At 9 p.m. on Saturday, two machines (mobiles) were found at the residence of the first secretary of the Frelimo party, in Iapala, registering people.

When they were caught, the 20 or so voters and their respective brigade members took off.

The administrative post of Iapala is 40 km from the town of Ribáuè and is outside the perimeter of the municipality of Ribáuè.

The two ID mobiles that were being used are from the Ribáuè Sede census offices. The first mobile is from the Ribaué Sede EPC and the other from the Quithele census office, located in a residence.

At these two census offices, people haven't registered for a week, on the grounds that the equipment is broken, when in fact they are being moved to other areas for clandestine registration at night.

According to Renamo's district delegate and the current president of the Ribáuè Municipal Assembly, the district director of STAE was present during the clandestine census.

Our Bulletin tried to contact the district director of the STAE, but to no avail, because he wasn't answering calls. Last Wednesday, our correspondents in Ribáuè reported that the census office in the town of Ribáuè had been paralyzed for three days due to an equipment breakdown.

That means the fault is from last Sunday. This Sunday is the first week that there has been no census in the Ribáuè EPC.

Elections 2023-2024 - Bulletin on the Political Process in Mozambique 69 - May 07, 2023 2 Image of the Ribáuè EPC census station paralyzed by the alleged breakdown of mobiles The Renamo delegate, who was also involved in the operation that culminated in the confiscation of mobiles, says that during the day, the brigadistas are resting at Ribáuè headquarters. At night they are carrying out clandestine censuses.

The brigades took their mobiles out at 6pm on Saturday for another round of night-time registration. However, during the journey they came across the Renamo team at Ribáuè market, when they were buying cookies. Renamo already had information about the night-time registration operation. When the brigadistas became aware of Renamo's presence, they got into their vehicle and left the area in the direction of Iapala.

The operation was not to be perfect. The Renamo inspectors, made up of the deputy director of STAE, a STAE technician, his district delegate and other elements, filled their motorcycles with fuel and set off towards Iapala, where the brigadiers went with the two machines.

Renamo had information that the brigadistas were at the residence of Frelimo's first secretary in Iapala, which happens to be a boarding house.

The brigades set up mobiles and began to register people, supposedly Frelimo members.

The machines were confiscated by Renamo representatives in Ribáuè, but the district director of STAE ended up recovering them from Renamo's hands, claiming that they didn't have the legitimacy to keep the machines under their protection.

It was only resolved with the arrival, around midnight, of the head of PRM operations, who took the machines to the district command. Elections 2023-2024 - Bulletin on the Political Process in Mozambique 69 - May 07, 2023 3 Officially, Frelimo has not yet reacted to the information.

At the time of going to press, our correspondents were still trying to get a reaction from this organization. However, the Nampula-based newspaper Ikweli quotes a Frelimo source threatening to sue those who associate the STAE act with the party. (CIP)