For Luzia Moniz, the impasse that persists over the fate of the body of José Eduardo dos Santos, who died last Friday in Barcelona, encompasses the perspective of traditional law, but the crux of the issue "is, above all, political".
"We look at Barcelona and realize that Barcelona is today the capital of Angola, what I mean is that it is the place where politics is being carried out, and more than that, what is being discussed is not just the delivery of a corpse", said this Monday Luzia Moniz to Lusa.
The "future of Angola" is, in the sociologist's view, the core of this discussion, which is not restricted to holding a state funeral or the probable relief of tensions between the family of José Eduardo dos Santos (JES) and the current President, João Lourenço.
"What is under discussion is the future of Angola, because depending on how and where the funeral of JES will be, the political future of João Lourenço will also depend on it. And if we think about that, we will also be thinking about the future of Angola", said.
Because "we will no longer have an electoral campaign, the electoral campaign (for the general elections called for August 24) will be this discussion around the body" of João Lourenço's predecessor.
José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled Angola for 38 years, died in a clinic in Barcelona, Spain, where he was hospitalized for weeks in an induced coma, was also leader of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the party that has governed the country since 1975.
The Spanish authorities agreed to carry out an autopsy on his corpse following an injunction brought by the daughters, who defend the holding of his funeral in Barcelona.
Welwitchia "Tchizé" dos Santos is one of the daughters of José Eduardo dos Santos who repeatedly criticizes and blames the Government, especially João Lourenço, for her father's death.
Angola celebrates this Monday the third of the seven days of national mourning decreed by the President, who also created an inter-ministerial commission to deal with the funeral of JES, with some members of the same meeting in Barcelona to "unlock" the corpse.
Luzia Moniz considers, on the other hand, that Angolans live, "for a long time, in a contradiction, due to the fact that the political power has adopted almost all the laws based on the Portuguese legal system, which is based on European law and not Angolan customary law".
"We abandoned and did not introduce customary law in our Constitution, because even if JES died in Angola in terms of positive law, we would be going through what we are going through".
"The body does not belong to the State, it belongs to the family, and even in terms of our customary law it belongs to the family, but even in our customary law the family is not limited to the nuclear family, which is father, mother and children, the family is broad," she recalled.
According to the sociologist, "there is an age subordination in our kinship relationships and this age subordination means that the younger ones are tutored or submit to the decision of the older ones".
This "would mean Isabel (dos Santos), Tchizé submitting to the decision of Marta and Luís dos Santos (brothers of JES), but we are not facing that, we are facing a law that contradicts our customary law", she underlined.
"So, in light of this right, the body belongs to the family and who decides where to take it and how to do with the body, since the deceased left nothing written down, it is the children and the spouse", she stressed.
The journalist also alluded to the figure of Ana Paula dos Santos, widow of JES, "disputed by her daughters for alleged abandonment of the father", considering that she was facing "another battle to face".
"They (the daughters) still raise this question, if that lady (Ana Paula dos Santos) is still a spouse, then we are facing many problems", she pointed out.
"And what comes out of this issue, and whatever the decision, President João Lourenço is already a loser, because in the light of the Constitution President João Lourenço is one of the most powerful presidents in the world", she said.
Luzia Moniz added: "He (João Lourenço) has these powers and has exercised them over these five years, only, irony of fate, despite all those powers he needs Tchizé and Isabel to survive politically, and that's a defeat."
The well-known sociologist also defended that João Lourenço could choose to embrace the idea of JES's funeral being held only after the general elections, "as one of the daughters intends", referring that this would be a "lesser evil".
But "this lesser evil", he observed, is another defeat because João Lourenço needs the corpse of JES, because in our African and Judeo-Christian culture there is no mourning and death without a corpse, the corpse is needed to mourn and João Lourenço need it politically."
"Even because he lives a civil war within his party. The "Eduardists" are not few in the country, those demonstrations, truly spontaneous, on social networks of people crying with songs and blaming João Lourenço for the precipitation of JES's death, this means that the people adopted the Tchizé narrative", she stressed.
João Lourenço "is at a disadvantage" and should show signs of relaxation, such as releasing 'Zenu' (José Filomeno dos Santos, son of JES) to meet the family and not keep him as a kind of hostage dependent on what is going to happen".
"He needs to do what in our language we call "good muxima" (give signs of openness and closeness). João Lourenço needs to do "good muxima" and then this is a sign of "good muxima", free Zenu to difficult time being with the family in Barcelona", she said.
"The other sign was to free the media so that Tchizé's voice could be broadcast on television, because Tchizé is a kind of spokesperson for the children who do not want to hand over their bodies to João Lourenço. is good", concluded Luzia Moniz.
The President, João Lourenço, held this Monday, in Luanda, the official opening of a public wake in memory of José Eduardo dos Santos, whom he succeeded after the 2017 general elections.
