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At first, all seemed to be going well for Simango and Renamo.
Repeatedly Dhlakama had insisted that Renamo would run all five of its current mayors (in Beira, Marromeu, Nacala, Angoche and Mozambique Island) for a second term of office, stating as recently as 8 August, that this was a Renamo policy.
Simango's most prominent rival, Renamo parliamentarian Manuel Pereira, was then persuaded to withdraw his candidacy.
But last Thursday, everything was thrown into reverse. Renamo national spokesper son Fernando Mazanga told the press that, due to "pressure from the grassroots", Renamo would run Pereira, not Simango, as its candidate for mayor of Beira.
Pereira said the decision had been taken by Dhlakama himself.
In Beira, acting on Dhlakama's instructions, the Renamo Sofala provincial delegate, Fernando Mbararano, called a press conference announcing the change of line, and claiming that Pereira was the choice of "the grassroots" of the party in Beira.
Renamo members wanted to know who these "grassroots" were - for they knew of no consultation exercise, let alone an inner-party election, in Beira.
Simango supporters demonstrated on two successive days, took control of the Rena mo Beira offices, and set up a "Renamo Management Commission" to run the party's affairs in Beira.
Mbararano, and the Renamo Beira city delegate, Faque Inacio, both disappeared from public view.
There has been no sign of the "grassroots" support allegedly enjoyed by Pereira. On the contrary, all the public support among Renamo members on the streets of B eira has been for Simango.
On Monday, the Renamo Management Commission drew up a letter addressed to the party's general secretary, Ossufo Momad.
"We are telling him that if we don't receive a positive response, we shall advance with the candidature of Daviz Simango as an independent", the Commission's spokesperson, Chico Jose, told the independent newsheet "Mediafax".
The Commission was also preparing a demonstration of "more than a thousand people" Wednesday in support of Simango.
Simango has refused to make any public comment about the divisions inside Renamo, but Jose said "we are sure Mayor Daviz will not refuse, because he knows that Beira and the people of Beira need him".
The problem, for both Simango and Pereira, is to ensure that all the necessary paperwork for their nomination is delivered to the National Elections Commission ( CNE) by Friday, the last day for nominations.
All candidates for mayor need supporting signatures from at least one per cent of the registered voters in the municipality. In the case of Beira, that is 2,300 signatures - and Simango's supporters claim they already have 4,000 signatures.
Geraldo Carvalho, a senior Renamo Beira official who works in Simango's office, told the paper "Diario Independente" that the pressure on Dhlakama to get rid of Simango had come from former officers in Renamo's guerrilla army.
Mbararano held the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and Faque Inacio was a brigadier. They, plus another brigadier, Moises Machava, "have been fighting against Daviz Simango for a long time", Carvalho claimed.
"They've done everything to overthrow him, and at the last moment, when the people were convinced that the mayor would be re-elected, they've succeeded".
"These developments show that ambitious people are destroying this country. They don't build and they don't let others build", he said.
Meanwhile, the Renamo dissident group known as the JNSR (Renanmo National Salvat ion Junta) has announced that it will support neither Simango nor Pereira.
The JNSR spokesperson Saimon Muterua said his group would boycott the local elec tions in all municipalities where the candidates are chosen by Dhlakama rather t h an by an inner-party election.
Speaking to the weekly paper "Scorpiao", he added that in at least six municipal ities (Mozambique Island, Nampula, Cuamba, Gondola, Manica and Tete) the JNSR would support independent candidates.
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