Month: November 2014

From a CIA Conspiracy Theory to the Murdering of Activists

The trial regarding the 2012 killing of Angolan political activists Alves Kamulingue and Isaías Cassule, which resumed on November 18, continues today. The central question still concerns who, in the chain of command of the state and the ruling MPLA, ordered their deaths? What is known is that the two had been involved in organizing a demonstration on 27 May 2012, which was intended to involve former members of the Presidential Guard and demobilized soldiers. After negotiations with and pressure from the Presidential Intelligence Bureau, the former presidential guards pulled out of the protests. A further question is why the alleged killers of both men are being charged in a single case, although each death involved a different group of suspects. A total of seven suspects have been detained. In the Kamulingue case, two National Intelligence and State Security (SINSE) officials have been charged: António Gamboa Vieira Lopes and Paulo […]

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Online Protest in Memory of Activist Ganga

Maria José Vitorino de Carvalho has one mission in life: to demand justice for the political assassination of her eldest son, Manuel Hilbert de Carvalho Ganga, who was shot twice in the back and killed by a member of the Presidential Security Unit (USP) on November 23, 2013. Maria José Vitorino de Carvalho believes that it is her right, as a mother and citizen, to demand justice. As a grandmother she feels that she has a responsibility, in time, to explain to her 3 year old grandson, Uriel Tomás, the efforts made by the family in the face of the impunity of the murderer and those who ordered the execution of his father. On the mother’s request, Maka Angola and Club-K are currently promoting a photographic protest online in memory of Ganga. Citizens who wish to express their solidarity with the victim’s family, those who wish to fully exercise their […]

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General Awards Himself More Than 300 Square Kilometers of Land

The governor of the southern province of Kwanza-Sul, General Eusébio de Brito Teixeira, 61 years old, has recently authorized on his own and for himself land for agricultural use and the construction of condominiums. Through a glaring scheme of self-dealing, the governor and his family have already grabbed over 30,000 hectares (over 300 square kilometers) of land in Kwanza-Sul. A high-ranking figure in military strategy, within the inner circle of presidential power, parallel to the FAA – Angolan Armed Forces, General Eusébio de Brito Teixeira also occupies the post of representative of the Intelligence Bureau of the President of the Republic for Southern Angola. “We will adhere to the MPLA’s program for government, which is to increase growth and improve distribution [of wealth]”, quoted the governor on his inauguration by president José Eduardo dos Santos, on September 29, 2012. Adhering to the MPLA’s program, throughout the year of 2013, the […]

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Strongmen Thrive on their Ability to Keep People in Fear

Full text of the 2014 Carlos Cardoso Memorial Lecture, delivered on November 4, 2014 at Wits University. First, I would like to share with you a personal experience I had with Carlos Cardoso, the great friend I never had the chance to meet personally. Back in 1999, when I was jailed in Angola for calling president Dos Santos a dictator and corrupt, Carlos Cardoso was instrumental in mobilizing lawyers, journalists and concerned Mozambicans to lend their support to me. Upon my release, we began a regular e-mail correspondence that went beyond my legal battles, conviction, political persecution and travel ban. We broadened the conversation on teaming up to chiefly expose the scourge of corruption in both our countries. We believed in conquering the public space for the freedoms of speech and of the press to take root. We made the struggle for that public space ours. While Carlos was breaking […]

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SINSE and Public Prosecutor Protect a Pedophile in Cuango

A complaint of pedophilia has been lodged with the Office of the Attorney General against the secretary of diamond-rich Cuango municipality, in the province of Lunda-Norte. The father of the victim – a girl of 13 at the time – is accusing the local public prosecutor of protecting the secretary, and the local head of the State Intelligence and Security Service (SINSE) of attempting to suppress the case. The background to the case In September of 2013, the municipal administration organized a food and drinks fair [politically known as cultural marathons throughout the country] in the town of Cuango. During the fair, one of those responsible for organizing the event, the secretary of the Cuango municipality, Cândido Daniel Sampaio,37, offered to buy ice cream for two cousins who were part of his prayer group in the Church of the Seventh Day Adventists. The ice cream vendor was a certain distance away, and Sampaio suggested that they drive there, accompanied by one of his colleagues. On the way, they took a detour and parked at the water treatment plant, […]

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Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Defends Land-Grabbing

A request for the acquisition of several thousand hectares of land in Kwanza-Sul province, in the name of the chief justice of the Angolan Constitutional Court, Rui Ferreira, has raised suspicions of illegal practice. In the documents, the judge appears as the representative of a private company. This is the story. On the remains of the crumbling wall of an overgrown colonial house, someone has written: “Welcome [poster printed with a photograph of President dos Santos] to Lonhe.” The commune, part of the Quibala municipality in Kwanza-Sul province, is a place where time has stood still for its inhabitants. The polite message on the wall is much appreciated by top Angolan public officials. According to documents obtained by Maka Angola, Chief Justice Rui Ferreira and two of his children have been fast-tracked in the process of acquiring a total of 24,812 hectares of land in Lonhe. The area is three […]

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