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Joseph Madzimure

Senior Reporter

IN a show of strength and numbers, Mozambique’s ruling party, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), yesterday held a colourful rally in Harare that was attended by multitudes of its supporters.

Mozambique has more than 33 000 registered voters based in Zimbabwe.

It will hold its seventh presidential and legislative elections on October 9.

Over 30 polling stations will be mounted across Zimbabwe for the elections.

Frelimo has intensified its campaign rallies as it seeks more support ahead of the general elections.

The party will be represented in presidential elections by 47-year-old Cde Daniel Francisco Chapo, who recently visited Zimbabwe and met President Mnangagwa and other senior Zanu PF officials. He informed them that he had been picked to represent his party.

Speaking at a rally in Hatcliffe, Harare, yesterday, Frelimo Central Committee member, Cde Sonia Zimowa, said Zanu PF and Frelimo were inseparable.

She commended the Government for giving Frelimo permission to conduct its rallies peacefully.

“Our candidate is a graduate; we are very confident that our presidential candidate is capable of delivering.

“He was an administrator and a governor before. Now we are campaigning for him and we are confident that he is going to win the elections and do a good job for the nation,” said Cde Zimowa.

Frelimo Zimbabwe chairman Cde Araujo Tomas Mafupe said they started campaigning on August 24, in Bindura, followed by Mutare, Rusape, Watsomba, Manica bridge in Manicaland, Mashava and Great Zimbabwe in Masvingo, Bulawayo and Hwange.

Cde Mafupe also said they will hold more rallies in Nyamaropa, Nyakomba and Dzivaresekwa, to notify their members about the voting process.

Zanu PF was represented at the rally by Harare Provincial political commissar, Cde Kudakwashe Damson, who spoke highly about the close relations that exist between Frelimo and Zanu PF.

“We are here to support Frelimo as a sister revolutionary party. We are urging all Mozambican residents to vote for Frelimo in the coming elections,” he said.

“Let’s vote for Cde Chapo. Gallant sons and daughters of Frelimo lost their lives as they fought side by side with ZANLA comrades during the liberation struggle.”

Cde Damson added that the two countries had a generational responsibility to defend the independence they enjoy today by massively mobilising during elections to ensure their parties always emerge victorious.

Zimbabwe and Mozambique are all-weather friends. The countries collaborate on a number of issues including economic relations, peace and security.

At the moment, they have synergies in the transport sector, together with Botswana.

To underline their relations, Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi visited Zimbabwe on three occasions in about two months.

In the elections, there are four presidential candidates but Cde Chapo is seen as the frontrunner.

If elected, Cde Chapo will become Mozambique’s fifth democratically elected leader.

The late Cde Samora Machel was the first president of democratic Mozambique, succeeded by Cde Joachim Chissano, then Cde Armando Guebuza and now President Nyusi, all from Frelimo.