Veteran Congolese businessman Katebe Katoto says Noel Tshiani’s claim about the family of opposition leader Moise Katumbi must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.
Mr. Katoto, who is also older brother of Mr. Katumbi, says he has never met Tshiani to discuss his family with him.
Tshiani has proposed a bill which is targeting to eliminate Mr. Katumbi from contesting the presidency on December 20, 2023.
Known as the Congolite, the bill if passed will block Congolese without two Congolese parent from participating in the leadership of the country.
In a rare video, Mr. Katoto explained that Mr. Katumbi was born of a Congolese mother mama Virgine who hails from Bunkeya but grew up in Kashobwe.
Mr. Katoto and Mr. Katumbi shared the same father, Nissim Soriano, a Greek-Jew, who fled to Holocaust to settle in the then Belgian colony. The two brothers had different mothers.
“I’m in the best position to tell you about my family. Moses Katumbi is my little brother.
“I’m the one who raised him. His mother is not Zambian but Congolese from Bunkeya village who grew up in Kashobwe. She was my step mother,” he said.
The reaction comes after Tshiani circulated a false narrative on social media claiming Mr. Katoto told him Mr. Katumbi’s mother was Zambian therefore making both his parents non-Congolese.
Tshiani, a man being used by President Felix Tshisekedi, has demonstrated that the ruling party is scared of Mr. Katumbi’s candidature going by the popularity he enjoys across the country.
