Angola – Face of Malawi

Labour rights organisation drills employers on handling disputes in work place

Robert Ngwira — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 09:26:52 +0000

By: Mayamiko Phiri.

Labour rights organisation (LARO) has urged employers to apply new strategies and tools they just acquire to prevent labour disputes in the work place

Frank Adini who is regional labour officer in the southern region and a facilitator made the call during a day long workshop which was held in Blantyre on Thursday, 14th March.

Adini stated that the purpose of the workshop was to build skills and enhance knowledge on participants on how they can effectively handle labour issues at their work place.

He further observed that issues regarding conditions of services, salaries, termination of services without valid reasons and harassment at work place are some of the factors fuelling conflict between employers and employees.

One of the participants Lot Kaira applauded the organisers for coming up with the workshop as it has enlightened the employers on how they can handle differences as well as disciplinary handling in the work place.

Angola denies barring Former President dos Santos from leaving country

Chisomo Kambale — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 06:12:45 +0000

The Angolan government has denied barring former president José Eduardo dos Santos from leaving the country.

Dos Santos returned to Angola’s capital Luanda in September last year after living in Barcelona since 2019. He had initially travelled to Spain in 2019 for a routine medical examination.

Earlier in the week, a local website ran a story claiming that the former President had been barred from leaving Angola and that his benefits had been cut.

The Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication rejected the allegations published on Club-k.net.

“The information provided by this portal is false,” a statement said.

“President José Eduardo dos Santos, since 2017, has never failed to benefit from the institutional support to which he is entitled under the law, both in the territory and during the, almost, three years he has been away receiving medical care outside the country.”

According to the ministry’s statement, the former Head of State does not need authorisation from anyone to travel to any part of the world.

“It is very irresponsible to deal with the intimate life of a former Head of State to the point of claiming that he is suffering from cancer, something that is not known to the Angolan authorities,” the statement added.

Dos Santos succeeded António Agostinho Neto in 1979, who ruled Angola for four years after independence from Portugal in 1975.

In 2017, President João Lourenço took over from dos Santos as Angola and ruling MPLA leader following a general election marking the end of a 38-year reign.

The private news website had claimed Dos Santos had received external help from Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema to help him meet medical costs, including hiring a plane for him.

According to the private media, expenses for the former president and deputies have been reduced to the equivalent $200,000 per year for payment of staff of their residence, including salaries of their director of office, secretaries, cooks, among others.

Authorities in Angola had targeted the dos Santos family shortly after he left power. His son Jose Filomeno dos Santos was in 2020 jailed for fraud and his daughter Isabel dos Santos and his ally Leopoldino do Nascimento “Dino” had their bank accounts frozen in a crackdown on stolen public funds.

General Dino was dos Santos’ Head of Telecommunications for the Presidency between 1995 and 2010, adviser to the Minister of State and Head of the Intelligence Bureau in the Presidency from 2010 to 2018.

Angola ex-minister jailed over corruption

FACE OF MALAWI — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 06:18:11 +0000

Former Angolan minister Manuel Rabelais was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison on corruption charges, becoming the second ex-minister put behind bars since Joao Lourenço took power in 2017.

The Angolan president succeeded Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who had held onto power for 38 years. Shortly after his election, Lourenço launched a massive anti-corruption campaign against those close to his predecessor, including his children.

President Dos Santos had appointed close friends and family members to key positions during his corruption-ridden reign.

Manuel Rabelais, a former communications minister under the previous regime, was arrested in October 2020 and convicted by the Luanda Supreme Court of money laundering and misappropriation of public funds.

Via a marketing company he ran, he was found guilty of embezzling 98 million euros between 2016 and 2017.

Former Transport Minister Augusto da Silva Tomas had been sentenced in 2019 to 14 years in prison for corruption.

Promising to root out widespread theft of public money and turn around the economy of Africa’s second-largest oil producer, Joao Lourenço sacked several former government officials, including Isabel Dos Santos, the daughter of President Dos Santos, who headed the national oil company Sonangol.

In August, José Filomeno dos Santos, the former president’s son, was also sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling money from Angola’s sovereign wealth fund, which he oversaw from 2013 to 2018.

Angolans Sneak Into Namibia To Escape Hunger

Mc Noel Kasinja — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 14:20:37 +0000

ABOUT 100 illegal Angolan immigrants were deported to Angola last week as widespread hunger forces many people living along the border to flock to Namibia in search of food.

The Angolans cross into Namibia at illegal entry points in Omusati and Ohangwena regions in search of food, water, medical services and employment opportunities.

Ohangwena police spokesperson, inspector Kaume Iitumba said the police have noticed a high number of illegal Angolans in the region searching for job opportunities.

“We deport them because the border remains closed officially and in this time of Covid-19, we are trying to stop its further spread. We cannot allow people to move illegally into the country,” he said.

Angolans living in the border provinces of Cunene and Huila are experiencing food and water shortages due to persistent drought with malnutrition widespread among children.

Some Angolans are camped at Etunda irrigation scheme and Oshifo in Omusati region where they hope to get work or buy food.

Omusati governor Erginus Endjala told The Namibian the Angolans sneak into the country at night as the official entry points remain closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Only those seeking medical care are allowed to cross into Namibia at the border posts.

“The borders remain closed but as you know our borders are porous and Angolans enter the country through illegal entry points at night when the police are not patrolling. Angolan communities living along the border are faced with drought and hunger is the main driving force behind this whole illegal movement.

Endjala said that Angolan nationals are scattered all over Omusati region in search of employment opportunities.

“The situation is very bad in Angola. There are hunger and thirst. People are starving. These illegal immigrants are now moving all over the region looking for any kind of jobs just to be able to have something to eat. There is nothing that we can do for now.

“As a government, we can only assist them if the border was open and they have entered the country through legal means. We cannot assist illegal immigrants. This week, we are expecting to meet the Angolan ambassador and government representatives to inform them about the situation on the ground and see how they can assist their people either through providing them with basic food items,” said Endjala.

He further urged the inhabitants of the region not to panic but to report any illegal immigrant to their nearest police station in order for the police to register their details for record keeping.

“The residents must report these people to the nearest police station but they should not harm them. I am also urging the citizens to assist these vulnerable people in whatever way they can, because we are all one. I have also directed the traditional authorities to register these people coming to their villages,” he said.

With the ongoing fight against the spread of Covid-19, there are fears among Namibians that some of these Angolans might be infected with the deadly virus and are a risk to local inhabitants.

Inspector Iitumba said the police patrol the border at all times, and these illegal immigrants risk being shot or injured by the police, especially at night.

Some Angolans are said to be driving their cattle into Namibia in search ofbetter grazing.

One Angolan who spoke to The Namibian on condition of anonymity said they were forced to flee their homes due to starvation.

“It is so dry back home. We did not get any rains and our mahangu fields have been scorched. Most times we are forced to go to bed on an empty stomach because there is no food. The wells and boreholes have also dried up and we have nowhere to fetch water to drink or cook.

“I came here with the hope of securing employment to send something back home to my family. I can even work for free in exchange of food. My children are suffering back home because they have nothing to eat. I am desperately in need of any kind of job. We are hungry,” he said.

Angolans can be found roaming in towns such as Outapi, Oshifo, Omahenene, Ruacana, Opuwo, Oshikango and Onesi and also parts of Oshana and Oshikoto regions.

The Angolan ambassador to Namibia, Jovelina Imperial eCosta is expected to visit the Oshikango and Omahenene border posts this week to acquaint herself with the procedures as well as the challenges faced by Angolan immigrants.

Angola Legalizes Same-Sex Marriages And Relationships

FACE OF MALAWI — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 09:10:11 +0000

Angola recently passed a law to decriminalize homosexual relationships, according to reports this new law supersedes a Portuguese colonial-era constitution that labeled same-sex relations as a ‘vice against nature.’

The parliament of Angola passed the bill in January 2019 and sent it to President João Lourenço who then signed the bill into law in November 2020.

According to a report by Out.com, this new law prohibits anyone in Angola to discriminate against anyone based on sexual orientation.

After gaining its independence in 1975, Angola inherited from its former colonial masters – Portugal, a penal code that encouraged discrimination against the LGBTQ society.

Although the previous law that somehow encouraged discrimination against same-sex relations did not have the required ammunition to prosecute and imprison offenders.

However, the new law has enough firepower and carries a jail sentence of up to two years for those found guilty of discrimination against sexual orientation.

Iris, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Angola that was given legal recognition in 2018 hailed the move as a historic progression from colonialism.

The leader of Iris Carlos Fernandes welcomed the abolition of a 133-year-old law saying: “I think there’s now a legal framework to go after homophobic crimes,” he told DW.

While former minister of justice Francisco Queiroz said the new law was a reflection of the current Angolan socio-cultural landscape.

“This is an act of sovereignty by the Angolan State which, after 134 years of being governed in the criminal and criminal fields, with a code that has been in force since 1886, from the colonial administration, now has the penal code totally inspired by political reality, legal, cultural and social Angolan,” Francisco Queiroz said.

Angola Legalize Same-Sex Marriages And Related Relationships

Mc Noel Kasinja — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 13:10:42 +0000