Isabel dos Santos is regarded as Africa’s richest woman and is currently facing graft probes in her home country of Angola.
But that is not deterring Isabel who is the daughter of ex-president, Joao Eduardo dos Santos from mooting the idea of running for the presidency.
On Thursday she expressed this interest for the presidency in an interview with a Portuguese TV channel RTP when asked whether she would be interested in the role of president.
Isabel dos Santos answered saying “It’s possible” for her to run for office in the next presidential election due in 2022.
Her father former president Joao Eduardo dos Santos ran Angola for 38 years until current president Joao Lourenco took over in 2017.
This month Isabel’s assets were frozen by an Angolan court. The court ordered the freezing of the assets over corruption allegations.
The Angolan government filed the case in court as it seeks to recover around $1 billion of funds it believes are owed to it by Isabel dos Santos and her business associates.
Angola is probing allegations that Isabel dos Santos authorized offshore payments days after she was dismissed from Sonangol.
Isabel dos Santos has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said the move is a “witch hunt” to destroy her father’s legacy.
In the RTP interview, she said the attacks on her family are part of a campaign against future candidates for president.
“We cannot use corruption, or the supposed fight against corruption, in a selective way to neutralise who we think could be future political candidates,” she said.
“It’s about the fight for power.”
Isabel is ranked as Africa’s wealthiest woman by Forbes. Until recently she chaired state oil company Sonangol but was sacked in 2017 by President Joao Lourenço.
President Lourenço has been on a campaign of cracking down on corruption in Angola.
Source: Africafeeds.com
