After the media prominence, seeing their conflict portrayed in a book, the legal proceedings brought against the leaders of the Portuguese Protectorate Movement of Lunda Tchokwe (MPPLT) who promoted the demonstration on January 30, 2021, the inhabitants of Cafunfo continue to feel abandoned, waiting for water, light and the promised road.
The only public access road to the village, whose conditions outrage and revolt the residents of Cafunfo, remains impracticable today, despite the provincial governor, Ernesto Muangala, who visited Cafunfo after the incidents, having announced rehabilitation works on the connection between the village de Cafunfo and the municipal seat of Cuango in the first quarter of last year.
With no alternative, residents and visitors are forced to take the road to the Cuango mining project, subject to the rules and limitations imposed by those responsible for the mine.
From 4:30 pm, the gates are closed and, without prior authorization, no vehicle travels, which forces those who travel long distances and arrive at the site after this time to spend the night there, due to the impossibility of contacting those responsible for the mine, as happened with the Lusa's reporting team, after four hours of fruitless attempts.
In Cafunfo, everything seems the same after a year, except for the absence of uniformed police and soldiers, revealing the relief of tension: the streets, however, are still muddy and carpeted with rubbish, the bands of smiling and curious children, the bikers that they incessantly cross the streets, dodging stones and holes, mothers with children strapped to their backs and heavy basins on their heads.
Also the first residents of Cafunfo who spoke to Lusa after the clashes between protesters and police on January 30, 2021, André Candala and Alfredo Moisés, have not changed much. And they regret that, despite official visits, and all the attention that the locality received for a few months, the promises did not go beyond that.
"Nothing has changed, even with the promise of the provincial governor who said he had laid the stone to rehabilitate the road, but they are not doing earthworks, they are covering holes", André Candala told Lusa, stressing that people continue to have only as alternatives, the road to the mine and another trail (dirt road).
It also regrets that jobs have not been created, pushing young people towards delinquency, theft and marginality, as well as the lack of light and water, and the poor conditions of schools and health units, complaints shared by Alfredo Moisés.
"They promise to do more, they promise they will do this and that, they promised to open the road, very quickly, but until today we have never seen a machine pass, we continue to live in the same", says Alfredo Moisés, adding that the only improvement felt was "the tranquility of the people", resulting from a better relationship between the population and security defense forces.
"Since that date there has been more freedom in Cafunfo, that people who died gave freedom to another people", continues Alfredo Moisés, who this time spoke to Lusa sitting in a chair, with his leg, which he broke two months ago, extended under the bed, wrapped in a splint and medicinal herbs, the medicinal treatment being administered to her by a healer for lack of better health care.
"The situation is less tense, but when there are cases of searches, they are mistreated, like animals", comments André Candala, considering it "inhumane" for a person who has committed a crime that is not serious to be handcuffed.
André Candala says he was invited to join a municipal human rights committee, to work together with the Angolan executive. But "since that date, we never heard anything, we never met to present the issues that affect the population", he says.
As for the number of dead, it remains unclear. The official numbers are less than 10, researcher and journalist Rafael Marques counted 13 in his book "Miséria e Magia. Revolta em Cafunfo", opposition political parties and civil society organizations speak of more than 20.
André Candala, who in statements to Lusa, four days after the clashes, presented a list with 25 dead, now points to a balance of 91 dead, while Alfredo Moisés counts about 40.
According to André Camdala, who is a member of the Justice and Peace Commission for Human Rights, the discrepancy is due to the fact that families are afraid and because of "distrust" they do not complain about the death or disappearance of their relatives.
"We went from house to house to find that number," he explains.
As for Alfredo Moisés, a member of the São José Parish community, he said that people trust "church men" to give their testimonies and stresses that the bodies continued to appear several months after the violence of January 30, 2021.
According to the police, about 300 people linked to the MPPLT, which for years has defended autonomy in that region rich in mineral resources, tried to invade, in the early hours of that day, a police station in Cafunfo, and in defense the forces of order and security killed seven people.
The police version is contradicted by the leaders of the MPPLT, political parties in the opposition and local civil society, who speak of more than a dozen deaths.
Zeca Mutchima is appointed by the authorities as the leader of this alleged "act of rebellion", which for local citizens was a "peaceful demonstration".
MPPLT leader José Mateus Zeca Mutchima and other defendants allegedly involved in the illegal demonstration began their trial on Friday at the Chitato district court in Dundo (Lunda Norte).
They are accused of committing the crimes of rebellion, outrage against the State and its symbols and association with criminals.
