Caifadine Manasse, a member of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo part is suing 23 of his comrades and members of parliament from the Zambézia province constituency for alleged defamation and slander.
Manasse was until recently Frelimo’s spokesperson and head of mobilisation of the party’s Central Committee secretariat. In the run-up to Frelimo’s Congress in September of 2022, there were shenanigans in the Zambézia constituency in which he nearly lost his seat in the Central Committee. However, he was ousted as head of mobilisation and party spokesperson.
Manasse’s current sole role in Frelimo is that of member of parliament.
Mozambique Insights learned that amongst those Manasse is suing is Damião José, Manasse’s predecessor as spokesperson, and currently member of the party’s Political Commission.
Comment
Analysts told Mozambique Insights that Frelimo’s current state of disgrace is one of the hallmarks of Nyusismo, characterised by internal fighting and the rise of tribal feelings, which runs counter to the party’s internal values of unity in diversity.
They point out that this could also be the precursor of the looming succession battle, and that the infighting is likely to increase in intensity as groupism is widely used as a strategy – Zambézia is in central Mozambique and if Frelimo follows through with its own decision to choose a successor from the central region, it is one of the three provinces from which Nyusi’s successor is likely to come from.
Also, Caifadine reportedly denounced the first vice-president of the Assembly of the Republic, the country’s parliament, Hélder Injojojo, a former friend and comrade, for allegedly being associated with drug traffickers in an episode involving a FADM (Mozambique’s army) officer and a teacher from the Pebane district, in Zambézia, in a move seen as an attempt to weaken a Nyusi ally to the benefit former Interior Minister, Basílio Monteiro, who harbours ambitions to run for the presidency.
A former Political Commission member told Mozambique Insights that “Frelimo is unrecognisable”. Indeed, this is uncharacteristic of Frelimo, a party known for its internal cohesion.
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