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Will the comrades support Mr Clean?

Frelimo is likely to elect Daniel Chapo as its next president, but how much it supports his anti-corruption agenda remains to be seen

Today’s front pages in Maputo. Photo © Faizal Chauque / Zitamar News

Good afternoon. Next month will see another showdown between President Daniel Chapo, who has said that he wants to get rid of corruption in the government, and the people in his ruling Frelimo party who benefit from it. Frelimo’s Central Committee is due to meet on 14 February to elect a new party president to replace Filipe Nyusi, who is stepping down, as well as a new general secretary and other posts.

Frelimo has not yet worked out how it should respond to the mass demonstrations of the past three months, which proved just how angry people are with the party and its perceived failure to govern fairly or effectively. Chapo has some ideas, but the views of Chapo are not necessarily the same as those of Frelimo’s power-brokers.

Many of those power-brokers are members of the Central Committee, who exploit the power and status that comes with committee membership in order to do business deals, legally or illegally, and gain corrupt benefits for themselves. They will not welcome Chapo’s promise to make government procurement more transparent and professional, and hold competitive tender processes for the awarding of licences and concessions instead of giving them away to Frelimo bigwigs. It would take away the perks of the job. And some of the committee members are only on it to make money.

It will be interesting to see how this tension plays out in the elections for party president and general secretary. Chapo is unlikely to be challenged in public, but the twists and turns of the committee session may reveal something about how much the party leadership endorses his views. Party spokeswoman Ludmila Maguni has told reporters that Chapo will be duly elected president. However, some legal experts have argued that it is unconstitutional for the head of state to be leader of a political party. There were already signs last year that Frelimo might need to take this into account, and judges on the Constitutional Council are expected to rule on the matter soon. Whoever is elected will be able to use the party machine to largely bend Frelimo to their will — although that does not mean they will be strong enough to eliminate corruption.

Today’s headlines:

  • Frelimo to elect new president at February meeting (Integrity)
  • Mondlane calls for people to sing national anthem on Fridays (Lusa)
  • Motorists threatened by “machete-wielding men” on roads of Zambézia, Nampula and Cabo Delgado (O País, Carta de Moçambique)
  • Toll gates on N1 highway in Inhambane destroyed  (O País)
  • 11 dead and almost 40,000 homes destroyed after Cyclone Dikeledi (Lusa)
  • LAM cargo plane to be returned without making any flights (Integrity)
  • Chapo appoints Adilson Adinane as press officer (AIM)

Frelimo to elect new president at February meeting (Integrity)

The ruling party Frelimo will elect its new president at the extraordinary meeting of the Central Committee scheduled for 14 February, at the party's Central School, located in the city of Matola, Maputo province. At the meeting, called by the Political Commission on 11 January, the new secretary-general will also be elected, as well as members of the Central Committee secretariat. According to the Mozambican constitution the person holding the position of head of state should not hold a leadership position on private entities, meaning a political party. There is a petition at the constitutional council on this matter but never before has the principle been questioned.

Mondlane calls for people to sing national anthem on Fridays (Lusa)

Former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane yesterday called for people to stop and sing the national anthem every Friday, in a “demonstration for justice” over the next 100 days. Mondlane, who rejects the official results of October’s elections, said in a Facebook live broadcast that the singing should take place for 15 minutes from 1pm, accompanied by the display of placards, and at 9pm people should bang pots and pans and blow vuvuzelas. Through a document that he presented yesterday and called the “first presidential decree”, to be made public today, Mondlane once again called on the authorities to fulfil his list of policy demands.

Some of Mondlane’s demands are much more important than singing the national anthem or redesigning the national flag, especially those, like reducing VAT, which would diminish government revenue. Still, it remains to be seen how much people will follow his instructions.

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