Sindika Dokolo, Amorim Energia board member referred by Sonangol, holding that has 33,34% of Galp Energia, and husband of the Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, says that “reducing the image of Angola to corruption is a dishonest and counterproductive manipulation”.

While answering to questions to Negócios, directly from São Tome and Principe, where Sindika Dokolo was in the past weekend to participate in the country’s 7th International Biennial of Art, where some of his art pieces are exposed, he answers only to three questions and argues that “in 20 years the Angolan model will be celebrated unanimously” and refutes Angolan activist Rafael Marques’s accusations of being involved in illicit acts that led to the purchase of 72% of a high jewelry Swiss company, De Grisogono. In what concerns the participation of Sindika Dokolo Foundation [in São Tome Biennial], he explains that he accepted the invitation because he believes “in the strong bonds of friendship between Angola and Sao Tome”, and because he considers “important to materialize new cultural and cooperation routes in the African continent”. In what concerns his collection of contemporary African art, considered as the most important in the world, with about three million art pieces, Sindika Dokolo comments: “I don’t just collect African artists. I don’t have a collection of African art, I have an African collection of art. I think the added value of contemporary African art scene is to give a sensible and intelligent perspective of a continent that is constantly on the move.” Sindika Dokolo highlights the aspects that will, in his opinion, project the African continent in the future. In terms of demographics, in 2050 there will be 25% more African then Chinese people, and in the economic point of view we are living a “structural economic growth in the African continent”. “In such a unique conjuncture, art transcends the aesthetics aspect to embrace the historical perspective”.

In São Tomé, Sindika Dokolo, who is also board member of Angolan cement company Nova Cimangola, denied the allegation that Angola’s President José Eduardo dos Santos was hospitalized for treatment in Spain. “If there was a health problem, I wouldn’t be here with my daughter participating in this cultural event.”

The questions answered by Sindika Dokolo

Angola has been criticized for having a centralized power and due to the fact that political and economic decisions are concentrated in a restrict group of personalities. How do you comment this evaluation?

Critics about Angola remind me what it used to be said about Singapore in the 80’s. Centralized power, excessive authority of the State, culture of secrecy and the emergence of private and public operators with financial means that complement and reinforce State’s capacities, enabling that the State no longer acts isolated. Good strategies take time to be recognized and I have no doubts that in 20 years the Angolan model will be celebrated unanimously.

You are accused by the Angolan journalist and activist Rafael Marques of being involved in a “scheme of diversion of diamonds from Angola through the presidential family” and of having integrated a consortium with Sodiam (Sociedade de Comercialização de Diamentes da Angola) that bought 72% of De Grisogono, a high jewelry Swiss company. And the way your art collection was constituted is also a subject of controversy.

The controversy linked to my collection was created right from the beginning with the goal of presenting it to the African elites as illegitimate and therefore to avoid pertinent questions that the Foundation wanted to ask in the center of debates with the art world. I had to justify my origins. My father was the first black man to create a bank in Africa in last century late 60’s and he is known as the most successful businessman of Congo since its independency. Before going to Angola, I had a patrimony that justified for itself my important art collection. In what concerns the accusations made by Rafael Marques, I believe that in a democratic country the law is dictated by a judge according to the Law and not by political activists according to ideological agendas. I think it is essential for the good of the Angolan democracy that it stays that way. Regarding the mentioned investment and taking into account that Angola has a huge potential of precious materials, diamonds, gold, etc., it makes perfect sense, from a strategic point of view, wanting to extend its presence since the exploitation phase to the international luxury market, making this way a vertical integration of all the value chain. The big difficulty is always to find an opportunity to buy a reputed brand, but we are in the XXI century and there no longer are activity sectors where Africans can’t compete equally at a global level. Besides, allow me to remember that “Cartier” belongs to a South-African. Therefore I don’t see what is so shocking about Angolan investors following the same success strategy.

How do you interpret these suspicions that there might have been illicit acts involved in the De Grisogono business and in what way do you evaluate the accusations that have been done by Rafael Marques through, for instance, the website Maka Angola?

I don’t know the specific accusation you are talking about. However, it is of public knowledge that any dollar from Angola that enters Switzerland or Europe is object of an exhaustive verification process. So, it is probably incomplete information and, coming from Rafael Marques, partial. As a political activist he is free to express his point of view. What it seems to me to be abusive and illegitimate is the moral authority posture he tries to adopt to give credibility to his exaggerated and systematic critique of Angola. Angola has imperfections, but what country doesn’t? The Angolan Government policy made it possible for Angola to reach a public investment rate like no other in the continent. In the next 15 to 20 years we will have annual product growth rates high above 5%. At this rhythm, the average standard of living doubles every 10 years. Reducing Angola’s image to corruption problems is a dishonest and counterproductive manipulation. Therefore, I object his accusations. He himself recognizes in his website that he is financed mostly by lobbyists and international speculators like George Soros. If he was an investigation journalist, as he sometimes presents himself, he should search for what was written about Soros in the British press when, in the 90’s, he launched a speculative attack to the pound sterling that, if successful, would have led thousands of English families to unemployment and misery, before accepting his money to speak badly of his own country. Soros is the archetype of the western capitalist that wants to avoid the competition of local operators in reaching African economic potential. Who works for him is playing against the irreversible sense of history and is doomed to lose.

 

Art collector by inspiration of his father

Sindika Dokolo was born in 1972 in old Zaire, nowadays Democratic Republic of the Congo. He lives in Angola since 2003, when he married Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the Angola’s President, José Eduardo dos Santos. In Luanda, he created the Sindika Dokolo Foundation, which is referenced as the holder of the most important African collection of contemporary art. He is involved with the Government in a project for the creation of a contemporary art center in Luanda, to which Sindika said he will offer the collection of his Foundation. His father, Augustin Dokolo, deceased in 2001, was a banker and gave him the passion for art. Sindika Dokolo’s education was completed in Paris, where he studied Economics, Commerce and Foreign Languages at Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University.