"This meeting can be seen as a dissuasive mechanism, a demonstration of strength by President João Lourenço, to reaffirm and say that he controls the grassroots, has the support of the grassroots and any attempt by other candidates, who are not sponsored by him, will probably be defeated, that is my interpretation", David Sambongo told Lusa.
The leader of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), João Lourenço, held a meeting in Luanda on Monday with the first secretaries of the Party's Action Committees (CAP), to revitalise and strengthen the structures of the party, which had 2,700 coordinators from the 60,000 CAPs across the country.
David Sambongo recalled that João Lourenço, both from a statutory point of view and from the point of view of the Constitution of the Republic of Angola, cannot run for President of the Republic in the 2027 general elections, as he has reached the limit of two terms.
The academic highlighted that there is information circulating that at the MPLA's extraordinary congress in 2026, there will be "leading figures running for party leadership", an element that supports his thesis.
"I believe that these internal dynamics that the MPLA president is creating clearly demonstrate an intention to control the grassroots, to have the grassroots behind him for a possible political arrangement - this is a prospective analysis that I am making - that will allow him to run for a third term, changing the Constitution of the Republic of Angola. To allow this, he will be able to control the spirits with the legitimacy that he sought in this meeting with the first secretaries of the CAPs", he stated.
For this expert, it was a historic meeting, the second that an MPLA leader has held with those responsible for the grassroots structures, rooted in the neighborhoods of the communes, districts and municipalities, and that may also have signified greater concern on the part of the party leader, "with the way in which the MPLA is being viewed by society".
"This is a huge loss of the MPLA's image, due to the set of failed public policies. In Angola, we have an increasingly fragile social fabric, where most families today have difficulty eating three meals a day", he said, adding that João Lourenço used this route to try to "reverse the situation, from the point of view of his image".
In his speech, David Sambongo also highlighted the fact that João Lourenço admitted the existence of influence peddling within the party, preventing grassroots members from reaching leadership positions in the party, to the detriment of others, appointed through "influence games".
"He talks about reporting, but he doesn't point out the mechanisms, the channels that members should use (...), whether directly to the party president, whether to report to the Central Committee, to the bodies of the Central Committee, which is where these members exist, who even without merit manage to rise due to the closeness, the affinity they have with the members of the MPLA Central Committee and also of the Political Bureau", he declared.
Regarding João Lourenço's support for young people, who he believes are prepared to rise to leadership positions in the party "including assuming the highest office of President of the Republic", David Sambongo agrees that "from an academic and intellectual point of view, there are indeed young people in the MPLA who are capable of assuming leadership of both the party and the country", but he has doubts about their commitment to the country.
"I have great doubts about their patriotism, their sense of selflessness and, above all, their sense of responsibility for serving the country. There are many young people who are currently in the political apparatus of the Angolan State who leave a lot to be desired, who are very short-sighted and who do not place the Angolan national interest above all other interests, and who are more interested in serving their own individual interests and whims", he said.
