Former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos died on Friday 8 July 2022 in Spain at the age of 79. “The Godfather”, as he was also known, shaped the history of Angola for several decades.
“He wants the honor but won’t give the honor back. In his last public message on his Instagram account, former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos wrote these few enigmatic words under a photo in which he shows himself with his head bowed and lips pressed together, looking disappointed and thoughtful. No further comment. And above all, José Eduardo dos Santos casts a false doubt on this “he” who “wants honor but does not give honor”. This “he” is of course João Lourenço, who has been fighting fraud and money laundering since 2017. João Lourenço, like a ball thrown in a bowling game called dos Santos clan.
In the dos Santos family, the richest African woman, corrupt and corrupting working in the oil and diamond sector, the daughter: Isabel, called “the Princess” by the Angolans. The son: José Filomeno, BCBG, who wears a friendly smile, is at the helm of the sovereign wealth fund.
► also read : Former President José Eduardo dos Santos has died in Spain
The “Luanda Leaks”
A Leakage of numerous confidential documents analyzed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), of which RFI is a part, provided an insight into the management of the affairs of Isabel dos Santos and Sindika Dokolo, her husband, in late January 2020. “In total there are more than 715,000 files, most of which are confidential. They describe the internal workings of more than 400 companies and subsidiaries, the oldest since 1992, and distributed in 41 countries in which the couple holds shares. These are email exchanges containing all sorts of attachments, contracts, board meeting minutes, organization charts, management reports, loan agreements or even personal documents from the email inboxes of employees of Fidequity, one of its management companies in Portugal and several other companies or service providers. […] The “Luanda Leaks” shed light on the role of these little hands, managers, lawyers, notaries, bankers, accountants and other accounting firms, who over the years have asked very few questions about this dos Santos family stranglehold on the Angolan economy. the astronomical amounts of financial or real estate transactions, much less the origin of their wealth. Although Ms. dos Santos and Mr. Dokolo complain about the restrictions imposed on them, the states hosting their investments themselves are almost not in the conversation. Millions of dollars in cash are transferred from Luxembourg to Portugal; Millions of diamonds go from Switzerland to France without the most obvious question being asked,” wrote our colleague Sonia Rolley, who investigated the case.
Here are two great actors from the Dos Santos Company, the children. Above them, of all things, the “godfather”: José Eduardo himself. The “Godfather”, one of the many nicknames of the former President, to which we can add the “Sphinx”, “Tribal Chief”, “Prince of Luanda”, “Machiavel”, etc. In exile in Barcelona, his communication skillfully penetrates an image: the retired grandfather playing with his grandchildren. An idyllic image of deceptive serenity that hardly hides a bitter retirement, very badly digested.
Jose Eduardo dos Santos, a must see
What prepared little José Eduardo for such a fate, to mark the history of the country for several decades? His name is linked to the first years of independence, to the history of the MPLA and the Angolan Revolution, to the entry of the African giant into the 21st century… José Eduardo, son of Avelino, bricklayer and paver of his state, and Jacinta, has the rare opportunity to go to school. In 1961, at the age of 19, he joined the MPLA, then a secret organization. A month later he joined the Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) branch of the movement.
That’s where Machiavelli thrives. José Eduardo dos Santos rose through the ranks of the MPLA. His skills are recognized: he is appointed vice-president of the movement’s youth movement. The fine strategist was sent to Baku in the USSR in 1963, where he graduated as a petroleum and telecommunications engineer. The Cold War requires every ambitious politician to go through the Moscow box. The inexorable rise of dos Santos continued and in 1975 he joined the MPLA’s Central Committee and Political Bureau, where he was responsible for the management of Cabinda. A politically and economically sensitive issue under control – Cabinda, “oil lung” – for the country. With independence gained that year, he was promoted to Minister for External Relations. Then he earned his spurs: He became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Planning until September 10, 1979.
On this day Agostinho Neto, the first President of Angola, dies in Moscow. Dos Santos logically prevails and follows him. He takes control of the MPLA and the Angolan state. In power, another struggle against Jonas Savimbi and Unita began between 1975 and 2002, when the civil war ended. Twenty-seven years of civil war. A political chameleon, the Marxist dos Santos negotiated trade deals with the United States and consolidated his power by undermining the appeal that Savimbi was able to exert internationally, historically close to certain American, Israeli, South African and French circles. Maquis against regular army, civil war devastates the country, plunges into chronic destabilization. Jonas Savimbi falls under army bullets on February 22, 2002. A page of history was opened. The war has officially left 500,000 dead and a million displaced.
From Sambizanga to the Cidade Alta…
His career could also be summarized like this: from Sambizanga to Cidade Alta. Sambizanga is the capital’s slum, where the future president takes his first steps and his first… weapons. As a student, he joined the networks secretly working to crush Portuguese colonial rule. The Cidade Alta symbolizes the culmination of a political career for a man who has reached the “top of the basket”. The Cidade Alta is a hill perched on the heights of Luanda. The Presidential District. Rich par excellence. Own. Here there are no rutted sidewalks, no papers and garbage on the floor, no noise, no chaos. Here order and silence prevail between the very green lawns and the pink and white buildings and the colonial colonnades. The Presidential Palace is a bunker where, in order to enter, you have to show your ID every hundred meters, under the very strict surveillance of elite hand-picked guards.
life after power. Since his exile in Barcelona, José Eduardo dos Santos has been fighting for his clan. The “Godfather” tries to resist João Lourenço’s anti-corruption crusade, which essentially boils down to killing the wealthy Isabel (her fortune is estimated at at least $3 billion) and José Filomeno, who was also born with a silver spoon in his mouth . The Portuguese judiciary supports the Angolan Presidency. In January, she launched a money laundering investigation into billionaire Isabel dos Santos.
The noose tightens: the origin of the money invested by the “princess” is considered doubtful. Luanda also froze Isabel’s bank accounts and assets. We don’t touch the family for José Eduardo. The public counterattack was organized: interviews with Isabel, press releases, tweets, denunciation of “lies”, “fake news”… During these very long months of struggle, José Eduardo dos Santos no longer has that enigmatic smile. that we know him. With his disappearance, João Lourenço has a free hand. The “Godfather” no longer exists.
It is someone who has gradually closed everything. The Angolan state was formed around both war and oil revenues and an elite, within which José Eduardo dos Santos became the master of chess from the 1980s, who replaced each other in various positions of power. And who really had everything under control. Later, starting in the 2000s and the end of the war, power became even more concentrated, gradually focusing on his family and biological clan.
Didier Péclard, Professor of Political Science and African Studies at the University of Geneva