Speech written and pronounced by Ps Elisée Byelongo Isheloke, Branch Provincial President of UDPS in KZN, RSA on 29 June 2013. During this 53rd anniversary of the independence of Congo conference Ms. Ela Gandhi and Ms. Usha Jevan were the guest of honor/speakers. Dear compatriots, Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests, On this day, the eve of the anniversary of the independence of Congo (DRC), I would like to invite you to reflect on the fate of our country and also on that of our continent before turning our eyes to the future. Let us remember that DRC occupies part of the territory of what was then the Kingdom of Kongo. A Kingdom that prospered and was well organised. A Kingdom whose development was only disrupted by the Human traffic and the intrusion of the Westerners. After that period, came the Congo Free State era. Our territory was then considered by Westerners has a “no man’s land”. At the Berlin conference held on 1 August 1885, following the manoeuvre of the King Leopold II before his fellow Westerners, this territory of 1 345 000 Km2 was given to him. Congo, a territory 80 times bigger that Belgium became a sole proprietorship of King Leopold II for 23 years. During that period, the Congolese had to suffer beyond imagination. They were oppressed and were subjected to a form of Apartheid as well. Belgians administrators used to cut our people’s hands, beat them up with a tough cord, and paid pea nut for any service rendered by our people. In short, our people had become slaves. As a consequence many millions of Congolese were killed under this unjust colonialist rule. In 1908, the King Leopold II donated Congo to the Belgium Kingdom, hence it was known as Belgian-Congo. The government of Belgium put in place a system to rampage the wealth of Congo to the detriment of our people. It is in order to redress these injustices that Patrice Emery Lumumba and his companions founded the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). The objectives of the MNC were: • The abolition of racial discrimination; • Suppression of unjust practices; • The industrialisation of Congo; • Wages and salary increase for all workers; • To stop any attempt to Balkanize Congo. In short, it was to work for a better life of Congolese. Ladies and Gentlemen, Returning from the 1st Pan Africanist conference in Accra in 1958, Lumumba started to demand the immediate independence of the Congo. He said “without dignity there is no freedom, without justice there is no dignity and without independence there is no free man”. In the same way as Sekou Toure, Lumumba was convinced that “without freedom, there was no dignity”. The more the sufferings of the people were escalating, the more imperative the independence quest was. On 30th June 1960, Belgium had no option but to cede Congo to its people. Lumumba himself declared during the Table Ronde in Brussels, “it is by might that the independence has been acquired”. The people of Africa, men and women, fought to secure the independence of their countries and they knew that for the complete independence, we needed to liberate the whole of Africa. This is why Lumumba declared, the independence of Congo is but the first step towards the independence of many other countries in the region. He was in a way expressing his patriotism towards Congo and his Pan Africanist belief for Africa. Unfortunately, the independence of Congo was trapped by neo-colonialist manoeuvres, the interference of Westerners and their support to secessionist movements were a clear proof of the unwillingness of Western powers to let Congo go. Belgians wanted back what they had declared independent. They “wanted to take back with left hand what they had been forced to free with the right hand”. The lack of a culture of politics and above all, the deficiency of the democratic system in the Congo allowed neo-colonialists, imperialist and their acolytes i.e. Mobutu, Museveni, Kagame and the dictator Kabila to abuse the people while our people endure one of the most atrocious miseries of the planet. Ladies and Gentlemen, We cannot condone these crimes against our people. We join the President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete in asking for a global dialogue to resolve the problems of countries in the Great Lakes region. This is a sine qua none condition to sustainable peace and stability in the region. Rwandan machiavelic government must negotiate with not only the FDLR but all its opponents in order to come up with a consensus for peace and order in their country and for an inclusive responsible government in Rwanda. In the same way, the Museveni regime should talk to the Lord Resistance Army and the opponents such as Kiza Besigye for peace and stability in their country. The AU and the global organisations should exert pressions to Rwanda and Uganda and other troublesome regime to negotiate with their opponents and come up with a consensus for peace and stability. The Kabila regime that rigged the elections of 28 November 2013 and organised a hold-up to maintain itself to power cannot be spared at all. The people of Congo want democratic change. All they ask is the truth of the electoral verdict. In order to negotiate as equals, we demand the resignation of Kabila. We call upon the people of Africa to help us to establish a true democratic system in the DRC. We will never give up until we reorganised the independence of Congo and its sovereignty. Africa, Asia and free people of the world that Lumumba believed in, should see in this the strengthening of Pan Africanism and the defence of common values of democracy and human rights. Values without which the AU and UN would have appeared to be meaningless. Africa does not only need strong institutions, Africa does also need a visionary leadership, autonomy in our democratic system. The world instead needs right institutions that will promote equal treatment of all the people, not like what we see with the UN and the ICC today. The future of Africa is in the hands of the sons and daughters of Africa. Lumumba had planned to support nationalist liberation movements in Africa and South Africa to dismantle Apartheid. African solidarity (Ubuntu) that he promoted was a pan Africanist way to combat xenophobia and call upon the people of Africa to support each other’s. The xenophobia time in SA was a plot by a minority against the people of Africa. We invite our people to work hands in hands for social cohesion, peace and non-violence. There is no black, coloured or Arab, neither is there any Christian or Muslim per se, we are all Africans. Sons and daughters of Mother Africa! At this time, as another son of Africa is in Hospital, utata Nelson R. Mandela, we sympathise with his family and SA and we want to ensure all of you our prayers. Congolese people and people of Africa, as Thomas Sankara used to say, “Let us accept to live as Africans, it is the only way to be free and live with dignity”. Let good win over evil, let non-violence win over violence, we need democracy even more, we need Pan Africanism even more, and above all, we need peace. The people of Congo need one thing: The truth of the electoral verdict and nothing else! Long live Congo! Long live Africa! Speech written and pronounced in its French original version by Ps Elisée Byelongo Isheloke, Branch Provincial President of UDPS in KZN, RSA on 29 June 2013. This translation has been made and provided by the author of the speech to guests.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:37:45 +0000
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