The respected French publication, Le Monde, has detailed the fears President Felix Tshisekedi and his government have displayed of popular opposition leader Moise Katumbi describing them as a cascade of judicial harassment.
LE MONDE REPORTS
Six months before the presidential election, the former governor of Katanga province is suffering judicial harassment from the government.
If a candidate’s chances of winning an election are proportional to the judicial harassment to which he or his entourage are subjected, there is no doubt that Moïse Katumbi, former governor of the province of Katanga, the mining safe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) , could well become the next president at the end of the ballot – in a round – scheduled for December 20.
The latest episode dates back to May 30. That day, soldiers from the Republican Guard (attached to the presidency), accompanied by agents from the military intelligence services, landed on the tarmac at N’Djili airport in Kinshasa and seized Salomon Idi Kalonda, arm right of Moïse Katumbi for more than twenty years. The two men were about to board the private jet which was to take them back to Lubumbashi, capital of Haut-Katanga, stronghold and headquarters of the former governor since the former province, as large as Spain, was divided into four distinct administrative units.
“By arresting Solomon, no one doubts that Moïse [Katumbi] is the target ,” says Hervé Diakiese, a lawyer specializing in the defense of human rights and spokesperson for the Secular Coordination Committee. “The procedure conducted by the military prosecutor revolves around three serious facts: intelligence with Rwanda, possession of weapons and military disorder” , details the lawyer who lists the violations of rights observed in this file: in police custody exceeded, illegal searches, absence of a lawyer during police custody.
“The folder is empty. It is clearly a message of intimidation: “We can arrest whoever we want, when we want” , decrypts Olivier Kamitatu, chief of staff of the presidential candidate. In the entourage of the opponent, we say we are “convinced that this decision goes back to the president [Félix Tshisekedi, elected in 2019 and candidate for a second term].
Not A “Real” Congolese?
Moïse Katumbi had already experienced legal torment during the presidency of Joseph Kabila (2001-2019), a former ally who became a political adversary. He had to go into exile for three years to escape a prison sentence handed down in the context of a muddy real estate spoliation case, finally canceled in cassation. “This time, I fear that they will seek to neutralize it quickly thanks to a file mounted on collusion with enemy intelligence” , worries Olivier Kamitatu.
“Intelligence with the enemy” , needless to say, lately, Rwanda is hiding behind this red rag. For thirty years, this tiny neighbor (90 times smaller than the DRC) ruled with an iron fist by Paul Kagame has destabilized the east of former Zaire and plundered part of its mineral wealth. In November 2021, Kigali awoke a deadly rebellion, dormant for ten years, in the North Kivu region, in the far east of the DRC bordering Rwanda and Uganda. The March 23 Movement (M23) took control of part of the province, humiliating the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and seizing mineral wealth, in particular.
“I am accused of not condemning Rwanda’s actions in our country, which is totally false. I say and I repeat that Rwanda is the aggressor of our country” , defends Moïse Katumbi. “But I also say that the M23 thrives on the ruins of the Congolese state ,” he adds. The former governor, more moderate than many others, refuses to add his voice to those who, throughout incendiary remarks, knowingly amalgamate the rebellion and its Rwandan sponsor with the entire Congolese Tutsi community – within which he is true, the M23 is recruiting. An explosive cocktail in this rich mosaic country of some 250 ethnic groups.
Behind these accusations lies a more underhanded attack. Moïse Katumbi would not be a “real” Congolese, insinuate his detractors. “His acquaintances with Kigali are known” , thus slips us under cover of the confidence and little proof an adviser to the Congolese presidency. “ The fact that his wife [Carine, mother of their five children] is Burundian [Belgian of Burundian origin, in reality] is not an asset in the east of the country , adds this source.
Several Assets In His Game
Participating in this smear campaign, a bill drafted by a deputy of the presidential majority seems to have been tailor-made to block the electoral road to Moïse Katumbi. Written by Noël Tshiani, former presidential candidate of 2018, it aims to prohibit access to the highest functions of the State to all those who are not “ Congolese of origin” , in other words of Congolese mother and father. Moïse Katumbi – born in 1964 to a Jewish father from the Greek island of Rhodes who emigrated to the Belgian Congo to avoid deportation before marrying the daughter of a king of Katanga – would thus be excluded from the electoral race.
The text, tabled in the National Assembly, was not debated during the last session. There is no guarantee that it will not be at the start of the school year. “This text is part of a policy of rejection by hatred of others. They say in essence, the half-breed is white, like the colonizer, so we cannot trust him, ” denounces Albert Moleka, veteran of Congolese politics, and activist for the candidacy of Nobel Peace Prize Denis Mukwege at the presidential election of 2023. “Why such relentlessness against him, if not because of his popularity and that he scares them? “, he adds.
“He is clearly a head above the other opposition candidates ,” says Juvénal Munubo Mubi, deputy of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC), the party of Vital Kamerhe, current Minister of the Economy. No reliable poll can confirm this opinion. But Moïse Katumbi indeed has several assets in his game. His record as governor of Katanga (2007-2015) is considered positive, both in terms of the construction of infrastructure, the desire to moralize mining activity as well as by its proximity to the population. In a country where football is the king sport, it is also associated with the results of “his” football club, the Tout Puissant Mazembe, of Lubumbashi, five times African champion and finalist of the Club World Cup, which he has been presiding over and pampering since 1997.
Another asset to his credit, Moïse Katumbi is a formidable businessman who does not drag the sulphurous reputation of corrupt politicians or entrepreneurs, enriched overnight by the grace of their political or family affiliations or relations. He also forged the stature of a determined opponent by breaking with current President Félix Tshisekedi, elected in 2018 after a disputed ballot. Just as he had distanced himself from his predecessor Joseph Kabila.
Gather The Opposition
Finally, Moïse Katumbi, a devout Catholic, can count on the support of the powerful Congolese Church, which he does not fail to pamper. In mid-June, Cardinal Ambongo consecrated the parish of Saint-Gabriel, built by Moïse Katumbi in his native village of Kashobwe, in Haut-Katanga.
The power tries to lower the presidential stature of the candidate and denounces “his victimhood posture” . “He tries to hide his weaknesses. Most of his deputies have joined us and he is unable to rally the opposition” , explains the aforementioned presidential adviser. Moïse Katumbi is not the only one who wants to challenge Felix Tshisekedi. However, the multiplication of candidacies reduces the chances of the opposition facing the incumbent in a one-round presidential election.
CREDIT: LE MONDE
