According to the journalist, these movements of people who want a different country "are already there", but need to unite.
Speaking to Lusa, on the sidelines of the III Congress of Angolanistics, which took place in Lisbon, in which he was one of the speakers, Rafael Marques criticized João Lourenço, the Angolan leaders, the Government and defended a new project for the country based "on knowledge".
"We have to overcome partisanship, the idea of civil society as a focus of exclusion or reclusion, we have to think like Angolans who want a different country, regardless of our political, religious or social convictions. Because Angola was fragmented by partisanship, obsessions", he considered.
"Fortunately - this should also be attributed to the management of João Lourenço - today there is already a different mentality, and many MPLA [Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, in power since independence] militants who defended the Estado party as such, today defend a debate, because they also feel hungry," he added.
Not admitting that João Lourenço ends his mandate before 2027, as determined by the Constitution, the director and founder of Maka Angola said: "We respect the Constitution, but we demand that he also respect the Constitution".
Now, he admitted that "if the economic situation continues to deteriorate as such and, with the hunger that also graces the Defense and Security bodies" the country could have "a big problem".
Therefore, he reinforced: "We will have to think about how to bring together those, whether at the level of power, whether at the level of the opposition, or at the level of society in general who are beginning to configure a post-Lourenço transition project. Because in 2027 Lourenço leaves".
"I am in favor of the Constitution. He has a mandate that runs until 2027. But we have to think now what Angola will be like after Lourenço. We are not going to create more crises and conflicts, because the country is not able to withstand more conflicts. It's not what Angolans need. Angolans need peace solutions and a transition path. Because Lourenço is leaving. It's due (...). He's not going to get a third term," said the journalist with conviction.
Recalling that the Angolan Constitution also does not allow independent candidacies for the presidency of the country, Rafael Marques defended a solution "in which Angolans can unite around knowledge".
For the activist, one of the country's problems has to do with the bet "on malformed political leaders".
"That's what happens with the current political system. It has to be the party that appoints the leader. If the party appoints a brute individual, we have to deal with that brute, if the party appoints us an individual who thinks well, we are lucky. This is what we must overcome to allow Angola to be in the hands of those who, in fact, have ideas for the transition and for the common good", he said.
"Angola needs a transition to review its entire political and government system and to create spaces for new social conduct, a new type of mentality that allows human development", he added.
As for the movements of people who may be involved in this project, Rafael Marques only comments that "these movements are there".
"People need unity. And this President is being a factor of disunity, a threat to the Republic for his erratic behavior. So that's what we need to reverse", he advocated.
For Rafael Marques, "what happens with the current leaders is that they come to power and think that the power is theirs".
"João Lourenço is thinking that he owns the power of Angola. He is not. Power belongs to the people (...) and he cannot be leading us to the abyss", he stressed. "It is up to us, Angolans (...) to stop this bad path", he reinforced.
Demonstrations, he stressed, are a right enshrined in the Constitution and there must be respect for the rights and duties of citizens: "It is a form of protest by citizens when the economic situation or government acts deserve repudiation, deserve the gathering of citizens to demonstrate their displeasure with the way the country's destinies are being conducted".
And the use of force to disperse demonstrators in protest, as happened last weekend, is in the journalist's opinion "a double-edged sword in the current context, because the police are also hungry and also have families, the soldier too", he warned.
"Leaders cannot continue to think that they are in a situation of total immunity and impunity in the face of the economic crisis that devastates a large part of Angolan families", he stressed.
But for the activist, the fundamental problem is not the demonstrations, it is the action that Angolans must exercise based on knowledge to find solutions for the country, "to return the transitional power".
"We have very serious problems in terms of education, in terms of the economy. We continue to talk about diversifying the economy, and what does the Minister of Economy do? Who knows what the Minister of Agriculture does?", he questioned.
"A part of the Government only works to solve personal problems. These are issues that we have to discuss every day. We have to create a space of freedom in Angola and it is the citizens who must do it. And these spaces of freedom do not only pass through demonstrations , because all Angolans can take to the streets, but if we don't have a strategy, a plan on how to change the current political and economic framework, we can stay in the streets all the time and change what?", he concluded.
