The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country afflicted problems such as unending conflict, hunger, diseases, and poverty, is further disadvantaged by the embezzlement and looting of minerals by members of the first family.
A recent report conducted by the Centre for Research in Public Finance and Local Development (CREFDL) exposes members of DR Congo president Félix Tshisekedi’s family and the billions of dollars they have stolen from the mineral-rich Gecamine of Katanga region.
The report, a technical analysis of revenues from the extractive sector for the years 2020-2025, shows that the DR Congo has produced more than 13 million tonnes of minerals in Katanga region which cannot be accounted for in state coffers.
Out of the entire revenue from production for the past five years, records show that the Congolese state has only received a mere 20% from the total revenue.
The reminder and hefty 80% has disappeared into the narrow circle of the family of Félix Tshisekedi who are all Belgian citizens.
Between 2020 and 2022, the value of production is estimated at US$71.3 billion of which government only managed to collect US$12.5 billion or 17.53%, signifying a loss of US$58.7 billion stolen by the Tshisekedis.
The community of Katanga region spoken to in exclusive interviews, all taken in anonymity as requested, have bemoaned the embezzlement of revenue from minerals extracted out of Katanga by the Tshisekedi family.
“Copper production is constantly increasing, and the price of this raw material has reached record highs. But this is not benefiting the central government coffers. It is not benefiting Katanga either, whether in Kolwezi, in the Lualaba province, or in Lubumbashi, in Haut-Katanga; there is no effect from this double increase,” a mining expert in Kolwezi explained.
“We are the provinces that produce the most wealth for the country, but we don’t benefit from it. Most of the inhabitants of Haut-Katanga live without electricity, running water, road infrastructure, or hospitals. We are condemned to watch our wealth being plundered all day long, to see trucks overloaded with our mineral-rich lands pass by,” a member of the civil society explained.
“Harassment by the military, most often members of the Republican Guard who report directly to the Presidency of the Republic, is not an empty phrase here. It’s the Wild West; the law of the gun still applies here,” added one of them.
