Isaías Samakuva, who was speaking at a press conference about the Jonas Malheiro Savimbi Foundation, of which he is the general coordinator, was asked about his ease in being received by the President, unlike what happens with the current leader of the National Union for Independence Total Angola (UNITA), Adalberto Costa Júnior.
According to Isaías Samakuva, “in a way it is an inferiority complex” for someone to think that living with people from the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) means that they have “already sold out”.
“President João Lourenço is a person I saw growing up, we were neighbors, I'm a little older than him, but my brothers, as neighbors, were closer, I know their parents”, he said, stressing that the positions he each one defends cannot make them enemies.
Isaías Samakuva said that the hearings he requested were attended by the President and that he even asked João Lourenço why he did not receive Adalberto Costa Júnior.
According to Isaías Samakuva, the head of state replied that he never received any request for an audience from Adalberto Costa Júnior.
“You asked, I am welcoming you, whoever asks me for this house has its doors open”, stressed the politician, adding that every time he was received by João Lourenço he made a report reporting everything he discussed with the President, “ including this issue” that the UNITA leader never asked for a hearing, “if not, he would receive it”.
The former leader of UNITA reaffirmed that as long as citizens are identified by the color of their political shirt, the country will not be developed and prosperous.
Since he left the party leadership in 2019, Isaías Samakuva said he preferred to withdraw to give space to others who needed to "assert themselves" and to rest, denying differences with the UNITA leadership.
“I now need to focus on what I am doing and I even said that to the president of UNITA on May 3rd of last year. Therefore, [about] my relationship [with the party] I have no problems,” he said.
“I completed my consulate, I thought that after 16 years of work, of sleeping short three-hour nights, of lack of time for my children, for my family, I needed rest, on the one hand; on the other hand, it was also necessary to leave space for others,” he added.
