Cafunfo: in trial behind closed doors, family members of defendants deny accusations

Zecamutchima and 22 other people, whose trial began this Friday, are accused of the crimes of rebellion, outrage against the State and its symbols and association of malefactors due to their involvement in a demonstration considered illegal, on January 30, 2020, in the mining village. of Cafunfo (Lunda Norte) that resulted in more than a dozen deaths, after clashes with the police.

According to the Public Ministry indictment, read before the ten defendants present this morning at the court in the district of Chitato (Dundo, Lunda Norte province), on January 30, 2020, about 400 people linked to the MPPLT, armed with fire, artisanal explosive devices, machetes, pitchforks and superstitious artefacts headed at dawn towards the Cafunfo police station to occupy the building and place the Movement's flag there.

Previously, MPPLT leaders had requested authorization for the protest march from the authorities, who rejected the claim on the grounds that the country was in a state of calamity due to the covid-19 pandemic and security risks.
The indictment indicates that the MPPLT members maintained their intentions and hired a kimbandeiro (sorcerer) from the Democratic Republic of Congo with the aim of preparing the protesters with magic "to make themselves invisible during the acts they were going to perform", having been apprehended in a neighborhood of Cafunfo, "artifacts used in superstition".

At dawn on the 30th, the protesters advanced along one of the main streets of the town, having attacked and wounded two people along the way, including a lieutenant colonel of the Angolan Armed Forces, and seized their weapons, with the forces of defense and security reacted and "caused deaths and injuries to the actors".

At the courthouse door, relatives of the defendants, namely the mayor and MPPLT member Mwana Capenda, told Lusa that the protesters only wanted to exercise their rights and did not carry weapons, asking for freedom for the detainees and regretting that, a year after the events, nothing has changed in Cafunfo.

Mwanangana Muamtumba Cambangunge, a member of the MPPLT and soba of the Antena neighborhood, in Cafunfo, says that after the "day of the massacre" (the death toll varies between the eight deaths in the official version and the more than 20 estimated by civil society organizations and Angolan opposition parties), the police went to his house to "remove cultural things", denying having resorted to witchcraft.

"What people are saying was a spell, it wasn't a spell, they are cultural things", says the local authority, rejecting the accusations.

"Those people who were demonstrating did not take anything, neither knife nor weapon" and did not "arrive at the police station" because they were attacked on the way, he told Lusa, explaining that the demonstration served "to ask for rights", in in particular the independence of Lunda, claimed by the MPPLT.

"You must release them from prison and give them our rights," continued the soba, lamenting the death of two members of the movement in prison and complaining about the "suffering" of the people of the Lundas.

He also said that in Cafunfo, nothing was done after a year of the incidents, despite the government's promises, and that at this point, the cool village was practically swallowed by a ravine. "All of Cafunfo has already entered the ravine, many houses have already entered the ravine, there is no road for people to cross, not one thing can we say that the government has done", he says.

Cassai Uanga, son of Mwana Capenda, criticized the fact that his father has been detained for almost a year without trial and is waiting for his release.

"Give him his independence. He didn't kill, he didn't steal, his crime is asking for his right, when a person is asking for his right, it's not to put him in jail for a year without trial, that's also a crime", he accuses , criticizing the government that "here is not doing anything".

He also said that the death of the two MPPLT activists in prison was due to the lack of assistance: "They are eating badly, they are not being treated well, how can a person not get sick?" he questioned.

Mwanangana Samuel Moisés, from the Elevação neighborhood, in Cafunfo, came to watch the trial of his nephew Mwana Capenda and he also says that the accusations are "lies", claiming to have been present at the demonstration and to be a member of the MPPLT.

"We were marching in Cafunfo to ask for our rights, the government sends many armed people to start killing us and there many people died", the soba told Lusa, questioning: "We didn't have a knife, stone or stick, they sent Why kill, if we are asking for the right to our lands?".

"The government armed the troops to start killing, people would ask for their rights, is that bad? We are waiting to give us our land", he says.