Isaías Samakuva held, this Tuesday, a press conference to clarify the motivations behind the creation of this foundation, which pays homage to the founding leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Jonas Savimbi, and promotes his achievements.
According to the general coordinator, the creation of the foundation raised "doubts, feelings of hatred and even repulsion, in certain cases, and in others, (of) joy, encouragement and even expectations", detailing the entire process until the foundation's legalization, achieved in May with official recognition in the Official Gazette.
He considered, on the other hand, that Jonas Savimbi's name itself already arouses "several speculations".
"We received messages from people asking: what are you doing? Including that Samakuva was creating another party and other things," he said.
The foundation, which relies on donations from society to develop its projects, hopes to become a public utility institution in the coming years.
The former leader of UNITA highlighted that this institution's main objective is to support people with special needs and preserve the historical collection about Jonas Malheiro Savimbi and other influential "Angolan patriots".
The foundation's range of actions includes supporting people with disabilities and rural women, participating in the effort to eradicate anti-personnel mines, granting scholarships, contributing to improving the living conditions of rural communities, promoting generating employment for people with disabilities, supporting literacy, sexual and reproductive health, sanitation and environmental conservation projects, among others.
The creation of the foundation, explained Isaías Samakuva, was always known to the party and all steps of the process were made known to the leader of UNITA, Adalberto Costa Júnior, but the law establishes that only heirs can create a foundation with the name of a person.
But the feeling that "this is the party's task, it exists", reinforced.
The public launch of the foundation is scheduled for mid-August, he said, highlighting that there is still administrative work to be completed, such as the creation of its governing bodies.
