"Angola is effectively fighting corruption", said João Lourenço at a rally in Malanje, considering it "ironic" that some of his competitors say that the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) "is doing nothing".
"What is ironic is that those who defend this point of view have made a pact with the corrupt, they are eating from the plate of the corrupt, they are being financed by the money coming out of Angola through the door of corruption, these are its real financiers", underlined Lourenço, insinuating that the candidacy of the president of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) will be financed by people targeted by the Angolan justice system.
"We don't have to be surprised in terms of alliances, this opposition has had worse alliances than these, those who allied with 'apartheid' are no wonder those who emptied the state coffers and took these resources to other economies, who allies with 'apartheid' [South Africa supported UNITA in the civil war, while the MPLA was supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba] easily allies itself with the corrupt who fled Angola accused of practicing corruption", he pointed out.
The Government has often been accused of carrying out selective justice targeting relatives or close associates of former President José Eduardo dos Santos, who died on 8 July in Barcelona and over whom a legal dispute continues over the obsequies between some of his children and the Angolan regime.
Tchizé dos Santos, one of the daughters, a militant and former MPLA deputy, has publicly shown her support for the candidacy of Adalberto da Costa Júnior, but none of the other sons has commented on party campaigns, in particular Isabel dos Santos, who lives outside Angola for several years and is targeted in several civil and criminal cases.
In an audio recording that Lusa had access to, Tchizé dos Santos responds to João Lourenço stating that "the people he is accusing of having fled" are in countries that "do not hide bandits" and accuses the chief executive of being " use Angolan justice to invent crimes against others".
The general elections, the fifth ballot in the country's political history, are scheduled for 24 August and eight political groups compete, in an election campaign since 24 July.
