Last updated on April 21st, 2021 at 07:35 pm
Sindika Dokolo, the husband of Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santo, has been pronounced dead.
The Democratic Republic of Congo-born businessman and art collector died at the age of 48 following a tragic diving accident in his Dubai residence.
Dokolo was the son of the late Congolese businessman Augustin Dokolo Sanu. His father died in 2001.
An associate who confirmed his death said he could not be revived after getting into trouble, “The doctors tried to resuscitate him without success.”
@isabelaangola ,mes très sincères condoléances pour cette lourde perte et autant douloureuse pour ta famille mais aussi pour toute une nation,une grande famille soudée autour des valeurs et idéos de ce grand baobab,le congolaise debout pour les congolais debout,luta contunura !
— Gauthier Miles Moyengo (@GauthierMilesHC) October 30, 2020
Isabel dos Santos’s photo with Dokolo and their youngest son on Twitter was flooded with condolence messages.
The office Congolese president has also confirmed the sad news.
An announcement by the family read:
“The Dokolo family, his wife, children, mother, brother and sisters have the deepest sorrow and immense sadness to announce the passing of Sindika Dokolo, which occurred on October 29, 2020, in Dubai.”
Who is Sindika Dokolo?
Dokolo inherited his dad’s fortune with interest in Oil, diamonds (via De Grisogono), retail, cement and telecommunications.
He attended Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague in Paris where he obtained a high school diploma and then obtained a diploma in graduated in Economics, Commerce and Foreign languages at the Pierre et Marie Curie University.
Known for his large collection of thousands of contemporary African artworks, he married in 2002 to businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, eldest daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, president of Angola between 1979 and 2017.
He had three children with African’s richest woman.
Corruption allegation
Before his death, Dokolo was accused of helping to siphon $1 billion from Angola’s state coffers.
He and his billionaire wife were being investigated for mismanagement of state funds. Their accounts were frozen in December 2019. They fled to Dubai in early 2020.