Month: November 2013

The Absent President and Angola’s Future

In the last few months, health concerns have prompted President José Eduardo dos Santos to make several trips to Spain for medical treatment. According to sources who spoke to Maka Angola on condition of anonymity, the President was evacuated to Barcelona on November 9 after falling in the Presidential Palace. Maka Angola has established that the President suffered a prostatic renal crisis, which required him to spend at least 30 days under observation. This is why he missed the Independence Day celebrations on November 11 for the first time ever. A medical expert explained to Maka Angola that a prostatic renal crisis is a condition in which the urine flow is obstructed by an enlarged prostate and production of urine ceases, necessitating dialysis in the case of kidney failure. “In the case of kidney failure, a very serious and often fatal situation, patients need regular dialysis. The failure of one […]

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Kopelipa Kamanguista no Zimbabué

Documentos confidenciais dos serviços secretos zimbabueanos (CIO), recentemente divulgados, revelam o envolvimento central de entidades chinesas, do general Kopelipa e da Sonangol no tráfico de diamantes no Zimbabué. Trata-se de tráfico de diamantes porque a sua comercialização não passa por canais formais de venda, mas através de esquemas obscuros, incentivados pelas autoridades zimbabuenas. A investigação, levada a cabo pela jornalista sul-africana Khadija Shariffe, detalha sobretudo o apoio que os chineses, em parceria com o chefe da Casa de Segurança do Presidente da República de Angola, general Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias “Kopelipa”, prestaram ao presidente Robert Mugabe, de 89 anos, para a sua vitória eleitoral, em Julho passado. Financiamentos secretos, em troca de diamantes, e a concepção e gestão de mecanismos de fraude eleitoral constituíram os principais eixos de apoio da coligação sino-angolana. Maka Angola publica o extrato da investigação referente à participação do general Kopelipa na operação, assim como da […]

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Isabel dos Santos Pockets Forbes

U.S.-based business publisher Forbes has formed a partnership with a company controlled by Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the Angolan President, to publish a new magazine edition for Portuguese-speaking African countries. Forbes Portuguese Africa will be a joint venture with ZAP, a company in which Ms. Dos Santos has a 70 percent shareholding. Last August, Forbes published information revealing that the President’s daughter had acquired almost her entire Angolan fortune through corrupt means. The announcement comes almost a year after Forbes included Ms. Dos Santos on its list of Africa’s wealthiest people. It assessed her wealth at U.S. $3 billion, making her the richest woman on the African continent. The inclusion of Ms. Dos Santos on the list attracted criticism that Forbes was glorifying a woman who owed her fortune to the political influence of her father, President José Eduardo dos Santos. In response to that criticism, in August, Forbes […]

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The President and the General Kangamba

For the first time in history, an Angolan general has been targeted with an international arrest warrant. General Bento dos Santos “Kangamba”, a member of the presidential family and a leading figure of the ruling MPLA party, is wanted in Brazil on suspicion of leading a gang involved in the trafficking of women for prostitution, conspiracy and forced confinement. Kangamba’s case is unprecedented, and the level of protection that he enjoys from the President beggars belief. Kangamba himself joked that he does not have magical powers. He made this joke to explain how he manages to deal with millions of dollars at a time, despite having no visible successful businesses. The secret of his success is the presidential favour that he enjoys. The warrant for Kangamba’s arrest has been met with deafening silence on the part of the Angolan presidency and the attorney general. The case damages the image of […]

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