Search Results for: Cuca

Government Profits from Beer and Blames the Oil Prices

The crisis, which the government blames on falling oil prices, has been used to disguise a much older and deeper crisis  that already existed long before the reasons given by the government lately. The Court of Accounts provides some alarming evidence in its report to parliament on the Government’s Budget Execution Report for 2013 . According to the Court of Accounts report, reviewed by Maka Angola, in 2013 the state was paid dividends to the tune of 95.4 million Kwanzas (US$954,000) on its direct shares in a total of 37 companies. The sum is ridiculously low given the government’s multi-billion dollar investments in the private sector. Apart from the national oil company Sonangol, the state only made a profit on beer sales from its shares in three beer producers. Dos Santos’ government billed Cuca for 67.9 million Kwanzas; a further 23.5 million from N’gola and another 4 million from Eka. […]

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UNICER: Brewing corruption in Angola

In previous investigations I examined how members of the Angolan government went into partnership with the multinationals Castel Group and SABMiller in order to gain control of the drinks market in the country. This article looks at the case of UNICER, the main beverage manufacturer in Portugal. The multinationals in the drinks sector have developed a keen interest in the Angolan market, which is the third biggest beer consumer in Africa. Foreign investors seeking a way into Angolan markets need to follow two fundamental rules. The first involves setting up business partnerships with powerful figures in the regime; the second involves ignoring the relevant legislation, relying on the impunity of government leaders. UNICER’s business partners are the current Ministers of Industry and of Petroleum, respectively Joaquim David and José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, as well as the Governor of Benguela Province, General Armando da Cruz Neto and the former President […]

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The influence-peddling of Grupo Gema

When Pope Benedict XVI visited Angola in March 2009, President José Eduardo dos Santos made a speech in which he proclaimed the virtues of private economic initiative. He called on Angolan businesspeople and shareholders to invest in projects of national interest “that seek to combat unemployment, poverty, and homelessness, and to improve the goods and services on offer”. Dos Santos nevertheless emphasised the need to keep private business separate from state business. He said he was ready to fight against the misappropriation of public goods by state functionaries. Grupo Gema has been one of the fastest-growing private initiatives over the past few years in Angola. It controls part of the drinks market in Angola through its partnership with SABMiller in Coca-Cola Luanda Bottling, and through its role in Ucerba, which is a major shareholder in the country’s biggest breweries: Cuca, Nocal and Eka.  In the petroleum sector the group, through […]

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