Meet presidential candidate Moïse Katumbi
Moïse Katumbi, the-larger-than-life Congolese football magnate and presidential candidate, appeared before a prosecutor on Monday in Lubumbashi to respond to an accusation that he hired foreign mercenaries to destabilize the country. But who is this controversial, almost mythic figure running for president in the elections set for November?
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Hundreds of people came out to demonstrate in the streets of Lubumbashi Monday morning as Moïse Katumbi arrived in court to be questioned about accusations that he gathered a militia to destabilize the country.
The extremely popular Katumbi is a Congolese multimillionaire, business man and politician. He used to be the governor of the very large and wealthy Katanga province. It’s known for natural resources especially copper and cobalt. He made a lot of his money in those fields.
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“But more than anything, Katumbi is synonymous with his team,” said Patient Ligodi, a Congolese journalist who runs political website Politico CD.
Katumbi is the president of TP Mazembe. It’s the most popular football club in this football-crazy nation and, according to Ligodi, the most powerful club in Africa.
With the football, the millions of dollars and all the rest of it, Katumbi is nothing short of a legend, in Ligodi’s words. He is seen as the ultimate success story.
“The DRC’s worst-kept secret”
Katumbi used to be an ally of Congolese president Joseph Kabila, but he left the ruling party last year, voicing his opposition to President Kabila’s desire to extend his rule, even though he’s already served two terms, which is his constitutional limit.
Rumours that Katumbi was planning to run for president have been circulating for some time. Some call it “the DRC’s worst-kept secret”.
After securing the support of three opposition coalitions, he made his official announcement earlier this week.
Accusations
Yet, several hours earlier, on the same day, Kabila’s justice minister had launched an inquiry into allegations that Katumbi was using mercenaries to gather together a militia to destabilize the country.
“Katumbi is intelligent and a shrewd calculator,” said Ligodi. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he made the announcement that day in order to deflect from those accusations”.
Katumbi definitely employs bodyguards from a foreign security company, but Ligodi, and other experts, concurred that it is a common practice amongst VIPs from the DRC.
It’s not clear to what extent these accusations are politicized. But Human Rights Watch also released a report today accusing the Congolese government of cracking down on Katumbi and his supporters. A few weeks ago, a pro-Katumbi rally was violently dispersed. Several of his family and close associates were arrested and are still being held.
Looking toward the elections
Katumbi will also face stiff competition from within the opposition. Etienne Tshisekedi, the leader of the largest opposition party, would be a formidable opponent, but he had been in poor health.
“Probably the most important factor that would dictate how well Katumbi would do is whether or not he is a candidate for a unified opposition,” said Jordan Anderson, an Africa analyst at the London-based think tank, IHS.
Without a crystal ball to determine Katumbi and the DRC’s near future, observers will just have to wait and see. But he may have to wait awhile for the elections to take place.
“The electoral commission in the DRC has said it will take them between 16 and 17 months to review the voter role,” said Anderson. “They also said they’d start in July. Obviously the math there doesn’t add up for the elections to be held in November. So it is incredibly likely that this election will be delayed until mid-2017”.
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