Speaking to Lusa, after it was reported that the Angolan court issued letters to all condominiums located in Luanda, requesting information on properties registered in the name of several companies, including some owned by Welwítschia José dos Santos “Tchizé” and his brother “Coreón Dú”, the businesswoman claimed to have learned about the investigation through social media.
The daughter of former president José Eduardo dos Santos also mentioned that none of his companies have properties in Luanda and that, currently, he is not part of the management of any of them.
At stake are Westside Investments and Semba Comunicações, which managed channel 2 of the Public Television of Angola (TPA) until the television chain’s administration ended the contract, in 2018, after José Eduardo dos Santos (who died last year) left the presidency of the country that ruled for 38 years to his successor, João Lourenço.
According to TPA, annual payments to Westside/Semba exceeded 17 million dollars and the companies – private – enjoyed modern studios equipped with the best technologies at no cost, adding that the television station always assumed its obligations, despite the “leonine and abusive nature of the contracts in question”.
“Tchizé” dos Santos stated that Westside has been “practically without activity since President João Lourenço ordered its Vida TV channel to be taken off the air” and regretted being “unable to work in the Angolan market” for being “critical” of Joao Lourenço.
“In the former facilities of Vida TV today, a new channel operates and operates with most of the former workers of Vida TV, but without me. This explains a lot”, highlighted “Tchizé” dos Santos, adding: “There is a proven political persecution of me”.
The businesswoman also said that the companies and projects she launched “have value as brands” and complains that the Angolan Government has tried to plagiarize the “Angola 35 degrees Awards”, which are now organized in a “confidential and almost clandestine” way to avoid boycotts.
“Winners and even presenters have been pressured not to attend to receive the awards or present the ceremony”, he told Lusa, insisting that there is “a determination” to destroy his reputation and good name.
“I think this is all a distraction maneuver to stifle the case of the scandals of the Supreme Court judge and the Court of Auditors judge, which also leads many people to wonder about the fairness of the Constitutional Court judge, who gave inauguration without the recount of votes requested by the opposition”, he suggested.
Asked about her current income, “Tchizé” dos Santos replied that she has a business in restoration and aesthetics and that she is dedicated to the Tea Club social project, “because President João Lourenço was responsible for destroying everything else”, also having rented houses in Luanda “to foreign citizens”.
According to “Tchizé”, his Tea Club project for micro entrepreneurs, with bakery and pastry courses for women, has also been boycotted, complaining that participants were even expelled from a ‘workshop’ and the premises closed with a padlock.
“They said it was because it was from ‘Tchizé’ dos Santos. This was said by the administrator Tany Narciso, leader of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola [MPLA] and responsible for the market where the volunteer had space”, lamented the former MPLA MP, the party that governs Angola since independence in 1975.
The daughter of the former president considered that she is “banned from Angola”, stressing that she cannot deal with anything “related to Angola or Angolan departments”, having had “brutal losses” in some activities.
“I don’t know what I did to her to make me persecute her, except for being the daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos. And I conclude that for the other people who say they are persecuted by João Lourenço, with whom I share the same father!” .
“Tchizé” dos Santos also considered “very sad the destruction of the careers of the best cadres in the country for political reasons”, and reminded Lusa of “the whole persecution” after his father’s death, “the struggle for the body, the sordid funeral”, claiming to try to “continue to show the beautiful side of just being alive”.
Last year, the eldest children of José Eduardo dos Santos fought an arm-wrestling match with the widow, Ana Paula dos Santos, and the younger children, supported by the Angolan Government, which intended to transport the body of the former president ( who died in Spain) to Luanda for a state funeral.
