Jonas Malheiro Savimbi, founder of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA, the largest opposition party), died in combat on 22 February 2002, in the Lucusse region, Moxico province, eastern Angola, where he was buried until 2019. , when the body was buried in his homeland, Lopitanga.
The 20 years that have passed since his death were marked on Tuesday with a pilgrimage to his grave in Lopitanga and a mass rally in Andulo, Bié province, chaired by the party's president, Adalberto da Costa Júnior.
For Alcides Sakala, UNITA deputy, founder Jonas Savimbi left a "great historical legacy for Angola, Africa and the world".
Jonas Savimbi "is an unavoidable reference" in the history of Angola, Africa and the world, considered: "With his contribution to this struggle that practically ended with the Soviet Union. Dr. Savimbi contributed to the end of the Soviet Union in the fight he did here in Angola".
"He bequeathed the foundations of democracy, so there were two actors who fought each other for years in Angola, one who defended a one-party system and UNITA who defended the democratization of the country", said Alcides Sakala in an interview with Lusa.
According to the former UNITA secretary for foreign affairs, Jonas Savimbi's vision of Angola's democratization "won", recognizing, however, that "the other party (the MPLA) also made good sense in assuming the democratization process".
"Therefore, we all won, considering that democracy, even among the various systems, is the best system that allows this approximation, the contradictory debate between the different actors of our society", he underlined.
The UNITA politician assures that Jonas Savimbi's legacy is now recognized by the new generation, referring that the party, founded in 1966, is one of his legacies and "gets stronger every day" with a view to assuming the alternation of power in Angola.
"There is also a new awareness in our country, there is a generation that suffers immensely today, which means that, on the one hand, there are social factors that also determine this change in consciousness, so UNITA appears as this vanguard force", he said.
20 years after his death, Sakala believes that if the founding leader of his party were alive, he would look today at Angola with "a feeling of great disgust", for "having fought against the social injustices that unfortunately prevail" in the last two decades.
"He preferred to die here to fight these social injustices, because Angola continues to get worse, unfortunately, we have been regressing and that is common knowledge", he stressed.
"Unfortunately, in these last 20 years on the part of the Angolan Government, there was not enough political will to take concrete steps, with João Lourenço the reconciliation process began, if we want, in the first years of his mandate", he stressed.
"But, unfortunately, then things started to go backwards, the moment we buried Dr. Savimbi's remains in the Lopintanga cemetery, it would have been a moment for us to continue, but then things stopped", he lamented.
Sakala said he did not know why things "currently regress" and also deplored the lack of dialogue between UNITA and the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, in power since 1975).
"There is no dialogue today between the two political forces and it is an issue that has to be encouraged, because there are issues of national interests that have to be addressed in this context of bipolarization", he defended.
UNITA, in the opinion of General Samuel Chiwale, former general commander of the Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FALA), the extinct armed wing of the party, was one of the "main legacies" of Jonas Savimbi that "exists and will continue to exist until the generations to come".
"It doesn't end today or tomorrow. With the death of Jonas Savimbi we lost a leader, but his name remains in our souls until the final victory", General and deputy Samuel Chiwale told Lusa.
"Independence, democracy and the example of courage and patriotism" are the three axes of Jonas Savimbi's legacy for Angola, from the perspective of Rafael Massanga Savimbi, one of his sons, "a path that is being followed by the new generation" .
Jonas Savimbi "contributed to Angola's independence, he was part of the three big ones (Angola's liberation movements) and the second legacy he left for Angola is that of democracy".
"Whether we like it or not, we like Savimbi or not, but it was in his time when his organization fought for the introduction of the principle of democracy in Angola", he stressed.
The "example of patriotism and courage" was for Rafael Massanga Savimbi his father's third major contribution to the country: "Jonas Savimbi was a man educated in Switzerland, but out of love for his homeland, with great courage he decided to dedicate his whole life for the good of the majority".
The new generation, he stressed, "is walking this path, the new generation of Angolans is inspired by Jonas Savimbi and it is even impressive because it is, above all, the younger generation than mine, whose source of inspiration is Jonas Savimbi" .
"And in this whole picture, it is essential to repeat that we are all Angolans, we are all brothers and sisters, and we will never again resort to violence", he defended.
Massanga also believes that if Jonas Savimbi were alive he would look at the country today "with great sadness, because what we see today in Angola, injustice, lack of opportunities, the deficit of democracy itself, I think that would be things that would hurt it".
"Because he gave his whole life for this to be effective", he shot.
Angola celebrates 20 years of peace, which will be celebrated on 4 April, the date on which the peace accords were signed between the MPLA government and UNITA, just over a month after Savimbi's death.
For Alcides Sakala it was not the death of Jonas Savimbi that contributed to the pacification of the country, as both parties wanted an agreement: "No, we thought we lost a fight, but we did not lose the war at that time. part yearned for an agreement, for a way out of this conflict, Dr. Savimbi died in combat, UNITA continued, Dr. Savimbi formed cadres that continued his project and ideas".
"I don't think like that (that the death of Jonas Savimbi pacified Angola), I think that what happened was a set of unfortunate circumstances, because peace cannot be made by killing opponents, once again a way could be found, but unfortunately it was the circumstance ", commented Rafael Massanga Savimbi.
"It should be said that before his death, those who were with Jonas Savimbi confirm and reconfirm that even in December (2001), Jonas Savimbi wanted to declare a ceasefire to say that it had arrived (...)", he recalled.
Alcides Sakala, Samuel Chiwale and Rafael Massanga Savimbi also believe that UNITA has maintained its matrix and organizational culture since its foundation in Muangai, adapting, however, to new circumstances.
Politicians also believe that Adalberto Costa Júnior, the party's current president, will lead UNITA to its first electoral victory next August because "there are a series of indicators that lead us to these conclusions".
