Maputo — Former guerrillas who once fought for the Mozambican rebel movement Renamo are collecting signatures to a petition demanding an extraordinary Renamo congress to sack the party's leader, Ossufo Momade.
According to a report in the independent daily "O Pais', the demobilised guerrillas announced on Tuesday the launch of a national campaign to collect signatures demanding an extraordinary congress.
The group's spokesperson, Joao Machava, told a Maputo press conference that the purpose of the campaign is "to revive the grass roots' of Renamo, and restore "the normal operations' of the party.
Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn
Machava said Renamo is "stopped' and "has no dynamic'. He did not consider that the paralysis of Renamo may have arisen from the outright sabotage by the dissident faction, who have repeatedly occupied Renamo offices throughout the country, thus making it impossible for them to do any party work.
Machava denied that the current situation could be described as "an internal dispute for power'. The purpose, he said, was to establish the conditions for calling an extraordinary Renamo congress, which would elect new party bodies, including a new party president.
Machava also opposed the recent decision by the Renamo Jurisdictional Council to suspend from membership Antonio Muchanga, once a prominent figure in the Renamo parliamentary group, for allegedly violating the party's statutes.
Machava argued that it was the Jurisdictional Council, rather than Muchanga, that had broken the party's rules. Muchanga had not been given an opportunity to defend himself and had not been informed in advance of the charges against him.
He also claimed that the occupation of the national Renamo headquarters by the dissidents was "a legitimate act', because they were all members of the party (although, in reality, no party allows people to seize its offices merely because they hold party membership cards).
Ossufo Momade was elected president of Renamo at a party congress held in 2019. He was then re-elected at the subsequent Congress, in 2024. Despite Momade's legitimacy, his opponents have been seeking to overthrow him ever since the 2024 Congress.
It is not known how much support the dissidents enjoy within Renamo, although Machava claims his movement has backers from within Renamo all over the country.
Opposition to Momade's leadership is due largely to Renamo's poor showing in the 2024 general elections, when Renamo slipped from second to third position.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
