By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is attending the State Funeral Service of Former President José Eduardo dos Santos, who served as the second President of the Republic of Angola.
The State Funeral Service is taking place in Luanda at 10h00 (11h00 SA Time) on Sunday, 28 August 2022, the day of President Dos Santos ’80th birthday.
Ramaphosa is accompanied by Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Alvin Botes.
Dos Santos, who ruled Angola from 1979 to 2017, died on July 8, 2022, at the age of 79, in Barcelona, Spain, where he spent most of his time over the past five years.
The arrival in Angola of the remains of Jose Eduardo dos Santos on August 20, just days before Angolans headed to the polls in crucial elections, ended a dispute that has lasted since July 8.
The body was finally handed over to his widow, Ana Paula dos Santos, after a legal battle between two sides of the family in the Spanish courts.
Religious chants echoed through loudspeakers in the vast plaza, where there were black flags and posters paying homage to “Zedu” – dos Santos’s nickname, according to Seychelles News Agency.
According to local Angolan media, about 20 women wept, chanting the name of the man whose tenure was marred by allegations of sweeping nepotism and plunder of the oil-rich state’s resources.
The party that has ruled Angola continuously for nearly 50 years claimed victory on Friday in this week’s election, after the electoral commission put its share of the vote at 51%. However, the leader of the main opposition coalition rejected the results.
Five members of the election commission have threatened not to sign off the results.
“Let’s hope that… a solution can be found to what is happening in the country”, commissioner Francisco Vieira told a press conference on Saturday.
Under dos Santos’s tenure, Angola became one of Africa’s top oil producers. While dos Santos and his family reaped vast wealth from Angola’s resources, most of the country’s 33 million people remain among the poorest in the world.
As one of the longest-ruling African leaders, he established himself as a political heavyweight beyond the country’s borders.
Weakened by age and illness, he stepped down in 2017, appointing Lourenco as his successor, who now stands to gain a second term in office.