For those that continue to imagine that Angola’s dictatorship is benign and that Portugal should continue to trade, while in fact turning an increasingly blind eye to the corruption and state sponsored theft in its former colony, this New York Times video explains some harsh facts.
The dictatorship of José dos Santos has ensured that he and his cronies have amassed wealth beyond the wildest dreams of fantasists, stealing oil and diamond revenues while the country’s poor, especially its children, starve in filth and squalour.
Reporter Nicholas Kristof’s report from Angola says it like it is, Angola’s regime is responsible for countless deaths due to its greed, corruption and self-interest.
“The reality is that these kids in the hospitals are the lucky one, 50% of Angolans don’t have access to health care at all.”
Why so many shiny new hospitals? It is an easy way for public officials to skim money from large infrastructure projects. Widespread theft from aid programmes ensures vital drugs and contraceptives do not reach the people but openly are available for illegal resale on the streets, having been stolen and sold on, often by medical staff charged with administering the drugs.
“They steal everything. Doing anything right has become the wrong thing to do,” according to Angolan journalist Rafael Marquês de Morais, who has been prosecuted for speaking out against corruption.
As for the western oil companies operating in Angola, “they too have blood on their hands for facilitating this corruption.”
How the president’s daughter, Isabel dos Santos, Africa's 'youngest billionaire,' manages to stay quiet at family mealtimes is an enduring mystery while her continued support of the Angolan regime, from which she clearly has benefitted, continues to deplete the country’s resources as its children die in their tens of thousands for want of basic medicines.
This ten minute report contains scenes that may upset viewers:
New York Times Report Shows Angolan Government Corruption
Comments
+ The Angolan "funds" that start there journey by passing thru the PT Banking System ,where obviously a " facilitation charge" is deducted for the paper work involved