A group of Mozambican academics and activists argued today, after a meeting with the President, that the post-election tension the country is going through should serve as an opportunity to ‘refound the State’, calling for a more holistic debate.
‘This moment is an opportunity to sensitise society to the need to discuss not only electoral issues. We realise that people’s main concern at the moment is to discuss electoral justice, but Mozambique is not just about that. There are many other problems (…) Our issue is to discuss Mozambique (…), from the bottom up,’ said the group’s spokesperson, lawyer and university professor Tomás Timbana.
Timbana was speaking to the media at the Presidency of the Republic, moments after a meeting with the Mozambican head of state, Filipe Nyusi, to present the ‘Manifesto for the Citizen’, a document produced by the group that brings together several leading figures in various fields, particularly philosophy, journalism, economics and political science.
According to the group’s spokesman, the meeting served to present the manifesto to the President, at a time when Mozambican President is ‘called upon to re-found the state’ in the face of electoral contestation, with conflicts between demonstrators and the police resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries all over the country.
The Mozambican head of state invited the presidential candidates in the elections held on 9 October to a meeting on Tuesday to ‘discuss the situation of the country in the post-election period’.
According to the spokesperson for this group, Tuesday’s meeting was not discussed, although one of the individuals proposed by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who called for the demonstrations, to ‘represent Mozambicans’ at the meeting with Nyusi is part of the group of academics who were in the presidency: Mozambican philosopher Severino Ngoenha.
‘The Mozambican President and the candidates will have every freedom to debate what they think is appropriate, taking into account their interests and the attributions that each of the entities have,’ emphasised Timbana.
The meeting will take place in Filipe Nyusi’s office in Maputo on Tuesday at 16:00 (14:00 in Lisbon), involving presidential candidates Daniel Chapo, Venâncio Mondlane, Lutero Simango and Ossufo Momade.
On Friday, Venâncio Mondlane demanded the immediate elimination of the legal proceedings against him, brought by the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office, and his participation by virtual means as a condition for taking part in the meeting.
Mondlane, who doesn’t accept the results announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE), which still have to be validated by the Constitutional Council, pointing out various irregularities in the electoral process, rejects a dialogue ‘behind closed doors’ and with ‘little secrets’.
Venâncio Mondlane disputes the attribution of victory to Daniel Chapo, the candidate supported by the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), with 70.67% of the votes, according to the results announced on 24 October by the CNE.
Ossufo Momade, presidential candidate and leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition force, accepted Filipe Nyusi’s invitation, provided that all four candidates who ran take part, the largest opposition party announced on Sunday.
The candidate Lutero Simango, who is also the leader of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM, the second largest opposition party), which has already called for the general elections to be cancelled and for the vote to be repeated on the same grounds, confirmed that he accepts to take part in the meeting, also making the presence of all four candidates a condition.
The Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party) also confirmed today the presence of presidential candidate Daniel Chapo at the meeting scheduled by the Mozambican President, ‘reaffirming his commitment to promoting political stability in the country’, reads a note from the party, sent to Lusa today.
Lusa
