Africa-Press – Angola. The “pretos” or “musseque” neighborhoods, as they were treated in colonial times, had an organized layout of streets, which delimited blocks, in a model that facilitated the control of residents by the Portuguese colonial authorities. Today, under the heading “Journey to the Past”, we are going to talk about the famous Indigenous neighborhood, which was also called Katanga, and which disappeared in the early 70s, with the construction of the mythical complex of Cidadela Desportiva.
In colonial times, the Indigenous neighborhood had as its main references the São Paulo Jail, the Colonial Administration and the Church of Nossa Senhora de Fátima, where the São Domingos school and cinema were built (between Cês and Bês).
Regarded as one of the cradles of Angolan nationalism, in the 1960s the district welcomed several individuals who were part of the country’s historical process, such as Gabriel Leitão, Aristides Van-Dúnem and many other nationalists who were often taken by the PIDE- DGS , questioned and imprisoned without just cause.
These natives are joined by other nationalists such as Ilídio Machado, Hermínio Escórcio, Mário Torres, Rui Gonçalves, Alberto Marques, Vivência Marques, Arminda Faria and others who took part in the clandestine political struggle in the MPLA committees.
Preceding these episodes, in the 1950s, the neighborhood welcomed the first group of tocoistas who entered Luanda and took up residence in the Cacimba sector (place where the Cidadela stadium was built), considered at the time as the main reception center. that community expelled from the former Belgian Congo (current DRC), from the Colonato do Vale do Loge and later from the Mission of Ntaya, in the former District of Carmona, today’s province of Uíge.
Located in an area considered a privileged point of observation of the former Portuguese colonial regime, the neighborhood saw the birth, nine years later (1959), of one of the fearsome prison units of the PIDE-DGS, the famous Prison of São Paulo de Luanda.
This prison, which had a privileged view of several musseques, also welcomed other nationalists such as Joaquim Monteiro Xuxudo, Pedro Benge and Arminda Correia de Faria, the latter a professional nurse who was interrogated and accused of organizing the escape of Tomaz Ferreira, one of the MPLA’s first guerrilla commanders.
In this airy escape , which took place in the 60s, also participated some elements that acted in hiding and that were dubbed by the colonial regime of terrorists, among which Madalena Monteiro (Lili), Dina Stela (Bucha) and Manana, Xuxudo’s sister.
Some sources contacted by press point out that it was Manana who hid commander Tomaz Ferreira in her house, before heading to the border with Congo, on the same trip that journalist Aníbal de Melo followed.
Starting point for the Maquis
Alberto Mendonça, 78 years old and a former resident, says that the neighborhood was considered, at the time, as one of the strategic departure points of the nationalists for the Maquis. “Things were done right here in the shadows of the PIDE-DGS chain, so as not to distrust the movements. It was a danger and risk, but the nationalists, even so, took the risk”, he says.
In the 1960s, when he went to live in that district, Alberto Mendonça says that the Bês or Cês did not yet exist, everything was a veritable thicket. There were only waterholes and on the other side of the road there was only the old DNIC building, where the nationalist Pedro Benge died.
One of the sad memories that Alberto Mendonça keeps in his memory was when he saw some compatriots fall down, on February 4, 1961, near the school where he studied.
“I cannot forget that date. At the time we were studying in São Domingos and that same day, Father Apolinário ordered us to return home. That vicar was the director of the school of São Domingos Savio”, he said, adding that “after that massacre , we only went back to school the next day, but very timidly, because of the events of the previous day”, said Alberto Mendonça.
Another episode he remembers was the arrest of one of his classmates by a PIDE agent, in the middle of the classroom, for having used a badge on his shirt, which resembled others worn by the nationalist Leitão.
“The head of the colonial administration post was a white man named Adelino, the father of our white colleague who had comrade Leitão arrested because of a badge he wore on his shirt”, recalls Alberto Mendonça.
He also recalled that there were cases in which priests denounced students. This was the case of Pimentel who, after being denounced, was imprisoned for a few hours in the PIDE cells.
Later, the student Pimentel was nicknamed “unknown things”. Born in the region of Catete, Pimentel sent a word that no one surpassed him at the time and at the end of each conversation he always said “these are unknown things” and that’s where the name stayed. .
JOURNEY TO THE PAST
Columbus, the man who gave a lot of beatings
Bento de Carvalho, also a former resident, says that like Rangel, who had Fernando Mayombola as a man of the great bacaçulas (falls), the Indigenous neighborhood had the Cota Colombolo, a man who gave his companions a lot of “beating”.
Ratinho, younger brother of the nationalist Lopo do Nascimento, was also one of the leading figures in the Indigenous neighborhood over the years.
Referrals are not everything. The neighborhood also had an emblematic figure, who was old Carola, a former employee of the National Press, who played the harmonica in his spare time in some rivet groups.
Neighborhood emerged before the 50’s
According to reports from residents, the neighborhood was born before the 1950s and was called Katanga. At the time, there was a piece of land with that name in the place where the PIDE-DGS prison was built, in the space adjacent to the current municipal administration of Rangel.
After Katanga, the name Bairro Indígena emerged, which occupied all the space that houses the Cidadela Desportiva complex, one of the cathedrals of Angolan football.
In times gone by, this location welcomed and brought together several families, some from zone 5, a place that was close to the old airport, an area where the National Radio of Angola and the Maternidade de Luanda, currently Lucrécia Paim, and where the musseque ended in colonial times.
António Sebastião Vicente “Santocas”, musician and former resident, says that at that time the colonial policy was to always have the natives as a way of protecting the city without the knowledge and without the necessary information in administrative terms. In other words, the natives always ended up for staying behind the last buildings of the cities.
Santocas says that before becoming an Indigenous neighborhood, there was Katanga, the neighborhood that is in front of the prison hospital of the PIDE, of the Colonial Administration and later they built the neighborhood in the place that occupied all the space that supports the football field.
Later, he added, the settlers left for the construction of the Bês neighborhood, this in the 60s . .
Of the memories of that circumscription is not everything. The São Jorge neighborhood was a space adjacent to the PIDE-DGS and Colonial Administration chain, which was headed by Chief Dias, who was assisted by Senhor Sá, the older brother of one of the current heads of the National Police.
Geographically belonging to the district of Nelito Soares, the former Indigenous neighborhood borders the areas of Vila Alice, Marçal, Rangel and Congolenses. For the fluidity of traffic, the town’s main streets are Senado da Câmara, Avenida Brasil and Avenida de Olivença, the latter which rises in the Marçal neighbourhood, adjacent to Mabubas and leads to the current National Institute of Ophthalmology.
The neighborhood had nothing of Musseque
The former resident also explained that the Indigenous neighborhood had nothing to do with musseque, it was really an urbanized neighborhood. Due to its architectural position and its structure, it was considered a circumscription with a certain quality. “At that time there were already bathrooms that were in a kind of backyard where each house had a combination of bathrooms and then a key was assigned to each resident”.
He also explained that, at that time, not all houses had electricity. “You could count the families that had this public good, but it was a neighborhood with a structure that was very different from others that surround the city of Luanda. The Indigenous neighborhood was not comparable to Marçal or Rangel”.
Santocas refers, on the other hand, that in colonial times, not all families had possessions and there was also perhaps a guideline from the colonial administration itself that did not allow the construction of permanent houses because most of the houses did not have annexes.
“As the backyards were huge, residents used them to plant crops such as sweet potatoes, beans, cassava and other things to support their families,” he said.
Cacimba of old Filipa
During the conversation, Santocas explained that regardless of the backyards, there was a well in the neighborhood that had been nicknamed “old Filipa’s well”, and when it rained it guaranteed a certain level of water “which allowed us, or rather, we had this place as if was our beach”. “That’s where many of us learned to swim with childhood friends, albeit in that muddy water.”
” It is true that it was there that we learned a little to be men, knowledgeable about the various subjects of life because it is in this neighborhood where we had the opportunity, after leaving school, each one stayed in the so-called mutambas where several childhood friends gathered, where we could exchange our experiences and talk about our life”, he said, adding that “it was in these mutambas (meetings) where we gained a certain political awareness, because several people who were part of the historical process lived in that neighborhood”.
Neighborhood of origin of three prime ministers
It was in the Indigenous neighborhood, today called Nelito Soares, that in the post-independence period three prime ministers of the Government of Angola left, namely Lopo do Nascimento, França Van-Dúnem and Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos “Nandó”.
In addition to these leading figures, Nito Alves also lived in this locality due to some of his relatives who lived in the circumscription. The locality also gave musicians, politicians, journalists and other talents to society.
The Indigenous neighborhood in colonial times already had a nursery, a medical center and mothers who had a very useful job that helped needy families, guaranteeing morning milk. Many families went to get bread and food for their homes.
“In colonial times, I remember that the place where the first basketball pavilion stands today was an empty space, full of grass. And then the PIDE-DGS agents would pick up the prisoners and take them to that area to weed. There were times in which, with a certain connivance of the residents, the prisoners managed to escape from the place . Vila Alice”, recalls Santocas.
Eternal neighbor of Vila Alice
Vila Alice has always been the eternal neighbor of the neighborhood and it was there where the butchers, shops and other commercial structures were located, recalls Santocas. “I remember the merchant Silva who sold sandwiches with chorizo sauce and which for us children was a delight at the time”.
At that time, there were problems of raising money, because not all families were in financial conditions for many things. “The students went to school number 83, located in front of the Macambira factory, without breakfast and with all the holes in it. And then it wasn’t easy to live at that stage”, he said.
Santocas says that the boys from the neighborhood used to visit Senhor António’s shop, with the intention of buying sandwiches with the tail sticking out, as the bread was called. There was also an undertaker who sold coffins in the area adjacent to Avenida Brasil.
“Inside the Indigenous neighborhood, at that time, there were no stores. There was Mr. Marques, who sold good toasted ginguba and a good appetizer in his tavern for the elderly to enjoy when they were drinking wine”, recalls the musician from the Indigenous neighborhood.
political maturity
With the macabre actions of the colonialists, the residents of the Indigenous neighborhood began to gain political maturity. “That’s how all those of my childhood grew up, hearing and not seeing, but feeling in the stillness of the morning or night the atrocities committed by the Portuguese colonialists. That crying voice, voice that unable to defend itself from the aggression of dogs shepherds that the police often used to rape our compatriots”, he said.
The musician says he has engraved in his memory images and several cruel portraits of the distressing voices of his compatriots. “When we left the São Domingos cinema, we passed by near the jails and you know that in the jails there are those kind of windows barred with blocks and so when we passed by there the prisoners always tended to wave at us and many times they recognized some of us , even calling so-and-so by names. That made a big impression on me”, says the musician.
He adds that this photograph experienced at the time forced them to ask why many people were being held there and then the constant trips by the PIDE-DGS to the neighborhood to arrest Gabriel Leitão, Aristides Van-Dúnem and others who were released later . . But after a few months they were arrested again. “All this started to raise interest on our part to know why”, he recalls.
This gave a certain political maturity and created a feeling of revolt in the boys at the time. “That’s how many people from my childhood ended up in PIDE jails”, he recalls.
He also explained that all of this boiled down to the knowledge they had been gathering over several years and then the follow-up they did, on the sly, when they saw their parents and uncles listening to the radio program “Angola Combatente”, they were also concerned about knowing why they were listening and this further enriched their minds.
According to Santocas, in 1961, many corpses were transported from various neighborhoods that were later concentrated in the place where the well of old Filipa was. “I remember that at that stage, a gentleman who lived close to us camped on our balcony during the night with all that confusion. Our balcony also served as a refuge for some families who, in the dead of night, fled the storm of gunfire, jumped from the neighborhood with frantic movements from one place to another, the screams of the various people who went to rob the PIDE-DGS jail”.
Glued and Djembe dya Rola
The Indigenous neighborhood also had its charismatic figures, especially Colado and Djembe Djembe dya Rola. Colado was a vigorous individual who received this nickname from the neighborhood boys due to the fact that he had an accident, which resulted in his chin being glued to his neck.
An honest and hardworking man, Colado provided benevolent services to the nuns who belonged to the Nossa Senhora de Fátima Church, adjacent to the Cine São Domingos. Regarding Djembe Djembe dya Rola, another emblematic figure, much talked about and known in the neighborhood at that time, he had the reputation of being bangão and stylish. A man of great challenges, Djembe Djembe dya Rola was from the Catete region and had the appearance of being a great intellectual.
In addition to these figures, there were others such as Sírios Cordeiro da Mata, a character linked to the Ngongo group, Cirineu Bastos, Vum Vum, Virgílio Coelho, Amaro Ceco, Toi Sofia, Vinícios and others .
Returnees from Goa and Macau
One of the striking memories that Santocas keeps in its memory until today is the return of Angolans who had been deported to countries in the East, such as Goa (India) and Macau (China) and married women from that region. “It was an out-of-the-ordinary thing to see Angolans married to white women,” he recalls.
Santocas explains that the circumscription was more of a residential neighborhood, there were no attractions in terms of commercial or sports houses. Its residents resorted to adjacent neighborhoods such as Marçal, which was just across Avenida Brasil, Vila Alice, crossing Senado da Câmara, for shopping and for leisure, such as Maxinde do Marçal.
Origin of the song “Bairro Indígena”
Santocas says that the residents of the Indigenous neighborhood were cheated by the settlers. “While our parents lived in that neighborhood, they were on a kind of resolvable income, because the colonialists said that after 30 years of living there, the houses would belong to the residents. But it was an authentic hoax. Thirty years later they started building the Cidadela. The Cidadela was the reason for the departure of residents to the neighborhood of Rebocho Vaz, Caputo and the Cazenga Commission , and then a certain part was dispersed. Some went to Caputo, others to Rebocho Vaz, Cassequel”, he recalls.
He also refers that the resettlement of the populations was by choice. “They gave the choice, it was not by imposition of the settler, it was in fact by free choice ”, he said.
Asked about how he had the inspiration and motivation to compose the song “Bairro Indígena”, Santocas said that the song was made as a repudiation of the aggression suffered, as there was no response to the promises made.
The musician said that the song “Bairro Indígena” denounced the way Angolans were treated. “We were removed from the neighborhood to a lesser quality place at that time, Cassequel. There was a promise that we would return to our homes after the requalification. Thirty years later, nothing has changed and the Citadel appeared on the site. I was inspired by all of that and wrote the song,” he said.
“There, where I was born today , nothing remains, only memories of my childhood friends remain. After 30 years of false promises in which they promised to give away the houses . by Rebocho Vaz. It’s an Indigenous neighborhood, it’s an Indigenous neighborhood.” That was the music.
Sports Citadel Complex
Cacimba da Velha Filipa ceased to exist and a majestic sports field was built on the site. Considered the “cathedral of football in Luanda”, the Cidadela Sports Complex was built by Futebol Clube de Luanda and by the company Sical, which managed the club.
Inaugurated on June 10, 1972, the complex passed into the hands of the State after Independence. After that, some directors returned to Portugal and a new leadership was formed led by Lacerda de Castro Lopo, with the promise of being compensated with “decent sports facilities”, which never happened.
The complex not only included the football stadium, but also apartments that would support the club financially.
It also included an Olympic swimming pool in the space where the current Sports Gallery was built and a car park.
With capacity for 65,000 spectators, the stadium was reopened on December 10, 1982 by former President of the Republic José Eduardo dos Santos, at the opening of the II Central African Games.
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