João Lourenço ousts Isabel dos Santos as part of drive to assert his authority months after taking power

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Angola’s president, João Lourenço, has sacked his predecessor’s daughter as head of the state oil company as part of a drive to assert his authority.

Lourenco swept to power as the ruling party’s candidate in August elections after pledging to clean up Angola’s endemic graft, tackle nepotism and revive its economy.

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During the campaign he vowed to distance himself from his predecessor José Eduardo dos Santos, who governed for 38 years and who remains head of the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).

“Under the powers vested in him by the constitution, the president … has decided to relieve the following directors who make up the board of Sonangol,” said a statement on Wednesday, which named the former president’s daughter Isabel.

Known derisively as “the princess”, Isabel dos Santos became the public face of the family’s business empire during her father’s presidency.

She describes herself on her Twitter account as an entrepreneur, and Forbes magazine claims she is Africa’s richest woman. It estimates that her personal fortune could be as much as $3.3bn (£2.5bn).

She controls Unitel, Angola’s leading mobile phone operator, as well as the satellite TV network Zap. She also holds 25% of the Portuguese media giant NOS and has invested heavily in the banking sector.

Her removal from Sonangol’s top job comes as a surprise as she had often stated that she wanted to remain in the post. “The job of Sonangol is not dependent on the electoral process … I want to continue,” she said before the August election.

The opposition accuses the MPLA of suppressing dissent and the Dos Santos family of bleeding the country dry through corruption and decades of mismanagement.

Oil provides 70% of Angola’s revenues and almost all of its hard currency, while many of the country’s citizens are mired in poverty.

Angola, which along with Nigeria is one of Africa’s top oil producers, has been in the grip of an economic crisis since 2014 as the global price of oil has remained flat.