Party time for Mondlane

Good afternoon. Venâncio Mondlane, Mozambique’s de facto opposition leader, will no doubt be pleased that his Anamola party (renamed from Anamalala) has finally been officially approved by the government, a mere four months after the party’s application for registration was first submitted (see below). But as this newsletter has noted before, that does not mean that the ruling Frelimo party has decided to embrace multiparty democracy after 50 years of resisting it.

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From the Zitamar Live Blog:

Zitamar Mozambique Live Blog

Dane Kondic, chief executive of Mozambican state-owned airline LAM, today denied a report from newssheet Canalmoz that claimed that he quit the company at a board meeting today. Speaking on a video call from the board meeting this afternoon, he told Zitamar News that he was working as normal and that he expected to sign a new contract tomorrow after an initial three-month contract ended this week. Kondic was hired as interim chief executive three months ago to lead a restructuring of the company, a process which LAM’s directors said they expected to take 12 months. Since then he has been appointed as non-executive chairman of Botswana’s national airline, but the LAM board has since asked him to resign from that job.

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Mondlane and his adviser Dinis Tivane continue to be pursued by the justice system over his role in the protests sparked by last year’s disputed elections, which the former presidential candidate insists he and his supporters won. And President Daniel Chapo has not shown much sign recently of wanting to engage with Mondlane or involve him in the so-called “inclusive national dialogue”, the talks on political and constitutional reform between Chapo and opposition party leaders. The provincial leader of the Frelimo veterans’ association who recently caused controversy by saying that Frelimo “will only leave power after Jesus Christ returns” speaks for a lot of people within the party. There are still many ways in which Mondlane’s ambition to govern Mozambique could be blocked.