George Negus

Negus:  When Kinshasha the capital of what was Zaire, recently fell to the rebel army of Laurent Kabila, the country's long time dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko fled into exile.  Now Kabila has begun the task of resurrecting a country and the people, Mobutu drove into the ground. 

01.20.08

But many are worried that Kabila may turn out to be no better.  Already confirmation is emerging of the slaughter of tens of thousands of Hutu refugees by soldiers loyal to Kabila.  On top of this, the new president of Zaire, renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo looks like he's got no intention of holding elections for some time.

The ABC Africa correspondent Ben Wilson spent close to two months in Zaire covering Kabila's march to the capital. 

Tonight Ben assesses whether or not after 32 years of suffering under Mobutu, life will be any better under Laurent Kabila.

People in boats

Music

02.07.07

on river,

unloading boat, boats through water, map

Wilson:  The Congo River cuts a great arc through the heart of Africa.  It has always been an inner source of mystery and wonder.  It is a giver of life, a medium of trade and transport as it has been for thousands of years.

The Congo is irresistible.  So too the revolution that has swept through this country - the Democratic Republic of Congo or Zaire as it was named by the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

Soldiers carrying, marching, running, people cheering

Wilson:  Laurent Kabila's soldiers took just seven months to capture the Congo, slowed more by geography than the defences of Mobutu's army.

03.04.07

The Congo fell to Kabila not because of his firepower but the promise he carried - the promise of change in a country stagnating after 32 years of Mobutu rule.

People dancing,

Drumming

03.32.24

drumming,

soldiers, car, audience waving, Kabila, audience

So Congo has a new strong man.  In a country scared by brutal colonialism and corrupt independence, is Laurent Kabila, the leader who can offer his country a real chance for peace and prosperity?

Kabila at microphone, audience clapping

Kabila:  We must rebuild the state for the state to be able to play a part in the management of the country.  We must drive unemployment out of the country. 

04.04.17

FX:  Clapping

People in village,

Singing

04.30.11

man singing, kids,

Wilson with 'Jean'

Wilson:  What are these?

at markets

Wilson:  Jean Bahrama represents what should be the nation's middle class.  Well educated, she sells food in this small suburban market must to make ends meet.  Here a small cup of beans can cost several days wages.

Man walking in

Music

05.04.12

doorway with

Wilson and woman

Wilson:  Deogratias Baharama is a middle ranking civil servant, and his wife Jean, struggled to rent a three room home for their family of eleven.  Jean still feels the pain of living under Mobutu.

Jean intv and

Jean:  Because I was unable to fulfil all the needs of my kids - lack of money and that was going slowly but surely day after day.  Making yourself feel good for nothing.

05.24.18

Wilson:  Deogratias was last paid in February, less than $20 for three months work.

Deogratias intv

Deogratias:  Look at the houses where we are living.  This is not the house of somebody who spent seven years in America working on a PhD program, graduate student in agricultural economics.  It hurt our human dignity just because we had no money but we know we deserve the money.  All we are asking is to give us a good job but there is no job.

05.53.05

Crowd of people, men speaking,

Wilson:  Visible change must come quickly.

06.18.13

listening

Voices

Wilson:  Street parliaments are the home of political debate in Kinshasha.  The people here will be scrutinising Kabila's every move.  There is particular concern over Kabila's decision to grant himself dictatorial powers, not much short of those enjoyed by Mobutu himself.

Deogratias intv

Deogratias:  It makes us a little bit suspicious.  We don't know exactly what to expect from him.  All we are hoping is for him to bring us positive change but we don't know what's in store for us.

06.50.20

Big white building, Wilson to camera in front of building

Wilson:  The parliament building in Kinshasha represents the democratic ambitions of the Congolese people, even though for years it was simply a rubber stamp for Mobutu's ruling party. 

07.18.07

What the people now want more than almost anything is the right to vote for their own leaders but the self-declared president Laurent Kabila says the first ballot won't be cast for at least two years.

Teacher and students in class

They call themselves Great Guys because the ethic of the club is to give something back to a society where respect for basic human rights disappeared during the Mobutu era. 

07.43.24

Not surprisingly, the Great Guys Club also reflects the political debate that thrives throughout Kinshasha. 

Doctors, lawyers and journalists meet every week to discuss in English the hard issues.

Different people in class speaking

Man:  There are two facts, Kabila's seized power by force and we are not sure of his democratic intentions.

08.12.24

Man:  He took power by arms.  It's quite normal, your reaction is to say, I'm going to have, there is a trail of not sharing power. 

Man:  We need a strong government, we don't have time for political fights.  It's not the time for that.  A strong government for myself I see Kabila as the president.

Woman:  Mr. Kabila has formed his government, let him wait, we'll judge him after in time.

People on streets

Music

08.53.20

traffic, Wilson

walking, man working, kids, women braiding hair, people working, woman

Wilson:  Most of Kabila's five million people don't have time to theorise about politics, they are too busy trying to stay alive.

(Jacky) interview

Dawn to dusk they labour six days a week.  This young welder does comparatively well, earning up to $150 in a good month.  For the unskilled though, income is scarce.  Jackie Llong sells second hand clothes to put food on her table.

Jacky:  I know many people, the people you see around here are starving.  The children don't study because there is no money for school fees. 

It's really very difficult.  We still need international assistance to solve our problem.

Pan of city, boats on river, men at huge table

Wilson:  Kinshasha is a city of five million people where development ground to a halt years ago.  It is so badly neglected, parts of the city practically crumble into the river.

09.58.16

These men know why.  They are the bureaucrats who ran Zaire's central bank, supervised the country's slide into financial ruin and allowed Mobutu to suck it dry.

The new American trained finance minister demands to know where the money went and he orders strict control of Congo's ballooning debt.

Finance Minister:  We only have debts.  We didn't find any money especially here.  At the central bank there was no foreign currency, no hard currency.  It was all looted. 

Mwampanga Mwana Nanga intv

Super:

MWAMPANGA MWANA NANGA

Finance Minister

I am here to jump start this economy and I cannot jump start this economy on speculation or wishful thinking.  You see what I mean?  I need hard cash, I need money.

10.52.12

Congo money, man speaking, American money

Wilson:  Kinshasha has it's own version of Wall Street - a vigorous money market where the American dollar is king.  In exchange for your dollars, you get a pocketful of paper.

11.05.23

Ben Wilson to camera

Wilson:  One of the first jobs of the new government will be to restore some value to this worthless currency.  Great stacks of banknotes like this are worth about $200 but in Kinshasha the reality is $200 won't buy you very much.

11.23.11

Woman selling, printer printing money

Wilson:  Once a single dollar used to buy one Zaire, now the rate is one to one hundred thousand.

11.38.04

When the old regime ran into financial trouble it had a simple way of fixing things - add zeros to the currency and print more.  The new government says that practice stops immediately.

Wilson:  Where are you going to get the cash?

Mawampanga intv

Mawampanga:  If people can be put back to work, that is where the money will come from.  This country has a lot of potential.  It's potentially one of the richest in the world so we are counting on that - to use that potential to put our people back to work and then the money will start coming.

12.09.23

Traffic, Wilson walking with man across lot and into building

Wilson:  It's a big job, the entire system of government has collapsed.  The ministry of agriculture where Deogratias Bahrama spends his days has had no budget for five years.  No budget means no projects so most civil servants find better ways to spend their day.

12.25.08

Deogratias intv

Deogratias:  I would say 80 percent of them don't come to work.  As you can see, there's nobody here, not even my secretary because they don't find any need to come.

12.46.15

Wilson:  What are they doing?

Deogratias:  Well, they are making life some other way, turning around seeing what they can do, maybe selling stuff on the market or they are plowing the ground -  cultivating something.  People do many different things.  They have different reaction to this restricting situation we find in the administration.

Truck passing, child directing traffic, injured people

Wilson:  It's the same everywhere, on Kabila's main boulevard, the children take charge - Mobutu's traffic police fled weeks ago.

13.26.24

At the Mama Yemo hospital, Kabila's largest, state neglect means no drugs, no blood and many needless deaths.  This in a country that should be one of the wealthiest in Africa.

Scales, men weighing and looking at diamonds

The key to the salvation of Congo may now lie beneath it's soil.  The east of the country is a treasure chest of diamonds, gold, copper and cobalt.

13.59.00

Mbuji Mayi sits at the centre of the diamond industry, here the stones are dug from the ground like gravel.

Pan down building to entrance, people getting out of car, men walking down hallway, sitting at a table, man seated with gun

Throughout the Mobutu years, the state mining company Gecamines was riddled with corruption, there was always a percentage for everyone.  The bureaucrats, the minister, the president, everyone received a cut from the mining contracts.

14.23.00

Congo's mineral wealth makes this man Kambale Mututulo one of the most powerful in the country.

Mining companies from across the globe including Australia are beating a path to his door.  The new government has already signed several deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  But the minister insists, there are new rules.

Kambale Mututulo intv

Super:

KAMBALE MUTUTULO

Mining Minister

Mututulo:  The most important condition is that of social involvement because people come to exploit but there is nothing behind them so by social involvement I mean helping people with the schools, hospitals, infrastructure - building roads for example.

15.06.00

Wilson:  Do you believe this country was cheated by the companies that operated under the old regime?

:  I didn't say that but we have to check to be careful because some of them are very clever.

Man going through broken door, people looting, guns on ground, swimming pool

Wilson:  The cleverness of the miners and the Mobutists in ripping off the wealth of this country has a very tangible outcome.  Young Congolese are so embittered and desperate they take every opportunity to run riot - in this case looting the home of Mobutu's son.

15.32.24

Mututulo intv

Wilson:  You've inherited a system that is fundamentally unarguably corrupted to the core, how do fix that?

15.59.07

Mututulo:  Simple - you provide leadership and show that you want to play by the rules, you are clean and you want to remain clean and you want everybody to be clean.  And if you want to work with us, we give you a chance. 

You should do your job without going back to the old ways, fine, but if you want to go back to the old ways then you're not part of our team.

Kabila at microphones

Wilson:  Kabila promises honest government, a revolutionary change ...

16.32.05

Kabila:  We are not here to continue the policy of the previous government - but to build a new state based on new values.  We must first erase all influence of Mobutism.

Audience clapping, people marching on streets

Wilson:  But there appears to be little commitment to open multi-party democracy.  In the name of political stability Kabila has banned demonstrations and all political parties other than his own of course. 

17.03.15

Protesters are defying the decree, taking to the streets.  In this case, to accuse the new president of being a pawn of neighbouring countries which backed his rebellion.  Despite all of this, there remains much good will for the man who rid the Congo of Mobutu.

Jean intv

Jean:  I'm expecting too much from him.  First of all to give all the people who are able to work their jobs back, their pay, job and good pay so each person will be able to feed their kids, themselves, to clothe themselves, to pay their rent and live like real and natural people.

17.42.11

We are patient - it may take a month or two or three.  We need to see change slowly day after day - not all at once.

Church services, people singing

Wilson:  This is a time of healing for the Congolese people.  Laurent Kabila has been catapulted into power by the will of his people who so wish is for a better life.

18.30.03

Singing

Wilson:  The sea of renewal has been and the Democratic Republic of Congo at last has the chance of a fresh start that may finally liberate its people.