The Mayor of Quelimane, in Zambézia province, Manuel de Araújo said that the politician Venâncio Mondlane at some point during the 2024 post-election demonstrations positioned himself as an "advocate of violence" and missed the opportunity to take power by force. 

He considered that Mondlane's stance had led him, as the 'leader' of the protest movement, to lose control of the chaos.

For the Renamo member, the situations during that period and the lack of a non-violence strategy meant that Mondlane's demands were not successful. As he said, this created a window for infiltration and distortion of the true meaning of the demonstrations.

He was speaking in an interview with the program MozCast, of The Mozambique TimesHe was answering a comparative question about possible flaws in Mondlane's strategy of turning to the international community to support him in the fight to restore "electoral truth", which was not the case when he himself, Manuel de Araújo, fought for the Quelimane municipality.