YOU’RE STEALING OUR SYMBOLS, RENAMO COMPLAINS

Maputo, 6 Nov (AIM) – Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has accused the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, of illegitimately using Renamo symbols in his campaign for re-election.

Simango was expelled from Renamo in September, and he is now running as an independent in the municipal elections. Beira is thus the only one of Mozambique’s 43 municipalities where there is a genuine three-way content – between Simango, the official Renamo candidate, Manuel Pereira, and the challenger from Frelimo, Lourenco Bulha.

It is hardly surprising that Simango uses Renamo symbols, since he has repeatedly claimed that his supporters represent the genuine Renamo, and that Pereira has been imposed on Beira by “greedy and arrogant people” who are undermining Renamo. Simango also declares that he wants to work with a Renamo majority in the Beira municipal assembly.

Fernando Mbararano, the Renamo Sofala provincial delegate, on Wednesday attacked Simango for his supposedly improper use of the Renamo name and symbols. According to a report in Thursday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, Mbararano also accused Simango’s supporters of “insulting” Pereira.

“In Beira there’s only one Renamo”, declared Mbararano. “We urge the people of Beira not to be hoodwinked”.

Simango’s spokesperson, Geraldo Carvalho, dismissed Mbararano’s attack as “senseless”, since the support for Simango is coming from the Renamo gross roots in Beira, who have rejected Pereira. “That’s why, in our campaign, we are calling on people to vote for Renamo”, he said.

Pereira’s campaign seems to be running into severe difficulties. While Simango posters and billboards were on the streets of Beira as from Tuesday, the first day of the official campaign, Pereira propaganda was nowhere to be seen. From the television coverage of the Beira campaign it seems that both Simango and Bulha are attracting reasonable sized crowds to their events, but the same cannot be said of Pereira.

In the western city of Tete, the second day of campaigning was marred by a clash between supporters of Renamo and Frelimo, resulting in the hospitalization of one Renamo member, 28 year old Rafael Elissa.

Eye-witnesses told “O Pais” that he was flyposting Renamo materials when he was attacked by youths who jumped out of a vehicle covered in Frelimo posters. Hospital sources said that Elissa suffered serious head and neck injuries and his situation is described as critical.

Frelimo officials in Tete denied that their party had anything to do with the attack, and accused Renamo of “complaining about everything and nothing”.
(AIM)