General Elections 62-63 – 01 October 2019
MDM presidential candidate Daviz Simango’s campaign has been blocked by Frelimo supporters in at least 7 districts since he moved south across the Save River on 27 September into the four provinces of the south.
In Gaza in Mandlakazi, Daviz Simango’s caravan was prevented from moving to the village of Mbocodane, where he planned a rally on 29 September. Frelimo supporters blocked the road that gives access to the village by placing a vehicle as a barrier and refusing to withdraw it. The car parked on the road prevented the circulation of other vehicles.
The police accompanying Daviz Simango’s caravan did nothing to get the Frelimo car removed and allow MDM members to pass. MDM was forced to intervene and began to remove the car, our correspondents report. Then the police responded to Daviz Simango’s appeal and forced Frelimo members to withdraw the car. “The police must play their part. I don’t want to resort to violence to solve the problems here in Gaza,” Simango told reporters there. He then moved on to Mbocodane and the campaign continued normally.
The next stop was Eduardo Mondlane Municipal Market in Mandlakazi Village, where Frelimo occupied the market before the MDM president arrived and Daviz could not campaign.
Similar problems had occurred in Inhambane. In Massinga, Inhambane, MDM received authorization from the City Council to have a rally on 27 September in front of the World Supermarket. But when Simango arrived, Frelimo members were occupying the space. Our correspondents report that Frelimo members only arrived shortly before Simango’s scheduled 2 pm arrival. Daviz and MDM members had to campaign elsewhere in the district.
In Homoine, Inhambane, Frelimo blocked the two roads leading to the village of Meho where Daviz Simango and MDM supporters planned to campaign on 28 September. We reported yesterday that Daviz Simango was prevented from campaigning on 27 September in Vila Franca da Save, Inhambane.
MDM says that the police are giving information about the MDM agenda to Frelimo. “In Inharrime and Zavala where MDM did not inform the police about the campaign agenda, Daviz Simango’s campaign was never impeded,” said Jacob Chiquice, MDM spokesman in Zavala district.
Daviz yesterday (30 September) went to Chókwè, Gaza and our correspondents report Frelimo members prevented the MDM president from campaigning in the municipal market around 3pm. According to MDM, police fired 17 shots to disperse members of the two political formations.
