The church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário, on the outskirts of Maputo, was too small to receive thousands of people this morning, including hundreds of lawyers, for the funeral of Elvino Dias, legal advisor to presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.
The church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário, on the outskirts of Maputo, was too small to receive thousands of people this morning, including hundreds of lawyers, for the funeral of Elvino Dias, legal advisor to presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.
The funeral procession, which left the center of Maputo at around 9:20 am local time (three hours less in Cape Verde), took an hour to reach that parish, escorted by the police and flanked by a group of motorcyclists, a journey made without any incident.
Upon arrival, hundreds of Mozambican lawyers received the remains of Elvino Dias, one of the two supporters of Venâncio Mondlane murdered on Friday in Maputo, including the president of the Order himself, Carlos Martins.
In an environment of deep consternation, the interior of the church became small, leading hundreds to improvise chairs outside the temple.
When speaking in the homily, the archbishop of the diocese of Maputo, João Carlos Nunes, recognized the general feeling in the temple: “We feel materially crushed by this blow”.
Classifying this crime as “cruel and unexpected”, the archbishop added: “The violence and barbarity that took his life shocks us deeply.”
The archbishop even said that Elvino Dias, despite “his early departure, lived a life full of meaning”, dedicating his activity to “defending the rights of the most vulnerable”.
“Perhaps that was why it was not well understood and welcomed”, criticized the archbishop of the diocese of Maputo.
He even added that this death is “a warning”, assuming: “Evil continues to threaten our society, our country and our city”.
For the Archbishop of Maputo, “it cannot be just lamenting” the death of Elvino Dias, arguing that it is necessary to “transform the pain” with a “renewed commitment to justice, truth and above all, peace”.
“His death challenges us to continue this mission, the search for truth, justice and peace. We cannot be indifferent to the suffering that affects so many of our families”, said João Carlos Nunes.
Candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who called for mass participation in today’s funeral ceremonies, was not present, having announced in recent days that he is “partly uncertain”, however, the presidential candidate and leader of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM, third parliamentary force), Luther Simango, attended, in the church.
At the same time, the wake of Paulo Guambe, electoral representative of the Podemos party – which supports the presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, of which he was a founding member, as well as a teacher, screenwriter, producer, was taking place in the morgue of the Maputo Central Hospital, in the city center. and director.
His funeral is scheduled for the Jangamo cemetery, Inhambane province, southern Mozambique, on Thursday.
The Mozambican police confirmed to Lusa on Saturday that the vehicle in which the victims, who were shot dead, were traveling was “ambushed”.
The crime, as well as the challenge to the provisional results of the October 9 general elections, led Venâncio Mondlane to call for peaceful marches in Mozambique on Monday, which were dispersed by strong police action, with shots in the air and tear gas. , and the clashes caused, according to a hospital source, at least 16 people injured in Maputo.
The police response to the demonstrations was condemned by the international community and there were several calls for restraint from both parties, namely Portugal, the European Union and the African Union.
The elections included the seventh presidential elections, simultaneously with legislative ones and for provincial assemblies and governors.
The National Elections Commission (CNE) has 15 days to announce the official results, a date that is Thursday, October 24th, and the Constitutional Council will then be responsible for announcing the results, after also completing the analysis of possible appeals, but without a defined deadline for this purpose.
