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Angola Traditional Elites
In the late 1980s, President dos Santos was working to
strengthen his support among the nation's traditional
leaders.
Every few weeks, he would invite delegations of provincial
and
local-level representatives to meet with him, and Angop
would
headline these meetings with "the chiefs." Their
discussions
focused on regional economic and social concerns and
served the
important political purpose of demonstrating the
government's
desire to avoid confrontation and to secure support in
rural areas.
The MPLA had a neutral relationship with traditional
elites
before independence, in part because the urban-based party
had
little contact with ethnic group leaders, whose following
was
strongest in rural areas. After independence, in its
determination
to improve the national economy and infrastructure, the
MPLA called
on people to rise above ethnic and regional loyalties,
labeling
them impediments to progress in the class struggle. Early
MPLA
rhetoric also condemned many religious practices,
including local
African religions. Such policies provoked the contempt of
some
traditional leaders.
Crises were dampened somewhat by the party's often
confrontational relationship with the civil service during
the
early 1970s. Civil servants, as representatives of the
colonial
regime, had often clashed with traditional leaders or had
otherwise
subverted their authority. The MPLA, in contrast,
condemned the
elitist attitudes of bureaucrats who were employed by the
colonial
regime, thus gaining support from traditional rulers. At
the same
time, however, the party drew much of its support from the
petite
bourgeoisie it condemned so loudly, and much of the civil
service
remained intact after independence.
By 1980 MPLA-PT efforts to consolidate support in
outlying
regions were evident. Party officials appointed ethnic
group
leaders to participate in or lead local party committees
in many
areas. Merging traditional and modern leadership roles
helped
strengthen support among rural peasants who would have
otherwise
remained on the periphery of national politics. Although
success
was limited to a few areas, this program allowed dos
Santos to
maintain a balance between national and regional
interests. Even
some party ideologues, initially inclined toward strict
interpretations of Marxist-Leninist dogma, voiced the
belief that
populist elements might be appropriate for a Marxist
regime in an
African context.
Data as of February 1989
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