Marie-Antoinette Mobutu

Marie-Antoinette Mobutu (born Marie-Antoinette Gbiatibwa Gogbe Yetene; c. 1941 in Banzyville), also known as Mama Mobutu was the first wife of Mobutu Sese Seko and First Lady of Zaire.

Marie-Antoinette Mobutu
Marie-Antoinette in Kinshasa, April 1977
First Lady of Zaire
In office
24 November 1965 – 22 October 1977
PresidentMobutu Sese Seko
Succeeded byBobi Ladawa Mobutu
Personal details
Born
Marie-Antoinette Gbiatibwa Gogbe Yetene

c. 1941
Banzyville, Équateur Province, Belgian Congo
Died22 October 1977(1977-10-22) (aged 35–36)
Genolier, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland
Spouse
​
(m. 1955)​
Children9 (including Kongulu Mobutu)

Biography

Marie-Antoinette was born in Banzyville (modern-day Mobayi-Mbongo) in Équateur Province in c.1941 while the Congo was still under Belgian colonial rule. She was an ethnic Ngbandi. She met and married Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, a member of the same ethnic group and then a non-commissioned officer in the Force Publique, in 1955 at the age of 14.[1] That same year, she gave birth to their first son, Jean-Paul "Nyiwa". She attended Catholic mission schools and had supported the Roman Catholic Church despite her husband's later struggle with the Catholic clergy.[2][1]

Children

Marie Antoinette bore the most out of all of Mobutu's wives, a total of nine children:

  • Jean-Paul "Nyiwa";
  • Ngombo;
  • Manda;
  • Konga;
  • Ngawali;
  • Yango;
  • Yakpwa;
  • Kongulu;
  • and Ndagbia.

She is buried in Rabat, Morocco.

Death

Marie-Antoinette died of heart failure on 22 October in Genolier, Switzerland, at the age of 36. A vast mausoleum was raised in her honor. She is buried in Gbadolite,just outside the chapel in which she was originally buried by her husband, relatives had to relocate her remains from the chapel because it was destroyed.

References
  1. Rich, Jeremy (2014). "Mobutu, Marie-Antoinette". Oxford African American Studies Center. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.50425. ISBN 9780195301731. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  2. "Destins de famille(s) – Jeune Afrique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). 2007-09-10. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
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