Moïse Katumbi Chapwe
Once touted as a consensus opposition candidate, popular business tycoon Moïse Katumbi, who lives in exile in Belgium, has been accused of training mercenaries to topple Kabila and was convicted in absentia for real estate fraud. Moise Katumbi is one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) most powerful men and viewed by many as a symbol for change. The owner of highly successful football club and current African champions - TP Mazembe - and a politician with unrivalled popularity, is intent on democratic progress in a country which has never experienced a peaceful transition of power.
Katumbi was nominated 30 March 2016 to the top seat at a conference for various opposition parties some of broke away from President Joseph Kabila’s ruling party. Katumbi, a multi-millionare businessman, become the main opposition leader following unanimous endorsements at the meeting held in the capital Kinshasa. Katumbi won backing from the so-called 'G7' — seven parties in the ruling coalition critical of Kabila's refusal to declare his intentions. The G7 group of opposition parties were dismissed from Kabila's ruling coalition September 2015 after publicly calling on the president to leave office.
Moïse Katumbi Chapwe was born 28 December 1964 in Lubumbashi, DR Congo. Katumbi says his father is Jewish-Italian and his mother Congolese, but that he has renounced his Italian citizenship. Pasteur Ngoy Mulunda called himself the spiritual adviser of President Kabila. He formerly had a high position in the Methodist Church in Tanzania and Kenya and was close to Laurent Kabila for many years. He used his influence in the past to reconcile Joseph Kabila with former opponents such as Moise Katumbi.
Katumbi made millions through his mining and other business interests. He was elected governor of Katanga in 2006 with Kabila's support. Formerly part of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) and once a supporter of president Joseph Kabila, he resigned in September 2015 over the incumbent's attempts to unconstitutionally hold on to power. The relationship soured after Katumbi used a public rally in December 2015 to urge his supporters to challenge Kabila's right to score a "third penalty" against Congo, a thinly veiled reference to a third term by the president. Katumbi also lost his post as governor after Katanga, home to the continent's top copper production, was divided into four regions as part of a decentralization drive widely interpreted as an attempt to weaken Katumbi.
Katumbi is a young, charismatic and attractive - if not very intellectual - political newcomer and strong supporter of President Kabila. He is keenly aware of his popularity and the fact that it and his donations for public projects were the primary reasons for his election. Katumbi is a successful businessman; he owns the DRC's best-known soccer team and was co-founder of the Mining Company of Katanga (MCK).
Katanga had not seen major fighting since 2001 so the international community mostly lost sight of its politics. While substantial power is concentrated in the presidency, some local and provincial officials — such as the governor of Katanga, Moïse Katumbi Chapwe — appeared to wield significant authority locally.
As Katanga Governor, Moise Katumbi was an ambitious political newcomer with bold plans for Katangan revival. His stated priorities for the province included increasing provincial revenue and supporting social development, and he indicated his tactics will not necessarily be orthodox.
Katumbi was not afraid to cut corners to fulfill his populist promises to Katangans of economic prosperity and social development. He was willing to take unilateral action on issues the national government had thus far failed to address, such as ending customs fraud and smuggling of natural resources from Katanga. Whether he actually has the public good or his own interests in mind was, however, debatable.
Katumbi's stated priorities were to support economic growth that resulted in social benefits for the population. His tactics were aggressive. The goal he particularly emphasized was to increase Katanga's income, and to do so he intends to leverage the province's economic driver - the mining sector. His two-pronged approach was to combat the illegal export of ore, while pressuring mining companies to comply with their concession agreements. The DRC loses millions of USD annually in revenues from ore through theft, smuggling and fraud, particularly by way of the Kasumbalesa customs post in Katanga. Katumbi said he considers the numerous small to medium-sized trading firms operating in Katanga to be chiefly responsible for this illegal activity, including about 70 Chinese companies and several Indian and Pakistani firms.
Katumbi put his words in action 06 March 2007, when he ordered the suspension of unprocessed ore exports from Katanga, following his visit to Kasumbalesa. Katumbi did not have authority to take this action. Katumbi said he took the action to stem customs fraud that results in the loss of public revenue. Katumbi has made permanent his March 6 suspension of unprocessed ore. For the next six months, companies may continue to export laboratory-certified concentrate, but thereafter they may only export refined metal. Very few functioning ore refineries exist in Katanga.
Katumbi targeted the higher end of the mining sector - large foreign mining companies - as a means to increase public revenue. He expressed particular concern about the loss of revenue due to companies who hold but had not developed mining concessions. He said in 2007 that companies that did not comply with their agreements with the GDRC and Gecamines, the DRC's copper/cobalt mining parastatal, will face consequences that could include revocation of their concessions. Provincial Governors do not have the power to annul or enforce mining agreements.
The new DRC Constitution stipulated that the provinces are entitled to a forty percent share of national revenue, but it did not clarify how that process will work, nor does it authorize provincial governors to make this determination. Parliament must pass legislation to set out the procedure for this revenue-sharing arrangement; it was expected that the law will require all provinces first to remit all national revenue to Kinshasa and await the 40-percent retrocession. Katumbi made clear that he believed he and the province have enough political and economic clout to take unilateral action.
Katumbi said mining companies in particular needed to take a major role in this socioeconomic effort. While World Bank projects might be useful, according to Katumbi they need greater oversight, transparency, and management.
Katumbi made no secret of his ties to former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba and his contentious relationship with the Government of Zambia. Katebe Katoto is a rich Bemba businessman from southern Katanga who made his fortune in local trade. He became a close associate of former President Chiluba of Zambia and ess accused by current President Mwanawasa of arms trafficking and plotting against him. After their investigations indicated that he and his brother, Moise Katumbi, were also involved in embezzlement of state funds, the Zambian authorities froze their assets.
Zambian officials expelled Moise Katumbi in 2004 because he supported Chiluba, including what amounted to a gift of about USD 15 million. Following Katumbi's decision to suspend overland exports of unprocessed ore into Zambia, the Zambian Task Force on Corruption sent a request to the GDRC that Katumbi come to Zambia to give oral evidence in pending matters. Contrary to local and international media reports, Zambian authorities neither charged Katumbi with criminal offenses nor requested his extradition.
Katumbi made remarks suggesting conflicts of interest. For example, he repeatedly praised Nikanor - a London AIM-listed copper/cobalt mining company in the DRC. Several days later international trade media reported a USD 30 million deal construction contract between Nikanor and MCK, the company Katumbi co-founded and from which he claims to have divested. Katumbi also mentioned several times he remained close friends with his former partner, MCK's current owner. By contrast, he made repeated, negative references to Belgian businessman George Forrest, including a comment that Forrest's mining company contract with Gecamines is the only one the GDRC should seriously consider reviewing. He denied his views are influenced by the fact that Forrest's mining and construction businesses are MCK's and Nikanor's competitors.
The brother of Moise Katumbi, Raphael Soriana a.k.a. Katebe Katoto, has been linked to financing Nkunda's rebellion and to financing Jean-Pierre Bemba's movement before that. Katumbi and Soriana are both active businessmen with investments in some of the same projects in the DRC and Zambia. Belgian authorities seized his and his family's bank accounts in Belgium. Katumbi said the UN pushed the Belgian authorities to do so because they claimed Katumbi's brother financed Nkunda and other rebel groups in the eastern DRC.
Katumbi claimed the Belgian authorities only needed a letter from the Congolese central government, specifically from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to exonerate him and release the funds. He said they had since released the accounts of his sister and his brother-in-law, but that they still had a freeze on his personal accounts. Katumbi expressed a degree of fatigue with the scenario, noting in 2009 that he was coming to the end of his political career.
Katumbi's camp deployed a top law firm in Washington, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, to lobby for US support for timely elections. According to a July 2015 filing with the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Akin Gump contacted dozens of congressional staffers, non-governmental organizations and academics in the first six months of 2015 on behalf of the Mining Company of Katanga (MCK). Katumbi co-founded MCK, which is now owned and controlled by his wife, Karyn, according to FARA records.
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