Redefining Africa's Liberation in the 21st Century: Breaking with DRC's Mobutuism and its Breed

by Wilson Idahosa Aiwuyor

One of the fundamental problems of the Democratic Republic of Congo, like other African states, is the lack of responsible and responsive leadership. And it is quite depressing that while most leaders in other continents are preoccupied with how to improve the quality of life of their citizens by harnessing science, technology, innovation, information, and by developing human potentials, some African leaders continue to put their countries on the retrogressive pathway of conflict, tyranny, corruption, and political barbarism that have done nothing than dehumanize helpless Africans.

We need to make a break with this leadership style. But an understanding of the origin of the present African leadership paradigm is necessary if we are to make an efficacious break. The post colonial African political system and the leaders were not meant to serve Africans. The colonial and post colonial events that preceded the 1994 Rwanda genocide (as documented in Philip Gourevitch's book: "We Wish to inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families") speak volume about this.

In fact, the Congo is a classical example of this problem. The groundwork of the current Congolese leadership paradigm was laid by King Leopold II, who owned and ruled the Congo as a personal property from the late 19th century until his death in 1906. As recounted in Adam Hochschild's book: "King Leopold's Ghost," King Leopold II of Belgium disregarded the humanity of his Congolese subjects. He terrorized and killed 10 million of them, conscripted Africans into his Force Publique, which employed militarization, rape, masculinity, and barbarism to subdue and exploit Congolese and their natural resources. After the death of Leopold in 1906, Congo became a colony of Belgium. It was business as usual - King Leopold’s savage leadership style was still operational in the Congo.

Before independence in 1960, Belgium had trained what could be referred to as black Leopolds to protect their (Belgian and Western) interests in the Congo and replicate the Leopold pattern in post colonial Congo (then known as Zaire). When Patrice Lumumba made an attempt to break with the Leopold paradigm, his assassination was orchestrated.... And eventually, a black Leopold, Mobutu Sese Seko, became the president of the country. Mobutu further entrenched Leopoldism in the Congo during his over three decades of leadership. In fact his African version of Leopoldism became known as Mobutuism, whose elements include political savagery and totalitarianism, militarism, kleptocracy and corruption, economic pillaging, disregard for and the dehumanization of Congolese, and a mentality of deformed masculinity. The overthrow of Mobutu in 1997 did not end the leadership crisis in the rich Great Lakes country of the Congo. The centuries of Leopoldism combined with decades of Mobutuism continues to be a set back for the Congo. Leopoldism and Mobutuism are the reference points for the current Congolese leadership, which has employed similar apparatus of governance as its predecessors.

However, we cannot continue to dwell on the past while others are moving forward. We need to make a break. The political liberation of Africans in the 20th century, albeit its merits, has not liberated Africans in real 21st century terms. We need to redefine Africa's liberation in the 21st century, and this task cannot be left for the same leaders who use the rhetoric of liberation and ati-imperialism to dehumanize and kill Africans and mortgage the future of our continent. For example, if a leader like Robert Mugabe still proclaims himself a liberator while committing crimes against humanity and destroying the future of unborn Zimbabweans, then there is a problem with the conceptualization of liberation in Africa in this century (see Horace Campbell's "Reclaiming Zimbabwe: The Exhaustion of the Patriarchal Model of Liberation").

We need a different mindset and a new thinking to redefine leadership and liberation in Africa if the continent is to move forward. If there will be lasting peace and progress in the Congo, the Great Lakes region of Africa (which includes the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda) as well as in Africa as a whole, a new generation of African leaders will have to take the lead. These leaders will need to reconceptualize leadership and liberation. They should be ready to use a difference reference point than that established by the colonial state for the governance of Africans. Given the current state of affairs in Africa, such a leadership paradigm seems too idealistic. Obviously, we are not going to do this overnight. But if we can conceptualize the kind of Africa we would like to leave for our children and children's children; if we can connect like minds of young Africans, build a strategic framework and a strong movement, and harness the power of the Information Age, then we may be able to make a break with Africa’s acute leadership crisis.

---------------
Wilson Idahosa Aiwuyor is a student of International Relations. He is a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. He could be reached at aiwudaho@gmail.com.