Mozambique: Renamo Deputy Sues Journalist

Maputo — Lucia Afate, a parliamentary deputy for Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, is suing journalist Jose Vasco da Gama over a story that appeared in the weekly paper "Magazine Independente" (MI) last year, which claimed that Afate had secretly married Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama in a traditional ceremony in the northern province of Nampula.

 

According to a report in this week's issue of "MI", Vasco da Gama was interrogated by prosecutors in Nampula on 18 February. He was notified only the day before, and so had no time to hire a lawyer. At the interrogation, however, he stood by his story, and refused to withdraw a word.

 

The story's key claim is that Dhlakama and Afate were married under a traditional rite in the village of Variha, in the Nampula district of Mossuril, on 26 May 2009. Dhlakama has repeatedly denied the story, and insists that he is still married to his first wife, Rosalia.

 

One thing quite certain, however, is that since the end of May Dhlakama has been living in Nampula city, where he has bought a house. Afate is also the Renamo Nampula provincial delegate.

 

Vasco da Gama says he carried out a proper journalistic investigation into the marriage story. He received phone calls and messages from Mossuril and the nearby port of Nacala informing him of the marriage. He informed the "MI" management in Maputo, who sent funds for him to visit Mossuril.

 

He made his way to Variha, where he found that Afate is building a house. He also found her sister, Inrizai Afate, in the village. When the journalist produced a Renamo membership card, she willingly spoke with him and confirmed that the marriage had taken place.

 

"There was a lot of partying here, and the marriage formalized a friendship of 15 years", she said, according to Vasco da Gama.

 

He also claimed that he had been in contact with Afate's cousin, who received a cheque for 6,000 meticais (about 217 US dollars) from Afate for the hire of his vehicle which was used to transport guests to the wedding.

 

Neighbours of Inrizai Afate also conformed the marriage - but did not want their names cited, fearing reprisals from Dhlakama's bodyguards.

 

On his return to Nampula city, Vasco da Gama attempted, unsuccessfully, to contact Dhlakama and Afate to hear their side of the story. Eventually one of Dhlakama's guards told him "they're annoyed with what you've been writing".

 

Vasco da Gama regards his sources, particularly Afate's sister, as impeccable, and so he told the prosecutors there was no question of withdrawing any of the claims in his story.

 

The strangest thing about Afate's attempt to sue Vasco da Gama is that the story did not first break in "MI". The first of the Mozambican media to report it was the Sunday paper "Domingo" on its back page gossip column. A source in "Domingo" confirmed to AIM on Wednesday that the paper has received no threat of legal action from either Afate or Dhlakama.

 

The marriage story is widely known and believed in Nampula. So much so that, after Dhlakama's heavy defeat in the October presidential election, the then Nampula provincial secretary of the ruling Frelimo Party, Agostinho Trinta, publicly remarked that Dhlakama might have done better if he had spent his time on political mobilization rather than on his passion for Afate.

 

-February 24, 2010 by AIM

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Source: allafrica.com/stories/201002250982.html (accessed on 24.02.10)