Africa-Press – Angola. Bela Malaquias is being accused of ‘robbing’ the party, of turning it into a family asset and of placing the cars of this political party in the Heetch taxi services.
The president of the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), Bela Malaquias, is being accused of lack of transparency in management, nepotism, cronyism, transforming the organization into a family asset, to the point of not accepting an internal audit, and placing the political party’s cars in the ‘Heetch’ taxi service.
The accusation was made by the vice-president for National Auditing, Albertina Coimbra Agostinho, who was prevented from visiting the party headquarters and participating in activities.
At PHA, she is called ‘sister Beth’ and within her family, Beth Coimbra. Considered a woman with genius and a true ‘warrior’, she is a co-founder of the party.
Her meeting with Bela Malaquias was unusual – she was returning to the murmurs of a law firm, due to a case that was neither ‘starting nor untying’, when she was approached by an unknown woman who comforted her. She was the current president of the PHA, who, ironically, was also the owner of the aforementioned firm.
The conversation between the two lasted for several hours and discussed different aspects of life.
Eventually enchanted by her interlocutor’s speech, Bela Malaquias revealed a dream to her: the creation of a political party.
Without time to reflect deeply on whether or not she would join the cause, the vice president asked for a few days to analyze the pros and cons of Bela Malaquias’ ‘political embryo’.
“In 15 days, I accepted the cause, especially due to the defense of women and humanism as one of the principles”, he says.
Without looking at the means or compensation, the first PHA activist got her hands dirty, as they say.
He contributed to the formalization of the PHA installation committee with the Constitutional Court (TC) and called on the cause of family members.
“At the time, no one was willing to spend five thousand kwanzas to deal with the Criminal Record. I even called two cousins to join the cause”, he recalls.
An effort without returns
In 2020, he traveled to seven of the former 18 provinces, hunting for documents to legalize the party.
With just under two million and a few kwanzas made available by Bela Malaquias, Beth Coimbra faced several obstacles to obtain copies of ID cards and citizens’ declarations for the legalization and annotation of the PHA with the TC.
He got caught in the rain, rode a motorbike taxi, ate poorly, slept in a hostel (guesthouse) under construction in the East of the country, lost personal belongings, such as a laptop and a mobile phone, to name just a few.
“Nobody travels through seven provinces with that amount, especially in the East of the country, where I stayed for four months”, he recalls, in an allusion to the fact that, despite life in that part of the country being quite expensive, the regions are far from each other.
Party does not pay debt
To make up for the deficit, he recalls, he used the family’s limited financial resources to help legalize the PHA, especially in the process of collecting documents.
“I used money from some family wealth, and the party president has all the receipts,” he reveals.
After receiving the first funding from the State (close to 80 million Kz), resulting from the legalization of the party, Bela Malaquias ‘turned his coat’, living up to the saying that “if you want to know someone, give them money and power”.
Today, she describes the ‘abandoned’, the president of the PHA who chased away all those who raised the party.
Like so many others and for no apparent reason, Beth Coimbra is banned from entering the party headquarters and from participating in any of the PHA’s political activities.
The citizen who accuses Bela Malaquias of lacking humanism criticizes the president’s ‘Bantu management’, for being averse to an internal audit and for transforming the party into the family’s private property.
“I never performed my role. The president never agreed to audit the accounts. She and her brother who was dropped in by parachute, now vice president, are the owners of the party,” he denounces, warning that the position of first vice president is illegal, as it is not included in the party’s statutes.
“I was used by the president. In the initial conversation, she told me that I would be the first vice president, then she told me that this position was not viable, but, after all, it is viable for her brother who did not even belong to the party”, she claims.
The woman who forged herself in politics through the PHA, who also accuses Bela Malaquias of nepotism and cronyism, says that the leader took away all the cars from the vice presidents and put them in the Heetch taxi service.
“Not only did he put them in Heetch, but other cars are also in the hands of his children who were never party members. He put one of his sons who never belonged to the party as a CNE commissioner in Huambo, as well as a granddaughter as a commissioner in Kwanza-Sul and some nephews as communal commissioners,” he accuses.
Justice should be the recourse
The activist, who is considering going to court, is asking the party president to reimburse the money she spent on the various stages of legalizing the PHA.
“The president not only has a moral debt, but also a financial debt to my family to pay, and she also has the obligation not to compensate, but to compensate for all my efforts,” he argues.
The citizen says that she lost all her household belongings, furniture, electrical appliances, among others, due to a fire whose causes have not been determined to date, but Bela Malaquias did not lift a finger.
“This happened during the 2022 election campaign. I was working for the party, and a house fire destroyed all my belongings. She was indifferent and even shouted at me,” he points out.
Beth Coimbra, who toughened her speech, also accuses her of being a ‘swindler’, for allegedly making illegal charges of one thousand kwanzas to party members and candidates for commissioners of the National Electoral Commission (CNE).
“The members continue to pay this amount, except for those who were compulsorily removed from the party. We are talking about a lot of people, from candidates to provincial, communal and municipal commissioners,” he adds.
Regarding the matter, NJ tried to hear Bela Malaquias’ version, but without success.
The PHA elected two deputies in the 2022 elections. Its actions in the interior of the country are described by some of its members as non-existent, a party ‘without flame’, which will eventually endanger the existence of the political party in 2027, whose electoral dispute is expected to be fierce.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
