The undying legacy of kleptocracy

Poverty and plunder [View this email in your browser]( 13 July 2022 [Mail & Guardian]( [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, In his illuminating 2015 [New Yorker feature “Extreme City”]( Michael Specter recounts the trials of a Rolls Royce owner in Luanda, Angola’s capital. A member of the presidential inner circle had undoubtedly gone to great trouble to secure one of the most prestigious symbols of wealth that stolen money could buy. Only one problem: there was scarcely anywhere to drive the thing. Decades of municipal ineptitude had left the city’s roads crumbling. Undeterred, the official found one of the only smoothly tarred roads in the region — a renovated 3km stretch along the South Atlantic coast. Every Sunday, he would load his toy on a trailer, take it to the promenade, drive up and down for a bit and head back home. Such anecdotes are typical of the past few decades of life in Angola, a country with immense wealth flowing in its veins but a sickly distribution of resources. Oil barons were fattened while most citizens have had to subsist on less than $2 dollars a day. A shoe shiner cleans a commuters shoe on January 30, 2020 in Luanda, Angola. (Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images) The man responsible for that dispensation died on Friday in Spain, a destination he often frequented as a medical tourist. (See also: [Mabuza’s Russian jaunts and the slippery consequences of medical tourism]( José Eduardo dos Santos will go down as one of the strongmen of Africa. His 38-year rule was one of the most ruthless, corrupt and obstinate on the continent. It is a single lesson on the fate that can befall tens of millions of people over multiple generations if a leader is allowed to plunder unchecked. This week we have Ross Harvey – who [literally wrote the book]( on Angolan economic strife – delving into [the kleptocratic legacy of Dos Santos](. Be sure to also comb through our archives for articles such as Simon Allison’s news analysis on [who assisted the autocrat’s daughter Isabel dos Santos]( to loot her way to becoming Africa’s richest woman, or Niren Tolsi’s feature on [Luanda’s dysfunction and renewal](. --------------------------------------------------------------- What else is happening this week: [Long-awaited legislation seeks to strengthen SA’s environmental regime]( | Sheree Bega [What’s the beef: Government tussles with plant-based Fry’s]( | Sarah Smit [F1 at Kyalami: Why we shouldn’t pop the podium champagne … yet]( | Brent van der Schyff [Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, this is why South Africans question your integrity]( | Andile Zulu [Fired Ezemvelo field ranger arrested for rhino horn trafficking]( | ​​Simon Bloch Until next time, Luke Feltham [Subscribe now]( Enjoy The Ampersand? Share it with your friends [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( [Share]( [Share]( Copyright © 2022 Mail & Guardian Media LTD, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive communications from the Mail & Guardian either at our website or by taking out a print subscription. Our mailing address is: Mail & Guardian Media LTD 25 Owl St BraamfonteinJohannesburg, Gauteng 2001 South Africa [Add us to your address book]( Want to change which mails you receive from Mail & Guardian? [Update your preferences]( to tell us what you do and don't want to receive, or [unsubscribe](. *If you are a paying subscriber, we recommend updating your preferences rather than unsubscribing, as you may miss important information relating to your subscription.