“As a UNITA parliamentary group and leadership, we were not surprised by the decision made by deputy David Mendes. For some time now, this deputy has been expressing positions contrary to the political commitment assumed with UNITA ”, said the president of the parliamentary group of the“ black cock ”party, Liberty Chiyaka.
Speaking to Lusa, Liberty Chiyaka recalled that David Mendes, elected deputy in 2017 after joining the UNITA list, established an electoral alliance with this party and that he "should be loyal to the commitment he made".
“When we identified that the interests that led us to establish an electoral alliance may have been overcome, perhaps because of political, moral and ethical elevation, we must officially communicate to our leadership the party with which we established the alliance about our unavailability. Unfortunately, that is not what happened ”, lamented the UNITA politician.
Congressman David Mendes announced on Sunday his departure from the UNITA parliamentary group for alleged censorship of deputies, allegedly by UNITA President Adalberto Costa Júnior, and the party's “lack of solidarity” for allegedly receiving “threats of death".
David Mendes was speaking to TV Zimbo, now in the State sphere, during the space “Revista Zimbo”, where a week earlier he had already criticized the participation of UNITA members in the demonstration of 24 October in Luanda, where young people protested for better conditions and called for local elections.
More than 100 young people, who complained about the “excessive police load”, were arrested and some were convicted of crimes of hooliganism.
For Liberty Chiyaka, who recalls that David Mendes is not a member of UNITA, the lawyer also “has every right” to make his decision public through the press, “which we respect, but does not need to speak untruth to seek public solidarity ”.
"I mean by that, it is not true the statement that, on the part of the leadership of the parliamentary group, at the time led by engineer Adalberto, and now led by me, there would have been indications to censor the interventions of the deputies", assured.
"Congressman David Mendes regularly speaks on the fly and cannot be evoked from alleged censorship," he said.
The UNITA parliamentary leader also rejected any attempt to hold his party's leadership accountable for the threats made to deputy David Mendes and contained in a video "which allegedly was the cause of his departure".
"We want to once again reiterate our solidarity with deputy David Mendes as a person and Angolan with the right to physical integrity and we reject any threats or attempts at violence to reach anyone who thinks differently from us," he said.
In an interview with TV Zimbo, deputy David Mendes guaranteed to formalize this Tuesday his disconnection from the UNITA parliamentary group.
Lusa tried to contact the deputy, who in previous years led a political force called the "Popular Party", but this was not possible.
According to Liberty Chiyaka, "although, until now", in which he spoke to Lusa, he had not received "any official communication" from the deputy about his departure, "the connection of Deputy David Mendes to the UNITA parliamentary group has ended".
“It was said so publicly last Sunday and (…), for us, the process is closed”, he stressed.
"We want to take the opportunity to express our thanks and recognition for the contribution that David Mendes made while he was a member of the UNITA parliamentary group and we wish his future options good luck", he underlined.
Asked if from now on UNITA will look with greater attention and caution to the alliances it forms, deputy Chiyaka said that his party moves by "values and principles, including an inclusive and participatory governance".
"For Angola to rise, we need to have inclusive and participatory governance and UNITA's philosophy of inclusion is to maintain and it is not because of a person that we are going to question our convictions," he concluded.
