Africa-Press – Angola. A solution to end the internal crisis in the FNLA necessarily involves handing over leadership to new generations and politicians without ‘umbilical cords’ to the guerrilla past.
This is the conclusion reached by political analysts David Mendes, Alexandre Sebastião and Eurico Gonçalves during the radio debate, Saturday, on the Tribuna Livre Program, in which the preparation of the 14th UNITA Congress, announced by the party leader, Adalberto Costa Júnior, in the province of Icolo e Bengo, was also analyzed, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 91st anniversary of the birth of the party’s founding president, Jonas Savimbi.
For analyst David Mendes, the FNLA’s cause was independence, and the party founded by Holden Roberto had a “slogan” that, in his opinion, was one of the best: “freedom and land.”
“You can have freedom, but if you don’t have land, you have nothing. You can have land, and if you don’t have freedom, you also have nothing. And this slogan attracted a lot of good people,” lawyer David Mendes went on to argue.
The previous generations, who led the FNLA in the period before the National Liberation Struggle, after this struggle and in the first years of independence, added David Mendes, had little political preparation.
“They lost their lives in the forests. They lost their youth fighting for the country’s independence. It turns out that this country, for which they fought and gave everything, didn’t know how to compensate them,” he said, stating that many of these former combatants have been reduced to poverty.
“And I don’t think that’s what they fought for. They fought for a good life, but they’re relegated to poverty. We feel this, not only in the FNLA, but also in UNITA,” he lamented.
David Mendes also deplored the crisis within the FNLA, lamenting the fact that this was happening in what he considered “Angola’s greatest military force” in the fight against the colonial regime.
“The greatest battle against the colonial troops was waged by the FNLA. But it began to face problems after its defeat at the Battle of Kifangondo. From the moment the FNLA lost the great defeat of Kifangondo, it ceased to be the same. Holden Roberto went into exile, and prominent FNLA cadres emigrated to the MPLA,” he explained.
Politician Alexandre Sebastião echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that he was finding that the “traditional parties” were stuck in the same mindset as the beginning and development of the National Liberation Struggle.
“The belief that they own the party and that they own Angola’s liberation movements prevents new generations from emerging. They block the rise of new generations,” Alexandre Sebastião argued.
The politician also mentioned an alleged leaked letter from Nimi to Nsimbi, arguing that it was “a matter that is being dealt with internally, due to the absence, for health reasons, of the president himself, a fact that he admits is making the meeting of the Political Bureau and also of the FNLA Central Committee unfeasible.
“The FNLA is truly in need of renewal. This party needs to be renewed. It’s a historic party that gave its ‘capital’ for the liberation of this country, and it can’t be disappearing like this,” he emphasized.
UNITA Congress with several candidates
The fact that UNITA leader Adalberto Costa Júnior announced the party’s preparations to hold the 14th Congress, with multiple candidates, also deserved analysis in the debate on Rádio Correio da Kianda.
On the subject, David Mendes admitted that he does not expect UNITA to hold a congress worthy of the party, one that is “unifying and capable of resolving internal differences.”
The lawyer also said that, it is no longer hidden that UNITA has two groups, the “adalbertista” and the “rescue group”.
“This is no longer a secret. Now, it’s up to whoever is leading the party to bring these two groups together and make them one, because with Abel Chivucuvuku’s departure from the United Patriotic Front, UNITA will have to run alone and will not have Abel’s support,” he stressed, also admitting that “a divided UNITA is a foregone conclusion.”
Political Affairs expert Eurico Gonçalves admits that the speech by UNITA leader Alberto Costa Júnior, delivered in the province of Icolo e Bengo, reveals a moment of early political campaigning.
“It’s already the campaign. Because he throws barbs at his opponents, at internal competitors within UNITA, that is, at endogenous competitors within UNITA, and also exogenous competitors, that is, external to UNITA,” he stated, recognizing that Adalberto Costa Júnior achieved UNITA’s greatest electoral feat.
“He got 43 percent of the vote in 2022. And, obviously, he surpassed the mark even during Jonas Savimbi’s time, as I’ve said. Jonas Savimbi achieved, at the time, in 1992, only 34 percent for UNITA,” he clarified.
In light of this, Eurico Gonçalves reinforced that the current leader of the largest opposition party is already working to create the conditions to win the vote of confidence of the delegates to Congress.
“In these elections, which are taking place at the UNITA Congress, we have heavyweights. We don’t have ‘hardworking ants’ or ‘sycophants’, but heavyweights like Massanga Savimbi and other young people, because, in truth, Angolan politics requires rejuvenation,” he said.
Alexandre Sebastião, for his part, disagreed that it was a fight between the new and old generations, arguing that the contenders for the UNITA leadership seat are almost all young.
“Adalberto is young, Massanga Savimbi is young, and so many others. And those who could be sent to the arable field to produce sweet potatoes and corn are left out,” he said ironically, referring to some of the words spoken by Adalberto Costa Júnior, in Icolo e Bengo.
“Therefore, it’s a positive internal struggle. It’s positive for each person to forge themselves and gain experience for successive challenges,” he added.
Alexandre Sebastião recalled that UNITA, with Adalberto Costa Júnior, had a resounding result in the last elections, and that it “threatened the hosts of power with competition from the FPU.”
ANGOLA24
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