Biography of Daniel Chapo

Daniel Francisco Chapo was born on January 6, 1977, in the administrative post of Inhaminga, district of Cheringoma, in the province of Sofala. Son of Francisco Chapo (now deceased) and Helena dos Santos Chiremba. He is the sixth child and has 10 siblings.

His father, Francisco Chapo, was an employee of the Mozambique Railways (CFM) and his mother was a domestic worker. His family was obliged to leave Inhaminga and move to the district of Dondo due to the armed conflict, where he had his childhood and completed primary education at Josina Machel Primary school of Dondo.

In 1996, he completed grade 10 at Dondo Secondary School, and then went to the city of Beira, in order to complete secondary education at Samora Machel Secondary School. While attending the second cycle of secondary school, he was an announcer at Rádio Miramar (Radio Station) in Beira city, where he presented a sports program, between 1997 and 1999.

In 1999, he went to the country’s capital, Maputo city, in order to continue his studies, following his admission to the Law Course at the Faculty of Law at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), the largest and oldest institution of higher education in the country.

In Maputo, he was integrated into Miramar Television as a result of his collaboration with Miramar Radio in Beira. At the television station headquarters, he was a featured reporter and presented a television program called “A Voz do Povo”.

In 2004, he completed his degree course in Law. However, he continued to invest in his studies, having taken the Registry and Notary course at the Matola Legal and Judiciary Training Centre in the province of Maputo in the same year.

He was appointed, in 2005, as a Registrar and Public notary in Nacala-Porto, in the province of Nampula, and began his professional career in this area until 2009, at the invitation of the Pedagogical University in Nacala-Porto, in 2009, he was a professor of Constitutional Law at this higher education institution, where he taught the subjects of Constitutional Law and Political Sciences.

Biography translated by SOTRA

As a result of his work and political engagement, in 2009, he was appointed administrator of the district of Nacala-a-Velha, where he promoted the creation of employment opportunities for young people, as well as organising the installation of large-scale investments.

Even working under pressure due to his role as administrator, Chapo decided to continue his studies, this time taking a master’s degree course in Development Management, at the Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM). At the same time, he had his internship at the Bar Association, where he is member number 544, having voluntarily suspended himself since his appointment as public leader.

In 2015, he was appointed as administrator of the district of Palma, in Cabo Delgado. His mission in Palma lasted a short time, as he was appointed, in 2016, by President Filipe Nyusi, to the position of governor of Inhambane.

In April 2019, the Mozambican parliament approved a new legislative package, which determined that provincial governors would be elected. In this context, he was Frelimo’s list leader in Inhambane and the party won the October 2019 elections, becoming the first governor elected in that province.

Daniel Chapo is married to Gueta Selemane Chapo, with whom he has three minor children. He plays basketball and football. If he wins the elections which will be held on October 9th, he will become the fifth President of independent Mozambique, after Samora Machel, Joaquim Chissano, Armando Guebuza, and Filipe Nyusi.

SOME HIGHLIGHTING ACHIEVEMENTS

The Head of State, Filipe Nyusi, recently testified Chapo’s competence, stating that despite having remained in charge of the Palma district for six months, he gained sympathy in that part of the country, to the point that the President of the Republic was questioned, if they didn’t deserve to have someone with his profile governing them.

During the last eight years (2016 to 2024) as governor of Inhambane, Chapo led the province to be the first in the country to complete the implementation of banks in all districts, within the framework of the presidential initiative “One District, One Bank”. This work was completed in May 2019.

It was in his consulate and under his leadership that the province of Inhambane organised two international investment conferences, as well as district development forums, a fact that catapulted the local economy by attracting national and foreign investment in several structuring projects that ensured jobs on hand-local labour.

With his leadership, the population of the province of Inhambane stopped asking for food at popular rallies, starting to request development infrastructures, such as: access roads, schools, water supply sources, mobile telephone network, hospitals and as well as agricultural inputs.

In this line of development, Chapo sought to ensure that Inhambane ceased to be the poorest province in the country, coming alongside Gaza as one of the largest breeders of cattle, and the capital of national and international events, such as African Beach Football Championship, the holding of the II Conference “Crescendo Azul”, and recently the holding of the III edition of the “National Meeting of the Association of Bikers of the Pérola do Índico”, having brought together bikers from all provinces, the SADC region and from Portugal.

At his consulate, large investment projects for the agrarian sector in the northern region of the province came into operation; in addition to the approval of seven projects, whose total investment amount is 9,413.6 million US dollars, with the prospect of creating 249 jobs for national workers.

In the infrastructure chapter, the importance of his leadership for the asphalting of the Homoíne/Panda road, a section of around 50 kilometres, is highlighted, an important route in the development of the province; rehabilitation of the Pambara/Save section along National Road no. 1, a distance of 200 kilometres; reconstruction of the Morrumbene pier bridge, which will guarantee safe transport of people and goods; implementation of telephone networks in all administrative posts; construction of health units at local headquarters; as well as the construction of the Jangamo District Hospital, with the construction of the Massinga and Maxixe district hospitals currently underway.

In the context of health units, the construction of Chipole health centres in the district of Zavala is also detailed; Chizapela in Homoíne; Murrie and Guigobane, in Morrumbene; Tevele, in Massinga; as well as two waiting houses for pregnant women in Vilankulo and Morrumbene. The Cupo Health Centre is under construction, in the district of Funhalouro.

With a view to minimising water scarcity, work was carried out to ensure that currently, all district headquarters in Inhambane have water supply systems, missing the Govuro district, where the first stone for construction in Doane has already been laid. For places where there is no river course nearby, water retention dams were implemented. And in the rural areas of Zavala and Massinga, new water holes were built.

In the education sector, emphasis is placed on the ongoing work to ensure the expansion of the school network, with the construction of secondary schools in administrative posts.

From this work there are tangible results such as the secondary schools of 25 de Setembro de Quissico; Chicomo in Massinga; The construction of the Mapanguela secondary education establishment, in the town of Guma, in Massinga, is also underway. It also emphasised the entry into operation of six primary schools.

In the field of agriculture, one of the highlights is the Chimunda irrigation system, which will boost the food production process in the northern part of the province and create jobs among the population.

Considering the great tourist potential of the province, in terms of culture and tourism, Chapo led the annual holding of the Tofo Festival and the Timbila Festival. He implemented the Mpabe (fish) festivals in the Inhassoro district, Macamba (shrimp) in Govuro. There were also Závora festivals, in Inharrime, Morrungulo (in Massinga), with the aim of promoting culture, tourism and gastronomy in the province.

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

Daniel Chapo was, between 1995 and 1996, secretary for the organisation area at OJM (Mozambican Youth Organization) in the Dondo district, having distinguished himself for the way he mobilised young people to embrace party work.

He then began to play, between 1998 and 1999, the role of secretary of the Installation Committee of the District Youth Council, as a member and member of the OJM. In Maputo city, between 2001 and 2004, he worked as secretary of Branch “B”, at the UEM university home, where he worked with his colleagues for the success of the electoral campaign in the context of the general elections.

He was then secretary of Branch “A” of the National Directorate of Registry and Notary in Maputo, between 2004 and 2005, and in 2005, he was elected as secretary of the Branch of Registry and Notary, in Nacala-Porto.

In 2008 he was appointed to play the role of director of the electoral campaign of the candidate Chale Issufo, from Frelimo, in the Nacala-Porto Municipality, where the party won the elections, and removed the opposition from power. Due to his notoriety, he was appointed, in 2009, to the position of administrator of Nacala-a-Velha, and deputy head of the district election preparation office. Due to his duties, he was appointed, in 2012, deputy head of the district office for the preparation of the X Congress in Nacala-a-Velha.

Chapo was deputy head of the district election preparation office in Nacala-a-Velha in 2014. And two years later he became a member of the Frelimo district committee in the district of Palma, where he was transferred upon his appointment to the province from Inhambane.

He held the position of deputy head of the provincial preparation office for the XI Congress, in Inhambane, in 2017. In the same year, during the holding of his party’s XI Congress, he was elected member of the Central Committee (CC), having been renewed in 2022, at the XII Congress.

In 2018, he was deputy head of the provincial election preparation office in Inhambane, having been elected head of the Frelimo list for the first elections of the country’s provincial governors in 2019, thanks to decentralisation reforms in Mozambique.

CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

The 1st Extraordinary Session of the Central Committee took place in the Congress Hall, at the Central Party School, in Matola city, Maputo province, from the 3rd to the 5th of May 2024, which was attended by 249 members of the 254 permanent staff and 11 substitutes.

The party’s honorary presidents, Joaquim Chissano and Armando Guebuza, participated as guests at the session. The session’s sole agenda item was the election of the Frelimo candidate for President of the Republic, in the VII General Elections of October 9, 2024.

The Political Commission (CP) presented to the body the proposal of pre-candidates names for Frelimo candidates for President of the Republic: Roque Silva Samuel, general secretary; Damião José, member of the Political Committee; and Daniel Chapo, member of the CC.

After evaluating the proposals, the CC recommended to the Political Committee the inclusion of more party members in the list of pre-candidates. From this exercise, CP added the names of Esperança Laurinda Francisco Nhiuane Bias and Francisco Ussene Mucanheia. For personal reasons, Damião José decided to withdraw his candidacy, a fact promptly accepted by the CC.

The Central Committee elected, in the second round, Daniel Francisco Chapo, member of the Central Committee, Frelimo candidate for the VII Presidential Elections of October 9, 2024, with 225 votes, corresponding to 94.1 percent, (BIOGRAPHY MAGAZINE).