AFRICAN EYE

While we were coming to terms with the reality of a military takeover in Zimbabwe on 15 November 2017, the new President of Angola, President João Lourenço was deviating from his predecessors’ stance on corruption and cronyism. He first fired the entire board of Angola’s state oil company Sonangol, including its chair Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former President Dos Santos. The adage of not biting the hand that feeds you rings true in Africa. The one who appoints might never disappoint as long as one plays cleverly to the whims and directives of the appointing authority. When Lourenco was appointed as successor by the former President, critics of the Dos Santos administration predicted that the new elect was going to continue where Dos Santos left and protect his interests. But alas, the new President has deviated from the set norm and has gone on to try and cleanse and usher in a new dispensation. Of interest the firing of 60 government officials and heads of the state diamond fi