According to a report in Friday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", Mahuai's opponents were furious that he had signed a deal with the government over the transfer of the state's shares in the micro-credit company SOCREMO to the Forum.
The shares were handed over on 30 September, as part of the final settlement of the claims by the former migrants (known colloquially as "majermanes") announced by Labour Minister Helena Taipo in December 2005.
Shares plus profits amounted to 21,167,988 new meticais (about 846,000 US dollars). The Forum immediately sold back the shares to SOCREMO for 17,50,300 meticais.
At the Jardim de Liberdade (Freedom Garden) in central Maputo, which is the habitual majermane meeting place, Mahuai's opponents claimed he had no right to sign the documents for this transfer.
They claimed he had no mandate to act on the majermanes' behalf, and demanded that he turn over the deeds to the shares "to their legitimate owners".
"It's here, in this garden, that we solve our problems, and Mahuai didn't come and consult us before signing the documents", said the leaders of the group who attacked Mahuai (identified in the paper as Nunes Balate, Arnaldo Mendes and Zeca Cossa).
Mahuai told "Noticias" the real problem was "they want to be the leaders of the Forum. There are interests external to the group in this action - which was premeditated, because they had a tyre and petrol all prepared to lynch me".
As it was Mahuai and his companions escaped with a few scratches, and have declined to press charges against their attackers.
Mahuai said the purpose of the meeting called on Wednesday was to discuss what to do with the money from the shares. Signing the documents on 30 September, he argued, was merely the logical continuation of the government decisions of last December, which were themselves negotiated with the Forum.
His opponents "can't say there's any illegitimacy in our actions", added Mahuai, denying that he had violated the Forum statutes.
If his opponents thought they would be more successful than he had been in extracting money from the government, there was nothing to stop them from trying, he said.
Under Mahuai, the Forum has in fact been spectacularly successful. Quite apart from the SOCREMO shares, the government has promised to pay out assorted benefits and compensation to the majermanes which amount to around 48 million dollars - or an average of about 3,000 dollars for each of the over 16,000 majermanes registered with the Labour Ministry.
SOURCE: AIM
