Sousa Jamba
Angolans have been saying tomorrow’s elections will be the closest since 1992 when the first phase of the decades-long civil war ended.
So far, the election campaign has been unexpectedly peaceful. The ruling MPLA has used the advantage of incumbency to the fullest — sometimes even going against the law that states that all political parties should have access to the state-controlled media.
This has not been the case: the state-controlled media, which has the largest audience in the country, has never interviewed Adalberto Costa Junior in the three years he has been leader of the opposition UNITA.
President João Lourenço, in power since 2017, accuses Costa Junior of working in cahoots with figures who made illicit fortunes under the leadership of his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos to restore their privileges. Lourenço is effectively saying that a vote for the opposition is a vote for a version of his party that is responsible for the mess the country is in. The MPLA has ruled Angola for 47 years.
Costa Junior has campaigned on the claim that he will bring more jobs, revive the moribund economy, and ensure good governance.
There are two themes in his campaign that his critics have seized on: first, the proposal that the oil-rich Cabinda province and diamond-rich Lunda North and Lunda South provinces should become autonomous regions.
Secondly, wealthy Angolans who have amassed immense fortunes abroad should be allowed to return and be spared prosecution if they agree to invest in the country.
Costa Junior has argued that the war against corruption has been highly selective, that Lourenço has been prepared to look the other way when it meant prosecuting people that were close to him or ready to make a deal with him.
The case that is often cited is that of Manuel Vicente, the former director of the state oil company, who has a number of cases against him in Portugal, but who operates freely and is close to the president.
Two of Jonas Savimbi’s children — one living in the United States, the other in Senegal — have come out against UNITA, the party their father founded, saying its leadership has made alliances with corrupt figures their father would not have approved of.
On the other hand, Dos Santos’ children, especially his daughter Tchize dos Santos, have come out in favour of UNITA, saying Costa Junior is a thoughtful, well-intentioned unifier.
Lourenço has also been condemning UNITA for past alliances — especially the association with the apartheid South African regime during the civil war in the 70s and 80s.
This accusation has gained little traction because many young Angolans do not have the faintest idea about the war. In the coastal city of Sumbe, Lourenço reminded his supporters that the white South African army had made it to their city in 1975.
Many in the audience had not been born, and to them South Africa is now the land where some of the elite send their children to study or where they go to get medical treatment.
In 2017, Lourenço made many promises. He famously said that he would help the coastal province of Benguela become a California. Benguela is still very far from becoming the golden state. Lourenço blamed that on the Covid-19 pandemic and the vast amounts of money Dos Santos and his close aides siphoned to the West.
Many are anxious that despite the peaceful campaign itself there might be a post-electoral flare-up in Angola. Taking a leaf from the Zambian elections, the UNITA opposition has been telling its supporters to stay 500 metres from the poll after voting.
That is what the law says. The government in turn has said that that is unacceptable; after voting people should go away, and there have even been calls for the police and the army to use force to clear up any gathering near the polls. Things could get tense.
