J for Journalism
Heavily helped by journalists during Frelimo’s primary campaign, Nyusi showed a political appeal that few knew of or could have thought he had: simple, direct and pragmatic.
He distanced himself from Alberto Vaquina and José Pacheco, who already had the air of noble politicians. Vaquina had been a provincial governor, health minister and prime minister, and Pacheco had also been a provincial governor, agriculture and as well as an interior minister, who each considered himself as former President Armando Guebuza’s heir apparent. Nyusi overran these two front-runners and earned the respect of the local media.
However, after his victor, he showed the media another face. Although he appointed a television journalist as his press officer, Nyusi has put some distance between the media and himself. He has been the president who hardly gave interviews to the media.
After the “Hidden Debts“ scandal broke, he gave interviews with disastrous consequences, which likely contributed to making him media averse. The most glaring incident was in 2018 at the Chatham House in London, while on a visit to the United Kingdom, and a terrible interview with two female journalists from the Portuguese state television, RTP, on a visit to Portugal, in 2019. Since then, Nyusi has stayed away from structured interviews.
Inside, he gave an interview that had the feel of paid dues to the weekly and critical Canal de Moçambique, but he let on very little; it was a conversation to a newspaper and not exactly an interview of a head of state and government. Seemingly, he has conquered the art of talking and not communicating – Nyusi’s does talk a lot and is gaffe prone.
Although he calls journalism a noble profession, his actions say otherwise. He has never properly condemn the violation press freedom and his government has been trying to erode journalists’ rights by introducing a media bill to parliament, which has been considered “dacronian.”
K for King
This president acts with the pomp and authoritarianism of a king. “If you treat children like princes, don’t be surprised if their parents act like kings” or “If you treat the parents like kings, don’t be surprised if their children act like princes”. Every facet of this political sociology maxim fits perfectly with Nyusi’s profile and character.
He asserts that power was conferred on him by the elections and not by the party that supports him. In political quarrels or tantrums, someone wrote on Facebook that “Nyusi was nothing without the party”. Since then, he has worked hard to prove that he is something and that the party is nothing.
Apart, of course, from removing this person from the position the person held in the party: Head of the Studies Office. This explains, not all but the totality of strategic mismatches and the political doldrums in which Frelimo finds itself. Note: the person is not essential, but the studies, evaluation and continuous monitoring of national dynamics is for the functioning of the party and more assertive management by its president and other bodies.
He has taken the cult of personality to exaggerated grammatical heights. Before taking office, he had already left a legacy, had experience and was an example to follow. Like all kings, he is king for the duration of his term of office, after which it is “God save the King?”
L for Legacy
Probably the last word in the presidential lexicon. On legacy, he started being concerned about his when someone began assessing his terms. Although during a speech, he off-handedly gave the idea that he was not overly concerned about it, it was clear the issue had started weighing on his mind when he saw it fit to publish a book, more like a collection of speeches while he was Defence Minister, aptly titled Legacy.
As for the actual legacy, Nyusi leaves a decrepit party, a potholed country, an informalised economy, a pauperised state, FDS (Defence and Security Forces) distrustful of one another – the FDS comprise the army, police and security services -, and lots of wells unveiled by the President.
M for Manipulation
There are more than obvious signs of a major and dangerous deviation from Frelimo’s strategic lines in Nyusi’s terms. This has become more visible in the dying days of his second presidential term. It seems that Frelimo has developed tribal levels within itself that control and manipulate all processes: party events, development lines, the FDS and international relations.
Relations with Rwanda are not discussed in any party-political circle other than at meetings held on the Mueda plateau or after the President’s public event where retired general Alberto Chipande, a sort of an elder president, has the floor. Another level of manipulation is that of the restricted circle of friends where, in conversations fuelled by drinks, the country and its destinies are decided.
In this way, the country is clearly manipulated by groups and is not run by the legitimately elected government. What’s next?
N for Namashulua
It confirms the casting error of betting on tribe and nepotism. A teacher by profession, she turned out to be the most iniquitous education minister the country has ever seen. This mistake has its roots in the ministerial capitalism that has taken hold of this term: ministers find ways to drain the budget allocated to them by setting up companies that provide services to their ministry.
For example, in 2022 and 2023, secondary school textbook had serious errors despite assurances from Education Minister Carmelita Namashulua. In one instance, Mozambique was placed geographically in the Mediterranean Sea, earning new neighbours such as Maghreb countries, Spain, Italy, France and its former colonial master Portugal. This is egregious when considering that Namashulua’s husband, who runs an entity running the affairs of Mozambique and Frelimo’s historical figures and which does not seem to respect history and his comrades, is an associate with the Portuguese company that won the tender to produce the textbooks.
The textbook scandal is yet another episode that reveals how low Mozambique has fallen as a country and the disdain to which Frelimo has been consigned. Like Police Commander Bernardino Rafael, Namashulua has not been asked to take any responsibility: neither political nor technical. Shee remains at the helm of the Education Ministry with renewed political support.
O for Ossufo Momade
Ossufo Momade, the successor to the late Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, Frelimo’s Cain, Nyusi uses Momade to strengthen his power in the country and weakens Renamo by lavishing its current leader with money, gifts and keeping an eye on him. This mentoring and close control sweetens the opposition but structurally weakens Renamo, as evidenced by an unprecedented wave of dissent.
The risk of this wave of dissent becoming normalised and without a single political direction increases the risk of the country falling back into a spiral of violence and the level of the politics of the stomach (pensions, secondment and jobs) could lead to the multiplication of the Mariano Nyongo phenomenon in many areas of the country – Nyongo is the slain leader of Renamo’s military junta, a party’s splinter group. The remnants of poorly understood extremist terrorism could join one of these groups and create a cocktail for other conflicts.
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