The document was approved with 154 votes in favor of the parliamentary groups of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), of the Wide Convergence of Salvation of Angola - Electoral Coalition (CASA-CE ), the Social Renewal Party (PRS) and the Angolan National Liberation Front (FNLA), against Lindo Bernardo Tito, independent deputy, and no abstention.
In the vote on the MPLA parliamentary group's request for the presentation of votes of condolence, the document passed with 115 votes in favor, 40 against and 11 abstentions, with the opposition considering the document "a political party propaganda".
According to the leader of the UNITA parliamentary group, the request, submitted on the 8th of this month to the National Assembly, did not reflect the need to make a vote of condolence, which is why it was rejected.
In the application, sent by the MPLA parliamentary group to the National Assembly, the majority party expressed its feelings of sympathy and solidarity with the families that lost their loved ones, and strongly "repudiated the act aimed at subverting national order and sovereignty. ".
He also condemned "the repeated practice of some political forces in using the innocent population, particularly young people, in violence against legally constituted authorities"
After the heated debates on the subject, there was a unanimous need to redo the document adopted by the National Assembly, in which the loss of human life is regretted and vows of sympathy and solidarity are expressed to the bereaved families and quick improvements to the wounded civilians and military.
In vows of regret, the National Assembly calls on the people to "respect the competent institutions of the State, which they must resort to in a peaceful and orderly manner, to solve problems".
"The Constitution guarantees citizens freedom of assembly, of expression, of thought, of demonstration, as fruits of a democratic State and of Law, but always within the framework of law, order, without violence, without the use of weapons or other instruments blunt, which can jeopardize the established order, institutions and public goods ", the document says.
During the debates, several deputies intervened, with various versions of the case, with Lucas Ngonda, of the FNLA, considering the incident as a police case, and not a political issue, revealing that "a day or two earlier, the police confiscated 63 stones [diamonds], which belonged to the population of Cafunfo ".
"Three days later, the police headquarters was robbed, our conclusion is that if there was any question that is condemnable - the assault on the police headquarters - it is quite true that this population that had lost those stones went to get their stones confiscated by the police, "said Lucas Ngonda, considering" inventions "the issues raised by the authorities accusing the Portuguese Protectorate Movement Lunda Tchokwe.
For his part, the deputy not part of the CASA-CE parliamentary group, Lindo Bernardo Tito, considered the document presented by the MPLA "a provocation".
"Provocation, because it is not a vow of regret, it is just a way of attacking a people, of trampling on a people, a cavilous way of mistreating a people," he said.
Benedito Daniel, from the PRS, considered the MPLA parliamentary group to propose votes to weigh and mourn the losses, "but it should, in the first place, condemn the violent action of the police".
"Which, frankly, he did not do. He strongly condemns the protesters, alleges interference and political advantage, expresses his solidarity with the executive, through law enforcement and the Interior Ministry, for having massacred the unwary and trivialized the event, without the possibility of any investigation ", he added.
For her part, UNITA deputy Mihaela Weba took the opportunity to describe what the group of five deputies from her parliamentary bench who went to Cafunfo found out, despite being prevented by the police from reaching that mining town.
Alexandre Sebastião André, from the parliamentary bench of CASA-CE, rejected the thesis presented by the authorities that the protesters intended to make a rebellion.
"Unarmed civilians are going to make a rebellion? What rebellion? Rebellion is a prerogative of disaffected military men who seek to go to power, to attain power. Will peaceful citizens make a rebellion? Rebellion warned, with letters addressed to the competent authorities for prior knowledge of manifestation? ", he asked.
In his speech, MPLA parliamentary group deputy, Roberto Leal Monteiro "Ngongo", called on opposition colleagues to stop manipulating the people, public opinion, "trying to create facts that lead to weakening the forces of order, the Police National".
"Stop wanting to see more blood flow on the soil of the mother country Angola, just to achieve ends that by democratic means do not succeed. It is sad to see the officers being beaten by the machete, because they proclaim non-violence, it is sad to see these heralds who they dream of continuing to see blood flowing in our homeland, instigating actions against the corporate bodies, which represent the state authority, the National Police and the Armed Forces ", he expressed.
