Good afternoon. Questions about the whereabouts of Ossufo Momade, leader of opposition party Renamo, are not going away. Tomorrow will mark one week since the official campaigning period began, with no sign of Momade at any time. At the time of writing, Zitamar News heard that he had just flown back to Mozambique, but that does not wipe away the issue of his unexplained disappearance. This week’s issue of newspaper Savana is fanning the flames of that controversy, by reporting that Momade fell ill fairly recently, and was being treated in a private intensive care unit in the city of Maputo, before moving to South Africa for further treatment. This rather undermines Renamo’s official statement that Momade was abroad on party business. Even if it is technically true, it does not seem to have been the whole truth. Savana does not specify when Momade was ill, or if he remains unwell. Zitamar News sources say that Momade has most recently been in Saudi Arabia, for reasons which are unclear but not thought to be related to his health.
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Whatever the facts of Momade’s travel abroad, the Mozambican media has become quite agitated by his absence: Savana calls him “missing in action”. Newssheet Mediafax took the rare step of publishing a front-page leader article on the subject. “It is not clear how, just when the electoral campaign begins, Ossufo Momade finds the courage and space to go for a stroll”, the leader says, with obvious indignation. It goes on to conclude that Momade must have decided that he simply does not have the “material, charisma or words” to make an offer to voters during the 45-day official campaign period.
