Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ruling party Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) activists have vandalized and looted the secretariat offices of the opposition Together for the Republic (Ensemble) in Kasumbalesa.
The activists, predominately Kasais who hail from the same region as President Felix Tshisekedi, feel they own peri-urban areas of such busy localities as Lubumbashi and Kasumbalesa as they dominate the number of call boys.
Majority of those motorcyclists are kasais terrorizing Congolese and anyone with opposing views to President Tshisekedi.
On Tuesday, the activists who are drawn from the call boys and motorcyclists, descended on the offices of the opposition party Ensemble in the border town of Kasumbalesa, 90 kilometres south of Lubumbashi in Haut-Katanga.
Moïse Kawaya, leader of Ensemble in Kasumbalesa, a party led by Moïse Katumbi, has accused the ruling party of inciting violence and provoking chaos.
Kawaya says his members were having an event and pulled thousands of supporters together which situation unsettled the UDPS youths who later descended on Ensemble offices.
The supporters of UDPS started chanting slogans that leader of Ensemble, Moise Katumbi, was not Congolese and will not be allowed to contest the polls. The UDPS leadership have used the 100% Congolese card to advance their agenda.
“As I am talking to you, there is insecurity because we are targeted by the UDPS party. After our gathering, we saw a group of UDPS activists sing that Moïse is not Congolese.
“We went into hiding in my house and they broke everything and even went to our offices. We ask all the authorities of the country to secure us. There are already 8 properties destroyed and a lot of equipment like computers, flags and chairs have been taken away,” Kawaya told journalists.
But president of the UDPS in Kasumbalesa Gabriel Tshimanga claimed it was the activists of Ensemble pour la République who sang hostile songs against President Félix Tshisekedi which led to this tragedy.
“It’s about our friends from Ensemble. They sang hostile songs against power and even against our moral authority. It is that which angered our people. On both sides, these are behaviors to be condemned and that we do not want. I have already sensitized the whole base,” he said.
The city leadership says both political parties must respect each other because because the freedom to exercise political opinion is guaranteed by the constitution.
André Kampampa, mayor of the city of Kasumbalesa, has called on the two political parties to exercise tolerance and avoid acts of violence.
“We have to continue to raise awareness in this pre-election period. Calling for political tolerance is important. What is very important for us now is to look at article 220 of the constitution: We are not going to go back to a one-party system. So today is political pluralism, it can only demand tolerance and acceptance of the freedom granted by each party and prevent such stories from happening again in Kasumbalesa,” he said. .
On Sunday May 15, 2022, another altercation between young people from the Ensemble pour la République and those from the Union for Democracy and Social Progress left 12 injured and two women raped in Kasumbalesa.
