Africa-Press – Angola. The July riots were a reaction to Angola’s constant and accelerated social and economic decline, coupled with ongoing political decline. Any leader would need no other indicators to conclude that he had failed completely.
Hungarian journalist Joseph Pulitzer stated: “In time, a cynical, mercenary, demagogic, and corrupt press will form a public as vile as itself.” The Angolan state press is, without a doubt, an example of this. I adapt Pulitzer’s words: a terrorist, insensitive, and corrupt government will form a people in its own image.
The robberies of food and essential goods stores and warehouses that occurred last week in Luanda, particularly in its outskirts, prompted impetuous statements from police officials, the Minister of the Interior, and, finally, the President of the Republic.
The strike declared by the candongueiro (public passenger and goods transport) associations for July 28th, 29th, and 30th triggered disorder, which spread to other provinces (Huambo, Huíla, Bengo, Icolo e Bengo, Malanje, and Benguela) and culminated in the murder of approximately 30 people. These were starving and unarmed, including a woman named Ana Mabuila, with her son by her side, fleeing from police gunfire, shot in the back, staggering as she pushed her son out of range. Her 13-year-old son did not abandon her and thus watched his mother die, expiring, suffocating in her own blood, taking her last breath as she expelled blood. She carried no possessions, food or otherwise. Her hands were the only ones she had to save her son. From state terrorism.
João Lourenço, with his characteristic charisma that rivals that of a hippopotamus, defended the criminal actions of the police. As the holder of executive power and Commander-in-Chief of the Angolan Armed Forces, he is responsible for the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police. Constitutionally and materially, the Minister of the Interior is a mere aide to the President of the Republic, lacking autonomy and, therefore, following direct orders from the holder of all power in Angola.
The president was returning from Lisbon when the strike and riots began. He arrived in the capital late Monday morning, the 28th, when the wave of hoarding by the desperate was already underway. He remained calm and continued with his agenda, which consisted of holding the July session of the Council of Ministers, held on the 30th, which unexpectedly included a new item on the agenda. The “acts of vandalism and disorder that triggered a climate of widespread insecurity” earned an exclusive note on the Presidency’s social media, where he acknowledged that “several incidents of disrespect towards the authorities were recorded […], resulting in 22 deaths, 197 injuries, and 1,214 arrests.”
After the meeting, he sent a note to King Mohammed VI of Morocco congratulating him on the 26th anniversary of his reign. The following day, he received the ambassadors of Namibia and the Netherlands, who traveled to the Hill Palace to bid farewell to their host upon completing their diplomatic missions. He also performed the typical musical chairs game by dismissing and appointing two Angolan ambassadors: the one from Ghana went to South Africa, and the one from South Africa to Ghana. And since a woman and mother had been murdered by her police, it was fitting to congratulate women on African Women’s Day.
However, on August 1st, it was recalled that “the country experienced moments of anguish due to the riots that occurred,” and therefore, it was appropriate to make a statement, preferably in a livestream reading of the text. “His face is like nothing,” a slanderous expression to describe the cynicism, the indifference, and the hypocrisy of those who, having to demonstrate empathy, take responsibility, and take responsibility, opt for indifference. A criminal indifference, legitimizing all atrocities.
If it were merely a semblance of indifference, it would perhaps be less serious. Lourenço spares no words when assigning blame, as is party tradition. He referred to the destruction of property, assault, and looting as punishable crimes. That’s right! In the fourth paragraph and following, he delighted in praising and thanking the “law enforcement forces,” who “acted within the scope of their obligations,” killing dozens of defenseless, completely unarmed people for stealing food to feed themselves and their families. He called the victims “irresponsible citizens” and, resorting to the old insinuation of an invisible hand behind the looting, accused them of having been “manipulated by national and foreign anti-patriotic organizations through social media.”
The lament for the deaths only emerged in the fifth paragraph, which begins by once again “vehemently condemning such criminal acts.” The lament is clearly devoid of any sign of contrition, hence the discursive sequence, preceded by praise for the murderers.
And he concluded his speech by reinforcing the specter of manipulation: “Whoever orchestrated and led this criminal action [sic] was defeated and helped us all, the Executive and society, to take preventive measures and better ways to react in the event of a recurrence, with a view to minimizing damage to people and property,” Lourenço read.
In the past, the President has blamed the victims for being murdered by security forces. In 2021, 44 years had passed since May 27, 1977, when Lourenço decided to break the taboo surrounding the Angolan Holocaust. Before the families and survivors of the May 27 victims, who were in constant mourning, João Lourenço repeated the official single-party line: “A group of organized citizens carried out a failed coup attempt, killing high-ranking figures in the established power.”
At the time, he acknowledged that, “in the interest of restoring constitutional order, the reaction of the authorities at the time was disproportionate and extreme, resulting in the summary executions of an undetermined number of Angolan citizens, many of them innocent.” Emphasis on the “authorities at the time,” of which António Agostinho Neto was the leader, and he himself was one of these “authorities at the time,” holding the position of Political Commissioner of the 2nd Political-Military Region in Cabinda.
If in 2021 he acknowledged that the response of the “Authorities at the time was disproportionate and taken to the extreme,” when, according to the official version, it was an attempted coup d’état, how can he authorize, praise, and thank the police with their “nothing face” who, in 2025, executed unarmed women and young people in broad daylight, desperate for stealing food or other basic necessities? Did they attempt a coup d’état?
If in 2021 he said that “a State’s stance in adverse and extremely tense situations must be, whenever possible, considered and measured, given the State’s greater responsibilities in defending the Constitution, the law, and human life,” could a State’s stance be different in 2025? Or was it impossible to prevent the deaths because those murdered were armed with boxes of pasta, boxes of chicken, and bags of rice? The murdered woman wasn’t even holding a can of sardines.
The inconsistency is such that, after pointing the finger at the victims of May 27th, he said that “this is not the time to point fingers at each other; it’s important that everyone takes responsibility for their share.” He didn’t take responsibility; on the contrary, he placed both murderers and victims on the same Commission for Reconciliation in Memory of Victims of Conflicts (CIVICOP), led by the former, which they were later forced to abandon.
A political reaction without political awareness
The July riots were a reaction motivated by the constant and accelerated social and economic degradation in Angola, coupled with ongoing political degradation. Robbing stores and warehouses to obtain food must be the unavoidable symptom that a people no longer have any hope. Any leader would need no other indicators to conclude that they have completely failed. Perhaps this is the final symptom.
No one steals food for pleasure, fun, or to pass the time. And no one manipulates hunger.
However, the lack of political awareness in the reaction was evident, despite the President and his Government’s great efforts to link the act to a conspiracy orchestrated by “national and foreign anti-patriotic organizations through social media.”
A politically conscious reaction would have targeted facilities crucial to the maintenance of authoritarianism. Despite the skirmishes, no banks or ports, elite schools or airports, hypermarkets or private condominiums, luxurious restaurants or luxury car dealerships, Unitel or Zap were attacked. The luxurious presidential plane in which João Lourenço was traveling landed safely in Luanda at the 4 de Fevereiro Airport.
The President’s serenity – not to be confused with a bath of serenity – reflects a profound tranquility because the riots did not even represent a concern for the dictatorial regime installed and solidified over 50 years.
The desperation caused by hunger has driven people to the nearest shelves, to those businesses built with family savings, many of which are owned by immigrants who effectively contribute to job creation but whose taxes are not reflected in social infrastructure. They are constantly extorted by tax agents, who stop by their establishments every now and then demanding the infamous “gasosa” under threat of closure and revocation of their resident permits. Once again, victims!
The Angolan people’s lack of hope is visible in the faces and words of every citizen. But, most seriously, even the President no longer has any hope that Angola has a future. We only need to read or listen to his speeches, follow his endless trips around the world without any real benefit to the country. Not even Sérgio Piçarra can cover the tail of the Future carried on the back of Hope in his cartoons because there is no covering for the widespread lack of hope. And so we are officially in the era of vandalism against vandalism.
Sedrick de Carvalho is an Angolan journalist and human rights activist.
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