Tag Archives: Moise Katumbi

TP Mazembe’s journey to the final of the World Club Championship paralysed the DRC. It increased Katumbi’s chances of success in the elections. The fervour was not confined to Lumumbashi, the wealthy capital of Katanga, where everyone votes for him. It spread to the entire country, which was 168th out of 169 in the UN’s development programme. And 60% of whose population live in absolute poverty. Where about 45,000 people die every month from hunger, malaria and AIDS. Numbers that contrast sharply with the the wealth of diamonds, gold and copper, as well as coltan, a key material for the mobile phone and computer games industries. “Historically, the source of the various conflicts in the Congo has not been the racial or ethnic question so much as it’s been the country’s enormous mineral wealth,” wrote Kambale Musavuli. While Avatar, James Cameron’s box office smash, may be set on Pandora in the year 2154, the same story of multinational companies raping a country for its resources is taking place now in the Congo. Continue reading →