"Foundation is a very normal subject in a democratic state, it doesn't need a collective, it doesn't need political speech, it doesn't need a lot of noise", said Adalberto Costa Júnior at a political action by the United Patriotic Front (FPU) where he was asked about the collective press conference where clarifications about the foundation were provided.
"When the noise is big, when the alms are big, the poor are suspicious", concluded the leader of UNITA and FPU, who appeared this Wednesday with the other leaders of this opposition platform to make a statement about what they classify of degradation in Angola.
Last week, the general coordinator of the Jonas Malheiro Savimbi Foundation, Isaías Samakuva, Adalberto Costa Júnior's predecessor as president of UNITA, said that the institution has only philanthropic purposes, dismissing speculation that it was creating a political party.
Regarding the Savimbi Foundation, Adalberto Costa Júnior highlighted that it was an old objective of all UNITA boards and considered that "it is legitimate" for family members, namely children, to assume the direction and legalization of an institution of this type.
But, he added, the country "is in bad shape when it comes to the democratic rule of law" and, therefore, UNITA abandoned Civicop (Commission for Reconciliation in Memory of Victims of Political Conflicts), established "in the name of reconciliation, but with extreme instrumentality".
"We recently saw public institutions criminalizing Savimbi. The person in charge of Civicop is the President of the Republic, the person who gave the order for the legalization (of the Foundation) is the President of the Republic. They need some more response to know that we are accounting for 2027 [date of the next general elections]"?, said the president of UNITA.
Adalberto Costa Júnior highlighted that UNITA is attentive, as is the Savimbi family, to the "agendas".
"I had a long conversation with the family who are concerned about the private agendas that divert the Foundation from what is normal", he highlighted.
Adalberto Costa Júnior was also asked about an alleged "ideological deviation" by UNITA, which he denied, saying that the "Galo Negro" party founded by Joanas Savimbi "is well and is recommended".
The official also spoke about his meetings with the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, highlighting that he never had problems asking for hearings, but admitting that the difficulties of institutional dialogue are a "public circumstance".
"It doesn't make sense to ask for hearings that are useless. These meetings must be useful for something," he noted.
Regarding the fight against corruption, which has been raised as a banner by the President of the Republic and president of the MPLA, he considered that Justice in Angola is carried out by choice.
"Friends are forgotten in the processes", he stated, recalling several requests for a parliamentary inquiry from UNITA that "remained in the drawer" and that it was UNITA that produced the first capital repatriation law, "without persecutory objectives", which was rejected by the MPLA, and lamented the "tying of the hands of judicial institutions".
Regarding UNITA's recent rapprochement with Russia, he recalled that it "was a strategic partner" of Angola and part of the peace agreements, highlighting that UNITA "thinks it should dialogue with everyone".
"Also because what we are witnessing is a transfer of allies between the regime party that abandoned its traditional ally and it is common to say that it is now in the arms of the USA, I don't know if this is true or not", he concluded, stating that UNITA seeks "balances" without closing the doors.
