Author: Rafael Marques de Morais

Between Succession and Collapse: Angola at the End of Lourenço’s Rule

Before asking who will succeed João Lourenço, a more uncomfortable question looms: what kind of country will he leave behind at the end of his final term? The issue is not merely one of political succession, but of structural inheritance. Over a decade in power, what has taken shape is not a reformist project, but the deepening of a system built on revanchism, state capture, and misgovernance. As Angola approaches a decade under João Lourenço, it has not emerged as a stronger or more just state—it has grown more centralized, more opaque, and more exposed to the whims of unchecked presidential power. The case of General Higino Carneiro illustrates the pattern. Cleared by the Supreme Court of corruption charges, he re-emerged in the political arena—only to face new accusations as he positioned himself as a contender for the leadership of the MPLA. This sequence suggests not a consistent system of […]

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Angola: An Election That Doesn’t Decide

In Angola, where corruption and the capture of state institutions by political and economic elites remain persistent concerns, the independence of the justice system is a matter of national importance. The country is now about to hold an election for one of the most powerful positions in that system. Yet the vote will not determine who actually wins. On March 16, members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office will elect candidates for the position of Attorney General. But under Angola’s legal framework, the outcome of that election does not decide the appointment. Instead, the three most voted candidates will be submitted to President João Lourenço, who will select one of them to lead the country’s prosecutorial authority. In other words: prosecutors vote, but the president decides. The arrangement creates an institutional paradox — an election whose result does not determine the winner. In any electoral process, the principle is straightforward: the […]

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Constitutional Breach: Secretary of State Remains Director-General of IGCA

On 3 March 2026, four months after assuming office as Secretary of State, Conceição Cristóvão convened IGCA employees to a meeting scheduled for 6 March to discuss the institute’s internal functioning — signing the notice in his capacity as Director-General. Today, 6 March, he has presided over that meeting. Similarly, Adilson Freire, who serves as head of the IGCA Director’s Support Department, combines these duties with those of chief of staff to the Secretary of State for Urbanism and Housing. Symptomatically, Adilson Freire took office as chief of staff to the Secretary of State in a private ceremony, without this information being posted on the Ministry’s website. Since 30 October 2025, Conceição Luís Cristóvão has served as Secretary of State for Urbanism and Housing. Under the Angolan Constitution and the legal framework governing public administration, appointment to this office makes it incompatible for him to continue exercising the functions of Director-General […]

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How Angola’s Land Registry Undermines Property Rights

A technical opinion confirmed the ownership of a 9.86-hectare plot in Talatona, Luanda. Angola’s Cadastral Institute concealed that finding for eight months while communicating a different version to prosecutors. The case reveals how manipulation of land records is eroding property rights and driving a surge in land conflicts across Angola. A technical opinion confirmed the ownership of a 9.86-hectare plot of land in Talatona, Luanda. The leadership of Angola’s Geographical and Cadastral Institute (IGCA) withheld that information for eight months and communicated a different version to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The case of Maria Africano da Silva exposes the risk of institutional capture within Angola’s cadastral system — and the legal insecurity surrounding property rights. The request forms part of a criminal proceeding for land usurpation (case no. 33.859/25-LDA) involving a dispute between Maria Africano da Silva and Orlando Veloso, former president of Sonangol Imobiliária e Propriedades (SONIP), the real […]

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Editorial Note on Grupo Carrinho

In fulfilment of its legal and ethical obligations, Maka Angola has published Grupo Carrinho’s response to the articles released on its platform on 23 and 24 February 2026. The right of reply and institutional balance have therefore been fully ensured, allowing readers to assess, with equal prominence, the positions presented. We stand by our reporting in its entirety. The articles are the result of documented investigative work conducted in accordance with rigorous journalistic standards and in the exercise of the public’s right to information and scrutiny. Any dispute regarding the facts reported may be pursued through the competent legal forums, as provided by law. Maka Angola will continue to carry out its work independently, calmly, and with a steadfast commitment to accountability.

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In Angola, Security Laws Turn 11 Seconds into Six Months of Jail

Venâncio Lucungo was arrested on July 23 on charges of “provocation to war.” Six months later, he remains in detention at Calomboloca Penitentiary. No formal indictment has been served on his lawyer. The basis of the arrest: an 11-second excerpt from a public speech. Five days before Angola’s violent crackdown on striking taxi drivers last year, the Criminal Investigation Service detained 50-year-old Venâncio Filipe Ngondo Lucungo under accusations of rebellion, public incitement to crime, public apology of crime and provocation to war. The state-owned Angolan Public Television broadcast an official communiqué stating that Lucungo had encouraged citizens “to take up firearms and bladed weapons to rebel against the government.” The allegation rests on 11 seconds extracted from a speech delivered on July 13, 2025, during a public gathering linked to the inauguration of the main opposition UNITA municipal committee in Luanda. In the widely circulated clip, Lucungo is heard saying: […]

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Angola Jails One Teen, Kills Another

A teenager killed during Angola’s taxi drivers’ strike and his cousin jailed without charge reveal how police violence, political cover and judicial silence converge. On the first day of Angola’s taxi drivers’ strike, two teenage cousins left home in different parts of Luanda on ordinary errands. One would not return alive. The other has spent more than six months in prison without charge. José Ngola was 14 years old. Benvindo Ernesto João Zanga was 17. Their stories reveal not an isolated tragedy, but the routine mechanics of repression in Angola — a system in which lethal police force, prolonged pre-trial detention, and political cover converge, while courts remain silent. On the morning of 28 July 2025, José Ngola left his home in Golf II to buy a spare part for his father’s sewing machine. His cousin Benvindo left Camama to purchase a phone battery. That same day, amid police operations […]

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Manufacturing Enemies: Inside Angola’s Security State

Shot by police on the first day of Angola’s taxi drivers’ strike, a street bookseller known as “General Nila” has been held for over six months without formal charges. His case exposes a pattern of repression, suspended legality, and the deliberate manufacture of enemies to sustain power. Detained on 28 July 2025 after being shot by police on the first day of Angola’s taxi drivers’ strike, Serrote José de Oliveira — widely known as “General Nila” — has been held for over six months without formal charges. According to his family and lawyers, he remains in detention despite a guarantees judge’s order for his hospitalization and the rejection of a habeas corpus petition. Earlier that morning, Nila was walking with his younger brothers, Bartolo and Pascoal, to Talatona Municipal Hospital to visit a hospitalized relative. His family says they were not participating in any protest and that there were no […]

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War on Civil Society, Continuity of Plunder

Unable to halt Angola’s structural plunder, the government of João Lourenço has declared war on civil society. The new NGO law turns popular dissent into an enemy of the State and uses “security” as a smokescreen to protect a failing regime and the impunity of plunder. The proposed Law on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that the ruling MPLA is preparing to approve on January 22, 2025, is an act of political desperation. It is designed to conceal the disastrous governance of João Lourenço and to divert attention from Angola’s ongoing structural plunder. It is the latest manoeuvre by a party that has ruled the country without interruption since independence in 1975 — after five decades of state capture. From its preamble to its final chapters, the law abandons the constitutional framework of freedom of association (Article 48 of the Constitution of the Republic of Angola) and places NGOs under a permanent […]

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Angola: A Spy Network That Exists Only on Paper

From Africa Org to “Ciência Política de Angola,” the state constructs a chain of imaginary organisations to accuse journalists and opposition youth of espionage. None of the entities exist, and not a single act meets the legal definition of espionage.If Angola truly believed Russia was behind a coup attempt, it would expel diplomats and sever military ties — not keep a Russian general inside the Presidential Palace. The accusation serves internal politics, not national security. This text examines the espionage charges within Case File 3846/25-CE, the same case in which Judge António Negrão uncritically validated the terrorism theory already dismissed by the Public Prosecutor. If the claim of terrorism was absurd, the accusation of espionage is nothing short of a parody. According to the official narrative, two Russian citizens — Igor Ratchin Mihailovic and Lev Matveevich Lakshtanov — allegedly travelled to Angola to set up a clandestine espionage operation, assisted […]

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