Renamo closes ranks and loses ground

Good afternoon. Renamo has answered demands for renewal by expelling one of its most recognisable critics. On Thursday, its National Council, meeting in Maputo, voted to expel António Muchanga, the former MP who has spent the past year calling for leader Ossufo Momade’s resignation. His removal may make meetings easier for Momade, but it weakens the party’s ability to hold its competing factions together just when it needs to win back the voters it lost in 2024.

The party says Muchanga committed serious disciplinary offences and cites article 15(f) of its statutes as the basis for his expulsion. Spokesman Marcial Macome says a disciplinary process preceded the decision. These assertions alone do not establish what Muchanga did, whether the sanction was proportionate or whether the procedure complied with Renamo’s own rules. Criticism of a leader is not proof of disloyalty to the institution he leads.

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Muchanga’s public profile should not be confused with control of the party machinery. His television appearances have made him a familiar voice, particularly in Maputo and Matola, where he also attracted electoral support as a mayoral candidate. That does not mean he could command a majority at a congress. His value to the dissidents lies in giving their grievances a recognisable face and a wider audience. Expelling him removes a prominent advocate while leaving those grievances unanswered.

The decision follows a familiar pattern. Faced with competing views within its ranks, Renamo repeatedly chooses exclusion over accommodation. Ivone Soares, once a figure around whom the party might have built, now occupies its margins, with little room to influence its direction. The leadership presents such exclusions as protection for the institution, even as they reduce the range of people and views it can draw on.