Friday 6 March 2009

Mozambique: Mayor of Beira 'Will Head New Party'

Maputo — The mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, will indeed head the new political party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), which will be set up in Beira this weekend, according to Geraldo Carvalho, head of Simango's election office during the 19 November municipal elections.
After Simango's re-election as mayor, the election office was transformed into the driving force behind the creation of a new party, which clearly plans to supplant the former rebel movement Renamo as the main force in the Mozambican opposition.
Simango has never publicly stated that he will head the MDM, much less that he will be its candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for later this year. But cited in Thursday's issue of the independent daily "O Pais", Carvalho guaranteed that the MDM enjoys "full support" from Simango, and that, in principle, he will be declared its first president.
Carvalho said that the idea for a new party did not come from Simango, but from the Mozambican people "who are demanding a new democratic paradigm".
"It's the Mozambican people who are demanding this", he insisted. "What we did was to visit various parts of the country in order to sound out opinions. Based on the popular will, we decided to respond positively to this request".
Carvalho added that Simango "had no way of escaping from this request that come from the people. You must remember that it was this same people that elected him in November in the municipal elections".
Asked where the money for the MDM's founding conference is coming from, Carvalho replied "it's coming from Mozambicans. The business class of the entire country, associations and various other organisations, have been willing to give us financial assistance. Creating the MDM means guaranteeing genuine democracy in the country".
The drift of members away from Renamo and towards Simango is an obvious threat to Renamo's political survival. Several prominent members of the Renamo parliamentary group have stated that they will attend the MDM conference, and the head of the parliamentary group, Maria Moreno, has warned that, unless there are serious changes in Renamo in the very near future, she will leave the party.
The response of the Renamo leadership is to accuse Simango of offering bribes. The Renamo Sofala provincial and Beira city delegates, Fernando Mbararano and Faque Inacio, have repeatedly claimed that Simago is "enticing" Renamo members to join the MDM.
Carvalho replied that he did not want to waste time rebutting such claims. "The Renamo of Fernando Mbararano is a thing of the past", he said. "Do they think that the 79,000 people who voted for Daviz Simango were all bribed?"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a torrent of positive and good news to all Mozambicans concerned with the creation of a new democracy in Mozambique. I sincerely believe that the MDM is on the right path and that victory is around the corner. We just have to work very hard and believe in ourselves. Am confident that more Renamo members will join the new party as well as some Frelimo members who are not happy with the poor service delivery of their own party. MDM does not need to bribe anybody. Maria Helena

JOSÉ said...

With limited resources and logistics, it is amazing how the MDM managed to attract so many people united in the same vision and purpose; the building of a free, democratic and prosperous country.
No going back, no one can stop it now!
Forward, MDM!