The families of three former Mozambican presidents appear to be backing the ruling Frelimo party’s Secretary-General and presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo.
Chapo emerged victorious in May 2024, in a battle to succeed the current President and Frelimo’s chairperson, Filipe Nyusi.
Chapo has visited each family to bolster his support within the party. The support not only entails expressions of solidarity with his candidacy; but also, active campaigning. Former president Armando Guebuza has been crisscrossing the country shoring up support within the party – Guebuza was ostensibly missing in the run-up to Nyusi’s second-term candidacy.
For his part, Nyusi has not been campaigning heavily for his likely successor, preferring regional and international trips interspersed with local flights to inaugurate what he calls development projects (small water systems, health units, markets, etc.). The First Lady, Isaura Nyusi, only hit the campaign trail on Monday, halfway through the campaign.
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Ostensibly, the Guebuza and Machel families were at loggerheads with Nyusi, with the acrimony spilling into the public sphere.
Guebuza holds a grudge against Nyusi because of the way the latter seemed to prosecute him and his family at the height of the “hidden debts” scandal – – the term “hidden debts” refers to loans contracted from the banks Credit Suisse and VTB Russia by three Mozambican companies, ProIndicus, EMATUM (Mozambique Tuna Company) and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management), with the sole contractor and supplier, the Abu Dhabi-based group Privinvest, selling them fishing boats, radar stations and other assets.
The scandal broke up in 2016, revealing how ProIndicus, EMATUM and MAM had obtained $2.2 billion from the banks, with Privinvest supplying military and security hardware, as well fishing vessels and other assets at exceedingly inflated prices, between 2013 and 2014 during Guebuza’s second term.
Subsequently, Guebuza’s son, Ndambi, was tried along with 10 co-defendants and sentenced to 12 years In prison, while others, including two ex-spies bosses, were handed sentences of between 10 and 12 years.
Furthermore, the Guebuza family suffered an alleged food poisoning attempt which failed because they received a phone call warning them not to eat dessert. The ensuing investigation has yet to produce a culprit.
As for the Machels, notably Graça Machel and Samora Machel Jr, widely known as Samito, they have levelled criticism against Nyusi for his unusual management of Frelimo, mixing signs of authoritarianism and inertia, resulting in the abandonment of the characteristic dynamics of the governing party, with some observers claiming that he had allowed Frelimo to be infiltrated by “foreign elements who have captured the party.”
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 well as chastising the conduct of the police which had resulted in the death of about half a dozen of civilians.
Nyusi was also greatly criticised for how he dealt with election of his successor, manipulating the process to ensure some of the candidates were never on the ballot. At the time, observers said that the likely reason for the manipulation was that Nyusi was looking to enthrone a dauphin who could grant him and his family immunity from prosecution once he stepped down from the presidency in January 2025.
Guebuza greeted Chapo’s election with glee. Subsequently, Chapo paid both him and Chissano courtesy visits. Since the beginning of the campaign period on 24 August, Chapo has been showing to be closer to the former presidents than to Nyusi, even going so far as to promise the revival of a Guebuza project that placed the district at the centre of the country’s development efforts.
Furthermore, Chapo seems to have won the hearts of many Frelimo members, who see in him a Messiah who will purify the ranks and spearhead the nation to development and prosperity, especially considering that the Frelimo brand has suffered bruises in the past nine-odd years, with Mozambicans are showing signs they want change.
For now, although Nyusi is still the party chairperson, his enemies seem to have the upper hand and are likely to oust him from the leadership position at the first central committee meeting early in 2025.
It is little wonder that Mozambicans are no longer treated to moments of Mapiko, a celebratory dance practiced by the Makonde people of which Nyusi is part, during state functions, in which he would regale the crowds with some dance steps. As the sound of Mapiko drums fades from the collective imagination, Nyusi rides into political oblivion.
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