President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday, 20 June, met Mozambique’s ruling party, FRELIMO, Secretary-General and presidential candidate in the country’s October 09 general elections, Daniel Francisco Chapo.
Posting on his social media pages after the meeting, Mnangagwa said he was “honoured” to receive the FRELIMO presidential candidate. He wrote:
This afternoon at State House, I was honoured to receive President Daniel Francisco Chapo of Mozambique’s ruling party, FRELIMO. President Filipe Nyusi is finishing his term, and President Chapo is set to be the FRELIMO Presidential candidate in the general elections later this year. During our meeting, I presented him with a gift as a symbol of the enduring friendship and collaboration between our two countries.
Chronicle reported that Chapo arrived in the country yesterday, and also met senior ZANU PF officials.
The 47-year-old Chapo, who is currently the governor of Inhambane Province, was elected by FRELIMO as its candidate for the October presidential elections.
Following a meeting with some ZANU PF Politburo members at the party headquarters in Harare, Chapo said he will continue working towards the development of the two countries’ economies if he wins the elections. He said:
FRELIMO and ZANU PF are sister parties, we are brothers. Mozambique is Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe is Mozambique.
That’s why we are always together… We are here because we want to be closer with ZANU PF. We want to continue to fight to develop our countries and to get peace…
We know that ZANU PF is experienced in terms of elections. We want that campaign spirit in Mozambique.
Chapo’s delegation constitutes FRELIMO Politburo member Eneas Comiche, presidential advisor Rafael Jose Rohomodja, Central Committee member Tome Picasso, advisors Ricardo Sengo and Adilson Andinane, protocol officer Ana Celeste, and Zimbabwean Ambassador to Mozambique, Victor Matemadanda.
ZANU PF Politburo members, who attended the meeting, were Christopher Mutsvangwa (Secretary for Information and Publicity), Tendai Chirau (Deputy Secretary for Security) and senior party members of staff.
If elected, Chapo will become Mozambique’s fifth democratically elected leader since the country attained independence from Portugal in 1975.
Samora Machel was the first president of democratic Mozambique, succeeded by Joachim Chissano, then Armando Guebuza and current President Filipe Nyusi, all from FRELIMO.
Chapo became the first “born free” FRELIMO presidential candidate, as he was born two years after Mozambique’s independence from Portugal in 1975.
He graduated in Law from the Faculty of Law of Eduardo Mondlane University, in Maputo, in 2000.
Chapo took the Conservator and Notary course in 2004 and ten years later completed a master’s degree in Development Management from the Catholic University of Mozambique.
He also taught Constitutional Law and Political Science, worked as an announcer at Rádio Miramar, in the city of Beira, and was appointed conservator for the Nacala-Porto district in 2005.
In November 2015 he assumed the role of administrator of the district of Palma, in the province of Cabo Delegado, and in March 2016 he was appointed governor of the province of Inhambane.
Mozambique will hold its seventh presidential and parliamentary elections on October 9, the second for provincial governors and the fourth for provincial assemblies.
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