Samakuva’s Security Overpowers Gunman

By Maka Angola http://makaangola.org

By Nelson Sul D’Angola:

An armed man was arrested after approaching UNITA’s leader Isaías Samakuva in a suspicious manner during a campaign rally in Benguela on August 28.

According to Maka Angola’s local sources, members of Samakuva’s security team kept a close watch on three men who seemed to be behaving in an unusual manner among the party supporters.

One of the three, armed with a pistol, tried to approach Samakuva but was overpowered and held by UNITA’s security team. The Maka Angola reporter, present at the scene, witnessed the event.

One of Samakuva’s security guards, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that two of the three suspects made for the rear of the stage on which Samakuva was speaking.

“It was there that we grabbed one of them, who was armed with a pistol. The police became aware of the situation, detained the intruder and took him to the PIR car immediately,” the source said.

UNITA’s provincial secretary in Benguela, Alberto Ngalanela, told Maka Angola that the suspect is a soldier, known only as Silva. “We apprehended his Walter pistol with the serial number P38CAL.9MM and registration number 33 12 96”.

This was the second such incident during UNITA activities in Benguela in the past three days. On August 25, UNITA security officials uncovered a PIR agent among party activists at a protest calling for transparent elections.

The agent was armed with a pistol, and was beaten by UNITA activists, who held him for three hours until the protest had come to an end.

Mr. Ngalanela confirmed the identity of the agent as being Isaac Silvano, 39 years old, who “belongs to the 3rd Garrison of the Rapid Intervention Police, in Benguela.” According to UNITA’s provincial secretary, the agent “had with him a pistol Barak [Israeli-made], with the registration number 37601419.”

“We went to hand him over to the provincial commander of the National Police, Commissioner [António] Sita, with whom we had a good conversation with the provincial director of criminal investigation [Armando Vieira] also present,” UNITA provincial secretary said.

However, the official in charge of Documentation, Analysis and Information at the Provincial Police Command, Superintendent Vicente Nogueira, declined to comment to Maka Angola on the issue.

Spotlight. By Maka Angola On August 29, 2012

http://makaangola.org

The latest press coverage on corruption, human rights abuses, violations of freedom of the press and socio-economic exclusion in Angola, every Wednesday on Maka Angola:

CNBC: Rich-poor divide scars Angola as it heads for polls
August 27, 2012: A four-lane avenue separates the shelled ruins of the art deco Ruacana Cinema from Huambo’s shiny new Chinese-built railway station, a symbol of the leaps Angola has made to recover from a devastating 27-year civil war that ended a decade ago.

Mail & Guardian: Angola polls could spring a surprise
August 24, 2012: Rising discontent over a perceived lack of a “peace dividend” and the widening gap between rich and poor has seen many Angolans grow tired of the ruling party, which claims to be working for the povo (people) but whose leaders are growing wealthier by the day, thanks to the country’s booming oil-driven economy.

Businessweek: Angola’s Opposition Planning Protest Over Election
August 23, 2012: Opposition parties in Angola, Africa’s second-largest oil producer, plan to demonstrate on Aug. 25 against conditions for the country’s general election next week. Unita, a former rebel movement, and Casa-Ce, a party started this year by a former Unita leader, have objected to aspects of the ballot in Luanda, the capital. Angola’s electoral commission is expected to meet tomorrow and may issue a ruling on the complaints.

Images: UNITA’s Demonstration in Luanda

By Maka Angola http://makaangola.org

Images of the demonstration organized by UNITA, August 25, 2012, in Luanda, against electoral fraud:

Spotlight. By Maka Angola

http://makaangola.org

The latest press coverage on corruption, human rights abuses, violations of freedom of the press and socio-economic exclusion in Angola, every Wednesday on Maka Angola:

RFI: Upcoming Angolan elections marred by media censorship
August 20, 2012: Political campaigning is in full swing in Angola. Parliamentary elections are due to take place at the end of this month will be only the third since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has ruled Angola for 32 years making him Africa’s second longest-standing leader. The non-governmental organisation, Human Rights Watch, has accused him of suppressing the Angolan media for his political gain. RFI spoke to Sizaltina Cutaia, a human rights activist about how people are accessing impartial information ahead of the elections.

Reuters: Angola youth movement presses for change ahead of polls
August 17, 2012: Inspired by the Arab Spring, Angola’s nascent youth movement is attempting to gain momentum by exposing corruption and rights abuses by the government of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos who has ruled Africa’s second biggest oil producer for 32 years.

This is Africa: Angola’s politically-conscious rappers vs. apolitical kuduristas
August 16, 2012: As Angola’s second post-civil war [1975-2002] elections on 31 August quickly draw near, This is Africa takes a look at the role of music in Angolan politics. Politically-conscious rappers address and attack what they perceive as an unjust society and bad governance. Kuduristas don’t.

Strike at Angolan National Radio

By Rafael Marques de Morais http://makaangola.org

Staff at Angolan National Radio (RNA), the country’s largest media outlet, are to go on strike on Friday, August 24, after the expiration of a deadline for negotiations between the management and the workers.

On May 24 this year, the local branch of the Angolan Journalists’ Union met with RNA employees, who collectively demanded as their main claim a salary increase of around 300 percent.

The co-ordinator of the union committee, Luísa Rangel, highlighted the desperate situation of many RNA professionals when she recalled how her colleague, the reporter Luís Tara, had committed suicide a year ago. “He went and stabbed himself in front of the chairman of the board’s office, to draw attention to his unbearable situation as a result of the humiliating treatment by the management.”

He was treated in hospital for his stab wounds, but then hanged himself a few days later.

Ms. Rangel noted that “with more than 20 years of experience he was earning only about 60,000 kwanzas (US$600).” By way of comparison, she pointed out that a cleaner at Jornal de Angola, the state newspaper, earned practically the same salary as Mr. Tara.

The RNA employees submitted their demands to management on June 26, with copies to the Ministry of Social Communication, the MPLA and the President of the Republic, Ms. Rangel said.

Apart from salary increases, the workers are demanding an end to the illicit use of their social security contributions, which for several years were used for private interests under the management of Manuel Rabelais. The employees are also demanding pension payments to the families of deceased colleagues who also had social security payments deducted from their salaries.

Regarding working conditions, Ms Rangel noted that “we don’t have protection against workplace accidents”.

“We have cases where three or four journalists are using the same computer because others are out of order. Sometimes the printing of news bulletins is barely legible by the newsreaders because there is no toner for the only printer we have in the newsroom,” she added.

The chairman of RNA’s board, Henrique dos Santos, wrote a letter on August 9 expressing his interest in reaching an agreement with the employees. “However, RNA, as a company dedicated to serving the public interest through the delivery of a public radio service, has a special responsibility in the efforts of the Angolan nation to conduct the electoral process in an exemplary and peaceful way,” Mr. dos Santos argued.

He added that “the board of RNA is completely dedicated to the success of the elections without in any way neglecting the concerns presented by the staff.”

As a practical response, the RNA management asked only for the extension of the deadline that the union had set down, for the negotiations to be held “after elections have been held, on a date to be agreed upon in advance by the parties.”

The workers’ committee rejected management’s request and gave an extension of 20 days over and above the time limit laid down in the law governing strikes.

On August 13, the Inspector General of Labour (IGT) visited RNA to see how negotiations were progressing. According to the union, the IGT reported only that the company was co-operating and the case would have to be dealt with after the elections.

The workers agreed, on August 20, to declare a strike with effect from 7am. Their statement noted that “all areas will be affected, with a picket to safeguard the news bulletins at 7am, 1pm and 8pm, Agenda Pública [the current affairs show], and the election campaign broadcast slots granted to political parties.”

“As long as the strike continues, radio broadcasts will be taken up with soft music,” the statement concluded.

Nevertheless, various efforts to prevent the strike have become apparent, including disinformation, intimidation, blackmail, deception, and other tactics that the union has noted and reported to Maka Angola.

“The journalists are the weakest link among the workers. They are also suffering injustice and stand in solidarity with their colleagues, but hide away so as not to damage their professional ambitions,” said one journalist who preferred to remain anonymous. “I have already shown my face and I am suffering the consequences in the workplace,” the journalist explained.

As well as being Angola’s largest media outlet, RNA is the main means of propaganda for President José Eduardo dos Santos’s government.