Chapo is playing with fire

Good afternoon. Another month has passed without the government approving the registration of de facto opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane’s new political party. When Mondlane filed a legal complaint against the justice ministry, saying that it had exceeded the permitted time to respond to his party’s application, the Constitutional Council ruled that he was wrong, and that the 60-day deadline to issue a response had restarted in early June. That time is now finished, and there is still no answer. This despite the fact that, as we now learn, the party name has been changed from “Anamalala” to “Anamola”, after the ministry raised problems with the previous name (see below). But is that enough?

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We do not know what answer the council will give to Mondlane’s request (he is seeking that it approve the party’s registration, taking the matter out of the justice ministry’s hands). Certainly the council, most of whose members are chosen by ruling party Frelimo, will not defy the government’s wishes. But there is more than one way of carrying out those wishes. And whether or not Anamola is approved, it is looking increasingly likely that the government and Frelimo will make sure that Mondlane’s political ambitions are blocked.