Tivane Contradicts Chapo: “There Were Political Understandings with Venâncio”
In an exclusive interview with TORRE.News, Dinis Tivane, political advisor to former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, has expressed surprise at recent remarks made by President Daniel Chapo, who denied, in statements to the Portuguese press, the existence of any agreement between the two politicians. Tivane insists that clear political understandings were reached during two meetings held in the tense post-election period, facilitated by respected public figures.
According to Tivane, who personally attended the meetings, there was a mutual commitment that, in his assessment, amounted to a political accord. “When two people meet and later announce that there was consensus, it is because an agreement exists,” he stated. He added that the consensus reached extended well beyond formalities and reflected genuine political engagement.
The meetings, Tivane explained, were facilitated by prominent Mozambican figures, including philosopher Severino Ngoenha, writer Luís Bernardo Honwana, statesman Oscar Monteiro, jurist Teodato Hunguana, the President of the Mozambican Bar Association Carlos Martins, former Bar President Tomás Timbane, and former Rector of Eduardo Mondlane University Narciso Matos. These individuals, he said, can independently confirm that political consensus was reached.
“We heard the President’s remarks with great concern and found them strange. The President himself issued several official statements. We signed joint communiqués referring explicitly to consensus,” Tivane told TORRE.News. “You journalists can contact the facilitators. They witnessed everything.”
The advisor also stated that Venâncio Mondlane is still deliberating whether to remain at the dialogue table but reaffirmed the former candidate’s commitment to national reconciliation efforts.
Tivane used the interview to denounce what he described as obstruction by the Ministry of Justice in the legalisation process of Mondlane’s new political party. A legal appeal, he said, has been lodged with the Constitutional Council to contest what he characterises as politically motivated delays.
The controversy was reignited following the circulation on social media of excerpts from Chapo’s interview with the Portuguese press, in which the President categorically denied the existence of any agreement with Mondlane. According to Chapo, the two men merely met, acknowledged the need for national pacification, and went on to act in line with their respective interpretations of that dialogue.
