Angolans and world leaders gather for the state funeral of former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos as his MPLA party looks almost certain to win Wednesday's elections.
Dos Santos and his family dominated Angolan politics for the 38 years that he ruled, up to 2017.
(Reuters)
Angolans and foreign dignitaries have gathered for the funeral of long-serving ex-leader
Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died in Spain in July but whose
burial was delayed by a family request for an autopsy.
Sunday's memorial service was held at the historic palm tree lined Praca da Republica in the seaside capital Luanda on what would have been dos Santos's 80th birthday.
It comes days after his party, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which has ruled the country for nearly half a century, saw its worst results at the polls in the most hotly contested elections since independence.
Dos Santos, who died of a cardiac arrest, will be remembered as a "statesman and devoted pan-Africanist," former Namibian President Sam Nujoma, 93, told the hundreds of mourners in attendance.
A choir sang dirges while flags flew at half-mast around the square, which houses an imposing concrete mausoleum where the country's founding President Agostinho Neto is interred.
Dignitaries including South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi and Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa filled rows of white and gold seats.
READ MORE:Angola's incumbent president secures strong lead in early poll results
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08MR1OKhnW0[/embed]
Disputed legacy
Dos Santos and his family dominated Angolan politics for the 38 years that he ruled, up to 2017.
Under Dos Santos's tenure, Angola became one of Africa's top oil producers. While Dos Santos and his family reaped vast wealth from Angola's resources, most of the country's 33 million people remain among the poorest in the world.
Weakened by age and illness, he stepped down in 2017, appointing Joao Lourenco as his successor, who now stands to gain a second term in office.
Dos Santos’ formerly Marxist party, the MPLA, looks almost certain to have won Wednesday's election.
With 97 percent of the ballot counted, the electoral commission has given the MPLA and President Joao Lourenco a 51 percent majority, with the main opposition — the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA — trailing with 44.5 percent.
UNITA, which fought a bitter 27-year civil war against the MPLA government, has rejected the results and there have been sporadic protests that were quickly shut down by police.
Five members of the 16-strong election commission have threatened not to sign off the results.
The electoral commission has said the process was fair and transparent.
READ MORE:DRC, Rwanda agree to 'de-escalate' tensions in Angola-brokered talks
Source: Reuters
The Michigan Supreme Court signaled Friday that there will be no summer decision in a high-stakes dispute over whether people convicted of crimes can be ordered to pay to keep the lights on and cover other operating costs in local courts.
The court heard arguments in April and subsequently asked the parties to file more briefs addressing certain issues.
The law, which raises millions of dollars each year, expires Oct. 1, though there’s a bill in the Legislature to extend it until fall 2025.
In its latest order, the Supreme Court said it will hear more arguments on three points in the months ahead, including whether judges assessing costs creates a potential for bias.
Critics argue that it’s unconstitutional for a judge to oversee a criminal case and also have power to order someone to pay a share of keeping the building clean and office supplies stocked.
"The simple fact is that courts are not a private enterprise. Criminal defendants are not a special class of citizens upon whom the expenses of state government should be levied," said the Detroit Justice Center, which represents low-income Detroit residents.
A Michigan dispute over paying court costs will not be resolved before the end of the summer.
The money goes to a court’s local government, but only people convicted of crimes must pay, not others who use the courts. Nothing is deducted from the budget of prosecutors who lose cases.
From 2018 through 2020, courts collected $108 million statewide, 75% of it in District Courts, which handle traffic tickets, drunken driving cases and other misdemeanors mostly committed by people who can least afford to pay.
