This afternoon, the independent presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, harshly criticized the former president of Mozambique, Joaquim Alberto Chissano.

Mondlane accused Chissano of being "the father of cabritism, of corruption" and of having received 120 million dollars in an account domiciled in the United States.

"The father of cabritism is Joaquim Chissano. The goat eats where it's tied. He implemented it. He implemented corruption in the state. He implemented [the rule] that every businessman who enters Mozambique must give five percent to a member of Frelimo," he accused.

According to Mondlane, it was during Joaquim Chissano's rule that Mozambican banks went bankrupt.

"It was Joaquim Chissano who caused money to be taken from the People's Development Bank for about a thousand Frelimo people who didn't pay. The bank went bankrupt. The Commercial Bank of Mozambique also went bankrupt. All this under President Chissano," he said.

Mondlane was talking about a video in which Chissano called on the population not to join the demonstrations and to wait for the Constitutional Council's decision.

In Mondlane's interpretation, Chissano accused the demonstrators of being vandals, so the former President of Mozambique "missed the opportunity to keep quiet".

Joaquim Chissano, 85, came to power in November 1986 - following the assassination of President Samora Moisés Machel on October 19 of the same year - and left office in February 2005.