The director of the investigative journalism portal Maka Angola, who is one of the 697 individuals to be awarded medals commemorating the 50th anniversary of national independence, which will be presented this Thursday and Friday by the President of the Republic, declined the award, claiming that he had done nothing to deserve it.
"I congratulate the recipients who really gave their best for Angola and the Angolans. I did nothing to deserve such an award and that is why I decline it," the human rights activist told Lusa.
When asked about the symbolic nature of this ceremony, which is part of the celebrations of Angola's independence on November 11, 1975, Rafael Marques de Morais stressed that "independence is being celebrated with anger."
"(It's) 50 years of independence and we still have cholera outbreaks that claim hundreds of Angolan lives, because there is no investment in basic sanitation, there is no investment in health", he criticized, adding that this is a celebration of the triumph of corruption and bad governance.
"This is not the way to celebrate independence", he reinforced, stating that citizens today do not need celebrations, "they need deliveries, the creation of an environment that allows them to have better living conditions, have jobs, have basic education so that their children have a future".
And without this, "any celebration of 50 years is just an artifice", he emphasized.
Rafael Marques also stated that Angola is going through a phase "in which we increasingly see administrative acts, political acts, that are against development and against social peace".
He gave as an example the fact that he was awarded a medal for development at the same time that the authorities are obstructing the delivery of a primary school, alleging a lack of computers.
According to the activist, the school built in a rural area near the capital of the province of Lunda Sul, with the shared "effort" of civil society, civil society organizations and the private sector, was not accepted by the local education department because "it is not fully equipped, because there are no computers, and it is an area that does not have electricity."
"We have not delivered a school, we have not been able to deliver a heritage built with great care, with love for those children, in an area where there is very little investment in education, because some local authority decides that there must be computers, in a rural school where there is no electricity," he said indignantly.
For Rafael Marques, it is "absurdities" like this that lead to questions about whether the idea of promoting or supporting development is real, since we see administrative and political acts of this type every day, "actions that increasingly fragment Angolan society and effectively impede human development in the country.
"So I cannot agree with this," he stressed.
The President of the Republic will honor 697 personalities over the course of these two days, including writers such as Pepetela, musicians such as Bonga and Paulo Flores, and activists such as Rafael Marques de Morais.
This will be the second ceremony to award medals commemorating the 50th Anniversary of National Independence, which are divided into two categories: the Independence class, which recognizes the contribution of historical figures in the fight against colonialism and in the founding of the Angolan State, and the Peace and Development class, which recognizes the role of citizens in consolidating peace and building the country.
Among those honored in the Independence class are the writer Pepetela (Artur Pestana), who was also a guerrilla for the MPLA, the party in power since independence; the singer Bonga, one of Angola's best-known voices; the archbishop emeritus of Lubango and mediator in the peace process, Zacarias Kamwenho; the musician Waldemar Bastos (now deceased), who lived in Portugal and promoted Angolan music internationally; and Luandino Vieira, a writer who was also persecuted by the colonial regime.
In the Peace and Development class, personalities from culture, sports and civil society will be honored, including José Eduardo Agualusa, an internationally awarded writer; Paulo Flores, one of Angola's most popular singers; human rights activist Rafael Marques de Morais; Pedro Mantorras, former Benfica football player; Eduardo Paim, known as the "father" of kizomba; and Marcolino Moco, former prime minister.
This second round of honors – with 252 honorees in the Independence Class and 445 in the Peace and Development Class – comes months after a first ceremony controversial, marked by the exclusion of Jonas Savimbi (UNITA) and Holden Roberto (FNLA), central figures in the fight for the country's independence.
