Samora Machel Jr (“Samito”), son of Mozambique’s first president, Samora Machel, is said to have decided to throw his hat in the ring of would-be flagbearers for the ruling Frelimo party in the October 2024 general and presidential elections.
According to sources close to Samito, he will announce his candidacy during Frelimo’s Central Committee meeting scheduled for 5-6 April.
Apparently, he had taken the decision because the delay in starting the succession debate is harming both the party and the country. “Somebody has to take action. And I will,” he is said to have said.
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Samito has been known for challenging the party leadership. In 2018, after he had been barred from running in the party’s primary that would elect its mayoral candidate, he went solo supported by a civil society organisation ticket.
This led to a disciplinary process against him, which was later dropped. Samito demanded that Frelimo should institute a disciplinary process Filipe Nyusi, Frelimo’s chairperson and Mozambique’s president, accusing him of violating the party’s statutes.
Because his candidacy was subsequently blocked by the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Samito had no doubt that an “electoral crime” had been committed.
In the wake of the 2023 municipal elections, which were marred by wholesale rigging by the electoral bodies and the courts to hand victories to Frelimo in Maputo City, Matola, Nampula, Nacala, among others, Samito wrote a letter condemning the rigging, which he described as having reached criminal levels, as he chastised the conduct of the police which had resulted in the death of about half a dozen of civilians.
Observers suggest that by announcing his intention to contest in the succession battle, Samito wants to force the hand of the party leadership, which has so far refused to openly discuss the matter.
Consequently, his announcement during the plenary would then force Nyusi’s enemies to force a debate.
However, it is not clear whether Samito’s purpose is to run himself for party flagbearer, with observers claiming that his target is that of party secretary-general, which would enable him to reorganise the party and return it to its ideological roots and support, which the party has been losing sharply in recent years.
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