dead by Police and hundreds were injured during demonstrations.
