01x02 - Authenticity

[bunniefuu]

Joseph-Désiré Mobutu.

He was Lumumba's man,

he taught him to be proud
of being Congolese

and that Congo was a great country,
a country destined to lead Africa.

Congo's wealth
belongs to its people.

The West was in total panic.

"He's the devil.
A communist!"

In Mobutu's mind,
there was no doubt,

Lumumba was right.

But when Mobutu realised that,

whether he was right or not,
Lumumba was finished,

that's when he decided to seek
real power from the Whites.

He was involved
in Lumumba's m*rder.

Yet Mobutu was, politically,
one of Lumumba's creations.

He started building up his cult
on the theme of their relationship,

"Lumumba's m*rder
was a terrible crime", he said.

"Belgium robbed us
upon independence."

This is when the man
revealed his true abilities.

To perpetuate the exploitation
of Black people by White people,

the colonisers
systematically eradicated

our African traditions,

our African languages
and our culture.

Essentially making
Black people feel numb,

so they would speak,
think, eat, dress,

laugh and breathe
just like White people.

Black people had to
abandon their identity,

their mental
and social structures,

in short, their authenticity.

{\an5}MOBUTU'S GAME

PART II - AUTHENTICITY

After Lumumba's
assassination,

the main goal for the West,
for Belgium and America,

was to maintain control,
to hold onto some power in Congo.

When Lumumba was k*lled,

they thought they'd solved
the Congo problem,

but his death only made
things worse for them.

When in early 1961,
after Lumumba's m*rder,

the leadership of Lumumba's
party was destroyed,


leaders were k*lled.

The Lumumbist movement
in northern Katanga

was being massacred,

tens of thousands
of people died.

But once they
had been eliminated,

only Mobutu's army remained.

It was the only
stable force left

to hold the
country together.

And at that time,
what you had was,

behind a pro-Western
facade in parliament,

a corrupt and incredibly weak
military regime.

Mobutu was smart.

He stayed in the same position
that Lumumba gave him

as leader
of the armed forces.

Back then, he was
not the main player,

he let others
take those roles:

Kasa-Vubu was the Head of State
and Adoula was the Prime Minister.

These were people
he didn't really respect.

But Mobutu understood
it wasn't his time yet,

that he shouldn't move to take
control yet, or he'd be crushed.

Several Belgian networks
disliked him.

He had no political base,
he hadn't been elected.

So Mobutu held on
to his symbolic position

while building up
his political power.

I have fallen back in line,
playing my small role as a soldier

and I no longer have a political
role in Congo. That's all, really.

Out of fear
or disgust with politics?

Mainly out of
disgust with politics.

He was cunning.

He had a knack for telling people
what they wanted to hear,

but saying that he answered
to the central government

wasn't true.

The central government
had no power over him,

he had all the power.

Who was running the country?
It was the Binza Group.

The Binza Group was the clique that
decided who will be Prime Minister,

who will be Minister of this
and that, and so on.

So Mobutu, he was
the head of the Binza Group.

He was the kingmaker.

No one could hold
an important position in the Congo,

without Mobutu's approval.
He's the guy who had the last word.

The Congolese national army
is in charge of defending

a territory
of 2.3 million square kilometres.

Our commander-in-chief,
General Mobutu,

will now explain
what our mission is.

Your mission
as officers and soldiers,

in an age
of nuclear weapons

and ideological
warfare is two-fold.

First, to prevent, contain
and reduce conflicts

that threaten the Republic...

The entire anti-colonial revolution
was silenced by this repression,

but the fundamental desire
for true independence

still burned strong
amongst the people.

People created the concept
of 'New Whites'.

They said that, "Our leaders today
they are black in skin, like us,

but they are white in their heads,
because, look at how they live!

They replaced the Belgians,

they went into the villas
that the Belgians occupied,

but now they even drive
bigger cars than the Belgians!

And they don't
hesitate to punish you

for little things they send in
the soldiers to repress you."

So they said, "This is why
we need new independence."

It was peasants of the Congo

who came up with this idea
of a second independence,

with Mulele in Kwilu.

Mulele was an intellectual
who had started classes

to educate the people and said,
"What are we fighting for?

We're fighting to
remove these leaders

who have
betrayed our country."

He started a w*r.

Do you think Mulele's troops

have any military training?

Their leader,
and I mean Mr Mulele,

went to train in
Beijing and Moscow,

where they taught him
about destruction,

where they completely reject
any authority, including the ANC.

The Mulelists see the ANC

as an imperialist army.

The commander-in-chief
of the national army,

General Mobutu,
remains determined.

He wants to strike hard.

The pilots in these
T28s are Americans,

most of them
fought in Vietnam.

They don't like cameras
or journalists.

The anti-Communism continued
to drive US policy at this point,

especially the anti-Communism

that was centred on,
who is going to run the Congo?

In this case the idea was:

look, Mulele, who was one of
the more radical Lumumbists,

had been trained in China

and he came back
and started the rebellion,

so that already feeds
into the notion that, okay,

even though the Chinese didn't
provide them with a single weapon,

this is a Communist takeover.

But in fact,
the rebels had nothing.

They had traditional weapons,
bows and arrows.

But then they were attacking
Mobutu's troops, the rebels

were saying, "We have magic,
we're immune to your b*ll*ts."

And Mobutu's troops get
on the train and go the next town,

they don't even fight them.

You should see the footage
from back then

of Mobutu's trucks
trying to seize power there

and attacking in reverse gear.

In reverse!

That way,
if there was resistance,

they were already
poised to flee!

Mobutu is a sort of
interesting character.

He's very criticised
by American officials

for his military knowledge
or prowess.

On the other hand,

he's gone to Israel, he's learned
how to jump out of airplanes,

he flies his own C-130.

He learns the military things,

but as a military
leader he's a zero.

So, the US and Belgium
they're very worried

that this is going to
get out of hand.

Mobutu needs help,

so the Belgians and
the Americans met

and decided on
a joint programme.

This is, really, the major
paramilitary operation

of the CIA the Congo.

It was approved
by the president.

It was planned
at the highest level,

but carried out, on the
US side, by the CIA

because it was
a covert operation.

There was always a worry
in the administration

that people would say,
"What are we doing in Africa?"

That's why they used Cubans,
instead of Americans, to fly planes.

Mobutu and the
Congolese Public Force

received help from everyone.

The Americans helped,
the Israelis helped,

but only one group
could provide personnel

and not just
money: the Belgians.

Operation Ommegang
was launched,

mobilising about


They recruited mercenaries,

ex-convicts and K*llers,

forming an army of bandits.

They taught them to k*ll Lumumba's
supporters and black people.

They formed a column
about 4 kilometres long

and rushed toward Stanleyville,
the Lumumbist stronghold,

to crush and eradicate
Lumumbism there.

But those who
organised Operation Ommegang

were Belgian officers,

the same guys who
had led the colonisation

and led the
Public Force back then.

So it was as
if Mobutu's soldiers

were reuniting with
their former leaders,

the colonial leaders who left
when Congo became independent.

Do you realise that

three years
after independence

nearly two-thirds of Congo was
still under Lumumbist control.

So it was a reconquest
by Western countries

at a time when this country
was already independent.

But what did people
think of it at the time?

The operation was well received by
the West, but was poorly received

by the rest of the
international community.

We were against the USSR,
with the Cold w*r and all that.

We were on the right side.

Here we are.

That's me, there.

I followed the column in order
to set up a basic administration

in the "liberated regions",
as we called them.

What role did Mobutu play
in all this oppression?

Mobutu? Look, on paper,
he was the Chief of Staff.

But in reality, no,

Mobutu wasn't involved
in any of this.

He had nothing to say
in all of this, no power.

- Really?
- Yes, that's how it was.

Mobutu wasn't
in the Ommegang column, no.

He flew into the airport
that afternoon.

He landed in Stanleyville.

And apparently,
after his arrival,

the killings began
at Stanleyville airport.

The pro-Mobutu
Congolese ANC troops

and the mercenaries eliminated
Lumumba's supporters there.

They searched
house after house

and anyone found
inside was shot dead.

I still remember the big front-
page title of the New York Times,

"70 Whites k*lled
in the Congo."

Then, at the end
of the article, they said,

"And approximately


are estimated
to be k*lled."

Yeah, so 1,000 Congolese are
good enough for 70 Whites.

The Stanleyville Operation
wasn't a military one.

It wasn't about helping
the Congolese national army.

It wasn't about conquering

any territory and
keeping it for ourselves.

It was about saving 1,500 foreigners
there whose lives were at risk.

I'm not trying to avoid
any of the difficult questions.

It is true that Belgium has
economic interests in Congo,

but Belgium is
neither colonialist,

nor neo-colonialist,
nor an imperialist country.

According to the debates
that followed,

this was
a political operation

and all of the humanitarian aid
given was just a cover-up.

Those were very harsh
and violent words.

The Belgians said that this
was done to save white people.

Okay, you saved your hostages,
but let the Congolese die too.

You handed them over
to pro-Mobutu soldiers.

Aren't they complicit
in these crimes then?

It was the same with Lumumba,
"We just stood by and watched".

What happened during
Lumumba's assassination

was repeated in Stanleyville,
it was almost a copy and paste.

It was the same pattern.

In reality,

the goal was to maintain control
over the independence process

that had been
reluctantly granted to Congo.

Clearly, the mercenary column

was a humanitarian operation,

but it also had
political consequences.

So it's ambiguous.

But you're trying to say
that the sole purpose

for Belgium was to protect
its economic interests,

and I deeply disagree with the
word "sole" in this sentence.

Lieutenant General
Joseph Mobutu.

Once Congo was pacified,
Mobutu's role changed.

They hoped that,
during this period

Mobutu had learned everything
he needed to learn about the army

and would be able to
take control of the army.

After that, his role
would become more important,

leading to the second coup.

NOVEMBER 1965

A FEW DAYS
BEFORE THE COUP

General, what a beautiful pool!
Is it new?

They finished it
a month and a half ago.

And are you able to
fully relax at home now,

despite your responsibilities?

From time to time.

Mainly when I play here with
my daughter, she loves the water.

He used to invite me
to have breakfast with him,

usually about two or
three times a week.

He'd talk about his problems,
particularly the military problems,

but also political problems.

And in this period
leading up to the coup,

did you get hints
of what he was doing?

I suspected it,
I didn't get hints, no.

Yes, I found that he was reading
books about political power,

like 'The Prince',

it just didn't seem
like the sort of thing

that I'd expect him to be
interested in at that time.

And I tried to ask him,

not directly, but indirectly,

"Are you interested in
going into politics,

or do you want to,
eventually?"

You know,
that sort of thing.

But I had to be careful
not to do it too often

because he could have interpreted
my questions as meaning,

"Why don't you do this?"

And that was definitely
not American policy.

Could the situation
of September 1960,

when the army neutralised
political leaders,

happen again
in the future?

I don't think so, no.

That's in the past now.

In 1965,

there was a big conflict going on
between the Prime Minister

and the President.

So, for the US, there was
a lot of worry going on here:

"What's going to happen
here with this conflict?"

We were kind of
winning the rebellion,

but the Lumumbists
were still around, you know,

the Leftists might come back.

This conflict between the two
is endangering, really, our policy.

This is clear
from the cables,

it's also clear from Washington's
cables, not just Devlin's.

Washington is saying,

"This only one who should really
settle this is our man,

the guy we've been with
since 1960 is Mobutu."

Did the US put
Mobutu in the seat?

Yes. They put him in power the
second time, in November of 1965.

The regime that would then
last for another 32 years.



Mobutu's coup...Well,
it was simply a "palace coup".

He put Kasa-Vubu in a car

and sent him
to his native region

of Lower Congo
and that was it.

There was no conflict.

This was mainly because
both the Americans and the Belgians,

led by former Belgian PM Spaak,
had urged Mobutu to take action.

Congo's wealth was so colossal,
so fabulous,

that they needed
a subcontractor,

who would get his share
of the spoils, yes,

but this subcontractor
would also ensure that

the flow of raw materials

to the heart of the global
economy would continue seamlessly.

Will you quickly restore peace
across the country?

That's what we're going
to try to do.

Will you have more freedom
than the politicians did?

Of course,
I have my whole army with me.

Everything is in the hands of
General Mobutu and our army now.

The Belgian Minister of Foreign
Affairs immediately thanked Mobutu,

but he also said, "We can't be the
first to recognise your regime,

as that would compromise
your position.

I'll send Davignon right away
to see how we can help you."

Was Mobutu's coup
a relief? Yes.

The country wasn't
being properly governed,

the money was going missing.

And Mobutu was
one of the people that

Belgium helped rise to power.

So then we could finally
start talking about the key issues.

Was it going to work?
Nobody could know for sure.

I realised that he was
now the President.

Always, before, we used
the "tu" to each other in French,

starting that day I used the formal
"vous" and he was "Mr President".

Now, some of his old friends
continued to use the "tu" with him,

they did not stay
old friends very long.

He was very, very...

Once he became president,
he was to be treated as a president.

{\an5}LONG LIVE MOBUTU,
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC.

CONGOLESE AIR FORCE

When he took over in '65,

he was very popular,
all over the country,

because people were tired
of all the instability

and all the crises
and that kind of thing.

At some point all of us
began to start believing it,

We said, "Okay, this is the
one man who can bring peace."

There was peace
in the country.

And there was
an attempt to restart

the process of developing
the country

and running it well.

But then, when he hanged
those four politicians,

we were no longer with him.

THE CONGOLESE
PARLIAMENT, 1966

There was criticism about how

he started to exercise power,

chipping away at some of the rights
we had under the democratic system.

He limited Parliament's power

and appointed ministers
without consulting Parliament.

In Congo at that time,

politics was
a civilian matter,

no one expected a soldier
to become our President.

So certain people
started asking,

"Who is this young man?"

Because most of them
were older than Mobutu,

"Who is this young guy
who is emerging?"

But Mobutu,
true to his nature and training,

sensed something was wrong,
as he was always suspicious.

He sent out spies to find out
who liked him and who didn't.

When he found out that
certain people didn't want him,

that they wanted
to remove him from power,

he claimed that they were
organising a coup against him.

Mobutu claimed that
there had been a coup

organised by certain
influential politicians

who would be tried
and hanged for this crime.

Even on the day of their
execution, we still had hope,

because we had
called the Vatican,

the US President Lyndon Johnson
and King Baudouin

to ask for clemency
for these men.

They asked him,

but, unfortunately,
Mobutu refused.

He was determined
to execute all four of them,

the "four conspirators",
as he called them.

The way he ex*cuted
those four politicians,

hanging people up,
we couldn't believe it.

And asking the people
to come and witness.

The people who went in, who were
forced to go there, to witness,

they didn't volunteer to go.

And this is the fact,
these people did nothing,

they did absolutely nothing!

What may have shocked
Western public opinion

is that in our democracies,

we don't hang politicians,

we don't execute them.

But don't think that
because we were colonised

by Westerners,
that we became Western.

We are still Bantu
and we have our customs,

they aren't the same as your
customs and they never will be.

So you're saying democracy
as we know it

can't be applied here
to its full extent?

It can be applied,

but not in exactly
the same way as in your countries.

What differences
will there be then?

The difference is that,
here, respecting a leader

is something sacred.

You can't mess around with
a leader. They did that

and so we made
an example of them.

After their m*rder,

Mobutu's followers
drove me out of the house.

They took everything we had.

In all of the nine houses
my father left behind,

Mobutu's people took
everything! Everything!

Mobutu and his cronies
they split it all: the furniture,

down to the very last cup,
the plates and pots.

Mobutu's impact can still
be seen here to this day.

How can you be so obsessed

with someone that
you'd even take their cups?

How could we go on living
after that? Like animals.

Many world leaders
use fear in order to rule.

He wanted to send out a strong
message at the start of his reign,

"Don't mess with my power.

Don't mess with my power.

This is what will happen to
anyone who dares to do so."

He took action.

This action was something
we might disapprove of,

a criminal act,

but just because
it was Mobutu who did it,

doesn't mean that
he can't be forgiven.

Should we forgive Mobutu
for what he did?

I would say yes, yes.

I arrived in the Congo just after
the hanging of those people.

We saw the
people were shocked,

but it was not a major diplomatic
issue between us and Mobutu, no.

Why not?

Well, we just thought
there were other things

of greater
US interest than that.

It was a human rights issue,
but we had other interests as well,

like the minerals, mainly.

In the end, the whole world
played along with him.

Mobutu kills people,
the West condemns his actions,

but two days later,
the media would stop covering it,

the topic
was no longer relevant.

But what's
interesting to note here,

is that the people Mobutu
k*lled were pro-Western.

So, reducing Mobutu to a mere
dictator who was given power...

Something doesn't
add up here.

Someone who is given power
must submit to those

who gave it to him,
but clearly Mobutu

wriggled free from their control,
partially at least.

And two months later,
he declared Lumumba a national hero.

He even called him the "First victim
of neo-colonial imperialism."

Mobutu did this, he who was put in
power by the Americans and Belgians.

Amongst Westerners,
he claimed he k*lled Lumumba,

but amongst the Congolese people,
he claimed to support Lumumba.

Because he understood
that Lumumba's image

remained powerful in Congo,
even after his death.

So how could he use Lumumba's
image for his own gain?

He embodied both
neo-colonisation and decolonisation.

He understood both
how the West works

and the feelings
of the Congolese people too.

Mobutu then had all
colonial monuments removed.

The people and the army did
this using stones and sticks.

It was like
a second independence.

In Mobutu's Congo-Zaire,
all was abolished, "Throw it away!"

He decided to show
that he was an anti-colonialist.

He would organise a demonstration
in front of the Belgian Embassy.

So they did that,
but they got too excited

and they started
burning automobiles,

breaking windows and
that sort of thing.

And from there, they could see
the American Embassy.

So, from there they said,
"Okay, now the American Embassy."

So, I was up in my office,
the Chargé d'Affaires' office,

and I was watching them come
towards the American embassy,

it was only a short distance.

While I was looking
at the window,

a rock came and
broke the window

and I was
covered with glass.

I said,
"This is serious."

So I called up Mobutu

and said, "Look, you gotta
do something about this.

They're gonna break in
and destroy our embassy."

So he said,
"Okay, I'll be right there."

And in a few minutes
he came and he waved to them,

"Go away,
go away now, go away."

But, anyway, he showed that
he is a good anti-colonialist

and he was happy with that.

Mobutu had a major complex
about white people.

The colonial past,
where Black people

had no say in matters,
had affected him.

So when he took power,

Mobutu humiliated Belgium
on several occasions.

And when you were in front of
Mobutu, he was quite intimidating.

The danger for Belgian
-Congolese relations

is this pressure group.

Some gentlemen think that,
just because they are nobles,

they can do whatever they want
in the Congo, which isn't true.

We'll prove them wrong.

My relationship with Mobutu
was very bad

whenever I told him things
he didn't want to hear.

But our relationship
was good at times too,

then it could turn bad
and then good again.

But there were
no hard feelings.

It should be noted,

that in Mobutu's
first two years in power,

he governed the country
quite well.

He made an effort
to restructure the economy,

which led to positive results,

as Congo's GDP grew
during this period.

The economy was
functioning very well,

much of it due to the
fact that the Vietnam w*r

required a lot of
our copper and cobalt.

And these being
our major exports,

we made lots of money.

One Congolese Zaire was worth two
US dollars when I was in the Congo.

The level reached by Congo

during Mobutu's first
few years in power,

went beyond what we had known
during the colonial period.

Mobutu had become
a great African politician.

He was one of the
few African leaders

who made his way
into the Western world.

Mobutu's phone

was directly connected
to the White House

and to the
Élysée Palace in Paris.

He was also a personal friend
of King Baudouin of Belgium.

Yes, Mobutu
was the West's man.

But, at the same time,
Mobutu also went to China

and developed a relationship with
Mao and his socialist country.

With Ceausescu in Romania too,
during the Cold w*r.

Mobutu saw
politics as a game,

a checkerboard, and he was
apparently a good checkers player.

He saw all the
players as pawns

and Mobutu knew which
Western or Congolese pawn

he needed to move where
at any given moment.

At the same time,
he was gaining authority

over those who had
brought him to power.

When he got the sole power

and he realised the United
States was in his pocket

and they wouldn't change,
they were dependent on him,

he began to
feel so comfortable

that we would support him
no matter what.

And that's what they did.

He decided to create this
personalised, one-party regime,

that was really less of
a party than just Mobutu

with a philosophy
of Mobutuism.

{\an5}WE ALL FOLLOW ONE MAN

It was a hollow shell that didn't
allow anything else to breathe.

ONE LEADER, ONE PEOPLE, ONE NATION

President Mobutu, take one.

Mr President, has the single party
been effective in reaching

even the most remote
areas of Congo?

My friend, I'm not
laughing at your question,

but there is no single-party
system here in Congo.

We are a national party.

Our people have understood
what a nation truly is

and that's why everything
had to be national here.

When we arrived,
there were seven unions,

now there's one "national union",
we don't call it the "single union".

Due to secessions and
everything that happened before,

we used to have 3 or 4 armies
fighting one another.

Now there's just
one national army.

Elections were
planned for 1970,

as Mobutu had promised
to step down after five years

and hand power
back to civilians.

But in 1970, they told us that
Mobutu would run in the end

and that we only
wanted one candidate.

I was there
during this election

and if you voted green,
you voted for him.

If you voted red,
you voted against him.

Well, on the radio
before they said,

"No one knows
what's going to

happen to those
who vote red."

And, the day of the vote,
most people found

there were no red ballots,
they didn't have any red ones.

And then, when they
announced the results of the vote,

they said it was something like


and 157 students at
Lovanium University against him.

So nobody in the country
voted against him,

except 157 students
in Kinshasa.

Mobutu! Mobutu!

At that point,
a new dynamic was launched.

Mobutu made
a series of decisions

and created the
"Authenticity" movement.

Authenticity
is our political philosophy.

We want to be ourselves,

not what others
want us to be.

Authenticity was, really,
a response to colonisation.

Mobutu realised that he had to
create an identity for Congo.

That's why he got rid
of the name "Congo",

as it was tainted
by colonisation.

He chose a new name
for the country: Zaire.

Mobutu built the Zaire state,
which became his state.

Zairians, one, two.

Zairians,
in newfound peace...

And Mobutu said,

"I don't understand

why I have to be called,
"Joseph-Désiré Mobutu".

So he got rid of the
"Joseph" and the "Désiré"

and named himself "Mobutu Sese
Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga".

"Sese Seko" means "The Eternal One,
the One who will never leave."

In February of 1972,
I was in the Congo and

the president announced

that, from now on,
men cannot wear suits and ties,

only Mao-style suits,
the abacost.

And women could not wear
European dresses

and could not wear pants,
only African clothes.

We had to have
our own naming system,

forcing us to abandon
so-called Western names,

our Christian names.

No more Georges and François
and Marie-Jeanne and all that,

only Congolese names.

So it was quite a revolution.

You saw the whole
country change.

Do you really think
it would be smart,

do you think it makes sense for
a young girl from my country

to be called something like Chantal,
Marie-France or Marie-Flore?

What do those
names mean?

Christian names refer to
the names of heroes

from Western civilisation
and from Christianity.

Christianity, which is,
and it's not a sin to say this,

an imported religion.

The Church was an arm
of their colonisation efforts.

The missionaries took part

in the destruction
of local culture.

Why are all
the saints white?

There's no reason they
should all be white.

When Mobutu spoke
of "Decolonising God",

what we meant was taking God
out of these colonial categories.

Our ancestors weren't
even seen as humans,

as living beings with
thoughts and feelings,

but as bundles of muscle

that were forced
to do mechanical tasks,

as we demand of horses,
buffaloes, donkeys or oxen.

Mobutu's legacy

for us Congolese,
or "Zairians" at the time,

was that we rediscovered
our national pride.

We stood proud as Zairians,
as Congolese.

We were proud of
ourselves and we showed it.

That's no small
thing, my friend.

After living through years,
through centuries of colonisation,

where our personality
and identity were denied,

this was a
significant achievement.

The authenticity drive was
part of his attempt to show that

he was his own man,
he was not controlled by the West.

But it all blew up
like ashes.

Mobutu's problem,

and this is why
the big change happened,

was that he had a huge ego.

Everything revolved
around him.

That's when things went wrong,
it was becoming almost like worship.

Mobutu loved being praised, even if
he knew the person was lying.

And that's when
political activism was made

a duty for all citizens.

All across the country,

every day, people couldn't start
their day in various institutions

and in schools,
without praising Mobutu first.

At that time, Mobutu had
developed a taste for travel

and he travelled a lot,
all across the country.

When the president's arrival
was announced,

good songs had to be
prepared to dazzle him.

Most of the performers,

probably 80% of them were women
and young women who were chosen

to dance from dawn till dusk

in order to show
their love for their leader.

You became a civil servant,

even young girls
between the ages of 8 and 15.

Mobutu had made all Congolese
women his wives.

When Mobutu or
other MPR leaders

saw a woman shaking
her rear end well, they'd say,

"Bring her to me."
He wanted to try them all.

When you were a performer,
did they teach you songs?

Yes.

Do you still remember
any of them?

Yes, some.
Do you want me to sing one?

The lyrics of
this song mean,

"People, come and welcome our
President Mobutu who's arriving."

When I was in the first year
of secondary school

MPR officials came to get us.

Two young girls
and two young boys.

They took us away from our
village and isolated us.

When they took us, my parents
protested, they said that

my place was in school,
not in the performance system.

They would never have given
them their approval,

but they weren't asked for it, you
couldn't oppose Mobutu back then.

I never even
imagined that all that

was just a pretence
to have their way with us.

If, on any given day,

you were unlucky enough
to be chosen by a chief,

you had to spend
the night with him.

It was like being a sl*ve.

I ended up pregnant,

but I never knew
who the father was.

I even lost my child because
of the performance system.

Some kids started
bullying my daughter, saying,

"Your mum is just a wh*re,
a dirty wh*re!"

My daughter couldn't
stand hearing them call me this,

so she started
insulting them back.

My daughter died because
they hit her in the stomach.

She had a haemorrhage.

I couldn't afford
to take her to the hospital.

I've never been
able to get over it.

When my little brother
came to the village,

he tried to convince me to testify
in court, but I refused,

because I was still in shock.

He said that I had to do it.

They were asking me
to expose the truth

so that everyone
would know

how Mobutu was
mistreating us.

A leader who feels loved
and when you see that joy,

a joy because you are loved by
your people, it's wonderful.

It's a feeling
worth dying for.

They are my judges.

The only judge

that I answer to
is my people.

Certainly,
the masses of people,

given the lack of good information
of what's happening in the country,

they liked him.

And of course,
he did mobilise the masses,

but many of his
meetings were forced.

We would be walking
in support of Mobutu

and we were told to wear shirts
with his picture on it.

While we were insulting him
and laughing about him

we had to look, to make sure
we didn't have an agent,

a security guy among us.

Then Mobutu tried to put himself
at the same level as Christ.

You know, because
he had decreed

that there should be his picture
all over the place.

{\an5}YES TO MOBUTU

For Mobutu,
it was being exaggerated to a point

where some people
went and removed

the pictures of Jesus Christ
in hospitals.

Mobutu's portrait
had to be in every school,

it was even
displayed in seminaries.

The statue of Mary,
outside churches, no.

Nothing could be displayed outside
except Mobutu's portrait.

On Christmas Day, Mobutu said,
"You should all be in school.

Who is this Jesus guy?"

This colonial tradition
and Christmas were sacred.

The day Jesus was born,
hell and all that...

Once, in 1973, we went
to school on Christmas Day.

Because we were all
so afraid of Mobutu.

Malula,
the Cardinal of Kinshasa said,

"No. Does Mobutu
think he's God?"

After Malula had criticised him,
Mobutu made a speech. He said,

"I'm giving him 48 hours
to leave Congo."

As he did this, some of
the people applauded him,

"Here's someone
who can stand up to the West."

He started believing that
he was more than just a man.

Hence the image of him
descending from heaven,

he had been created
and sent to us by God himself.

He was sent from heaven.
He fell down to bring us happiness.

This narrative
was on TV day after day.

We were taught,
"Who is our God? Mobutu!"

Who is our God?
Mobutu!

They told us that we had
to say "Mobutu".

First they gave him five years,
then seven more.

Finally, 100 years. Then it became
a reign that would last forever.

He played a game, but this game
could not last forever.

We were at a turning point.

His rise is ending
and his fall was beginning.

Mobutu went mad.
He became completely paranoid.

He went out of control.

When we men and women

think we should
forgive once,

or maybe twice or three times
at most, Jesus tells us,

"You must always forgive.
You must forgive everything.

Forgive others and
you too shall be forgiven."