Luisa Nhantumbo / Lusa
Venâncio Mondlane speaks in Maputo
Strong accusations and justifications from Venâncio Mondlane. President of Mozambique has already taken office; beatings near Independence Square.
The president of the Constitutional Council invested this Wednesday Daniel Chapo as fifth President of the Republic of Mozambique.
Chapo read the instrument of inauguration and took the oath at 11:12 local time (two hours less in Lisbon), in front of the applause of the guests.
As foreseen in the ceremony’s program, the president of the Constitutional Council, Lúcia Ribeiro, received the symbols of power from the outgoing President, Filipe Nyusi, and a few minutes later, he inaugurated Daniel Chapo as the new President of the Republic of Mozambique.
The ceremony is being held at Praça da Independência, in the center of Maputo, under strong security measures outside and at access to the venue.
Mozambican security forces dispersed, with batons, dozens of protesters who shouted “Mondlane”, presidential candidate contesting the election results, approximately 300 meters from Independence Square, the place where the new President took office.
Dozens of police, military and kinesthetic teams prevented protesters from approaching Independence Square
The protesters, organized into different groups, were still shouting “Save Mozambique” and sang the Mozambican anthem, stating that intended to watch to take office, but were prevented by the police.
Rangel “lied”
The Presidents of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, were the only heads of state who were inaugurated.
The President of Portugal transmitted a “message of hope” to Mozambique, but through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, representing the Portuguese Government at the event.
Yesterday, Tuesday, the presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane accused Paulo Rangel, of partiality and of “manipulate” public opinion by saying that it has been following the post-election process in Mozambique.
“There is no work done on your part in relation to dialogue in Mozambique. On the contrary, you have always been partial, you have had totally sad positions, it was always about adjectives against me”, said Venâncio Mondlane, in a direct message from his official account on the social network Facebook, addressing Rangel.
“Know very well how you will position yourself in Mozambique”, warned Mondlane, welcoming, however, the absence of the ceremony of the President of the Republic or the Prime Minister of Portugal, making “bows” to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Luís Montenegro for not going to the inauguration.
“They sent the third line, who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In fact, he is a minister who has always positioned himself very harshly, in an extremely impolite with me, he has called me a populist, he has called me all kinds of names, he has made extremely sad statements in public”, he further criticized.
According to Venâncio Mondlane, the only contact with the head of Portuguese diplomacy took place on January 12th, in a telephone call “occasional, circumstantial” during a meeting, in Maputo, with the ambassador of Portugal in Mozambique, António Costa Moura.
For the presidential candidate in the October 9 elections, Paulo Rangel cannot say that he has “maintained contacts” around the post-election process, marked by strikes and demonstrations contesting the results, in which 300 people have already died and more than 600 have been shot, called by Venâncio Mondlane.
“AND false. Dr. Paulo Rangel, you have not been in contact with me. We had occasional contact the day before you came to Mozambique, so you cannot use this as if there was a history of contact with me. Since October 2024, when this began, I have always given privileges to Portugal in my communications as a valid actor to mediate the post-electoral crisis in Mozambique. You never spoke out about this, you never did absolutely anything, you publicly gave me several adjectives, including populist”, he accused.
In an intervention essentially dedicated to the position of the head of Portuguese diplomacy, Venâncio Mondlane stated that Paulo Rangel “cannot deceive the Portuguese, deceive the Mozambicans, deceive the international community, trying to demonstrate” that “he has done work”.
“You did absolutely no work, You were always undaunted, serene, you were inactive, you were in hibernation throughout this period”, said Venâncio Mondlane.
On the radio, the Mozambican politician assured that the alleged conversations between Paulo Rangel and the Vatican about the situation in Mozambique never happened either.
“I tried to find out [junto de] D. Matteo if the Minister of Foreign Affairs had ever contacted the Vatican and he said that this absolutely never happened. Therefore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs lied to the Portuguese and lied to the world”, shot Mondlane.
