Columnists Sandile Dikeni, Adam Small, Shannon Ebrahim
WHEN celebrating Africa Day, I often think of the country that lies at the heart of the continent. For colonialists it may have been the heart of darkness, but for Africans it is the heartbeat of the continent, a huge landmass stretching four times the length of France, with a vibrant population of 90 million people. You haven’t seen Africa until you have set your eyes on the Congo River, the 4 700km life-giving channel.
As beautiful and inspiring as the Congo may be, its people have suffered unparalleled underdevelopment thanks to a legacy of poor governance, corruption and neglect. But as Thabo Mbeki reminded us on Africa Day this week, Africans are not perpetual victims, we have agency to transform our continent.
The Congo’s troubles started in 1885 when King Leopold II of Belgium took possession of the territory as his own personal property at the Berlin Conference and accumulated a large personal fortune from ivory and rubber. These were obtained through slave labour which left 10 million Congolese dead. The colonialists only built the roads necessary to ferry raw materials out of the country.
When Mobutu Sese Seko came to power through a coup in 1965, he failed to see the need for roads in a country the size of western Europe, as they would only serve to unite the people against his autocratic rule, which lasted for 35 years.
There were high hopes that President Joseph Kabila would prioritise people-centered development and utilise his country’s vast mineral riches for the benefit of the poor. The DRC is estimated to have $24 trillion (R374 trillion) worth of untapped deposits of raw mineral ores.
It has the world’s largest reserves of cobalt and other minerals are estimated to be worth an equivalent of the combined GDP of Europe and the US, with significant deposits of diamonds, gold and copper.
Over his 15 years in power, Kabila has done little to improve the lives of his people, although he managed to unite the country and ensure political and macro-economic stability.
Ascending to the presidency at the age of 29, Kabila relied on a coterie of advisers and throughout his time in office his government became increasingly repressive towards political opponents who threatened the regime’s access to the country’s vast resources.
The government ended up outsourcing many of its responsibilities. The UN Mission in the Congo (Monusco) carried the burden of maintaining security along with the national security forces; the churches played a major role in the provision of health care and education; and development was largely left up to donors and NGOs.
The sun is supposed to set on Kabila’s rule this November, when his constitutionally mandated two terms will come to an end. Kabila would like to serve a third term like neighbouring leaders in Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, but he was unsuccessful in attempts to change the constitution in 2014.
He now claims an election is impossible to organise given that the voters roll is outdated. The constitutional court has ruled that Kabila can remain in power until the voters roll is updated, which could take 17 months.
Frustrated with the president’s ambition to cling to power, one of his close allies, Moise Katumbi, has broken ranks with the ruling party in order to contest political power. Katumbi is one of the few politicians capable of building a coalition to force Kabila to step down. The day that Katumbi announced his candidacy for the presidential race, the justice minister launched an investigation of his alleged employment of foreign mercenaries.
In an attempt to neutralise his most powerful rival, Kabila has charged Katumbi with undermining state security. Katumbi is possibly the most popular politician in the DRC and supporters on the streets of Lubumbashi these days carry the placards “Je suis Moise”.
Katumbi’s accomplishments as governor of the country’s richest province Katanga over eight years are impressive and suggest that he could implement a successful strategy of socio-economic development countrywide. Katumbi is also one of the wealthiest businessmen in the DRC and used his financial prowess to increase the revenue for Katanga province from $80 million (R1 248m) to $3 billion (R467b) by fighting corruption and increasing exports of copper.
Katumbi put these revenues to good use, building schools, roads, hospitals and bringing clean water to the people. By the time he resigned as governor, he had increased access to clean water from 3% to 67%. These are remarkable achievements in a country that has never known service delivery. Katumbi’s longterm vision is the creation of a middle class in the DRC.
This is the type of vision that Africa needs to move it forward. There is no point dwelling on the past injustices of colonialism or corrupt and self-serving leaders. The time to harness the creative energies and riches of the DRC in order to develop the country is now.