MANUEL BISSOPO SACKED

The President of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, has sacked Manuel Bissopo from the post of the party’s General Secretary.

According to Monday’s issue of the daily newspaper “O Pais”, Ossufo Momade removed Bissopo from the post that he has held since 2012 (when he took over the post from Momade). In a telephone interview with the newspaper, Bissopo revealed that he had learnt of his removal through a dispatch dated 15 February and signed by Momade.

Bissopo had stood against Momade in an election for the post of party president in January. However, he only received five votes compared with Momade’s tally of 410. Commentators at the time noted Bissopo's unpopularity inside Renamo and pointed to his poor showing in the October municipal elections, where he headed the party’s list of candidates for the Beira municipal assembly. In that election, Renamo came third to the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) and the ruling Frelimo Party.

Currently, Bissopo is a member of the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, a position he has held since the general elections in 2009.

In Friday’s dispatch, Momade also dismissed four high ranking Renamo military officers from the party’s “Army Staff Headquarters”. According to the television station STV, these officers have been transferred from the party’s bush headquarters in the central district of Gorongosa to three other Renamo bases. In addition, the head of the president’s office, Augusto Mateus, was also sacked.Since taking office, Momade has removed five provincial and two district delegates.A source told STV that Momade is due later in the week to hold a press teleconference from the Gorongosa base where he is living. It is expected that he will reveal the names of the new officials.