Moïse Katumbi

Moïse Katumbi was born on 28 December 1964 to a Congolese mother of Bemba and Yeke tribe and a Sephardic Jewish father from Greece, Nissim Soriano.[4] Katumbi's father, a Greek Sephardic Jew, fled Rhodes in 1938 with his two sisters after the introduction by the Italian fascist regime of the discriminatory Racial Laws (Rhodes had been under Italian occupation since 1912). He settled in Katanga, in the Congo, a Belgian colony at the time.[5][6] Katumbi's mother was of Kazembe royalty of the Lunda people. His grandfather was Mwata Kazembe XIV (Chief of the Lunda kingdom)[6][7] The family adopted the name Katumbi from a great-grandfather on his mother's side.[8] Katumbi grew up in the village of Kashobwe in the Congo[9] near Lake Mweru near the border of Zambia. His father was involved in the fishing trade.[4][6]

Katumbi studied at the Kiwele school of Lubumbashi and the Kapolowe mission.[10] He is married to Carine Katumbi.[11] His older half-brother is Raphael Katebe Katoto, a businessman and retired politician who was a member of RCD-Goma[12] and led a political party that opposed Congolese president Joseph Kabila in 2006.[7][13]

Katumbi is one of the wealthiest people in the DRC.[14][15] He has been the subject of two documentaries by director Thierry Michel: Katanga Business (2009)[4] and The Irresistible Rise of Moïse Katumbi (2014).[16]

Katumbi's career began in the fishing industry when he was 13.[8] He sold salted and fresh fish to the state-owned mining company Gécamines.[4][17] In 1987, he created the holding company Etablissement Katumbi to aggregate all of his business activities including mining, transportation, and food processing.[4] Katumbi founded MCK (Mining Company Katanga) in 1997, which specialized in mining and logistics and subcontracted for mining companies in the region, including Gécamines.[3][4][15] By 2015, the company had grown to 1900 employees and was a leading mining company in the country.[3] French company Necotrans bought MCK in November 2015 for an undisclosed amount.[3]

Around 2000, during the Second Congo War, Katumbi moved to Zambia, where he had business ties in transportation. He returned to the DRC in 2003 by invitation from President Kabila, who urged Katumbi to help fix the mining industry in Katanga.[13][17]

In 2006, Katumbi was elected as a deputy in the National Assembly.[7][13] He was the first democratically elected Governor of the Katanga Province in January 2007, receiving 94 votes out of 102.[8][10]

Katumbi's governance has been credited with bringing economic revival to the province through developing infrastructure, encouraging foreign investment with tax breaks and reduced government procedures, and targeting corruption.[18][26][27] Through Katumbi's efforts as governor, local taxes increased from $80 million in 2007 to more than $3 billion in 2014.[27][28] Annual revenues increased from 100 million in 2007 to 1.5 billion by 2013.[17]

Shortly after he took office as governor, Katumbi implemented an export ban for raw minerals, including cobalt, forcing major mining companies to either build processing plants in the province or pay a tax on the exported concentrate.[13][27][29] Under Katumbi, copper production increased from 8,000 metric tons in 2006 to more than 1 million tons in 2014.[28]

Along with mining, Katumbi focused on expanding other areas of the province's economy including the service industry, energy and agriculture.[8] He offered both free farmland and tax breaks for farmers to encourage food production. Reliance on imported food decreased 68% between 2006 and 2011. In 2014, the amount of food grown locally had tripled.[28]

The accomplishments of his administration included improving travel and commerce through the building or rebuilding more than 1,500 kilometers (approximately 30%) of roads and the increase in other infrastructure, including bridges, hospitals and schools. Access to clean water rose from 3% to 67% between 2007 and 2013.[8][17] Additionally, within 6 years, the number of children attending school increased from 400,000 in 2007 to 3 million in 2014.[13][17][28] The number of girls enrolled in school tripled.[17] Worker-focused initiatives included encouraging local mining companies to invest in growing crops for their employees and the banning of "unnecessary dismissal of employees".[13]

In September 2015, Katumbi resigned as governor and from his political party, the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy.[2][30] On 22 June 2016, he was convicted, in absentia, of selling a house that was not his and sentenced to 36 months in jail. This was seen as part of President Joseph Kabila's attempts to hold on to power.[31] In the spring of 2017, an ad hoc committee of the Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of the Congo headed by Bishop Félicien Mwanama Galumbulula of Luisa investigated the case, deemed its prosecution politically motivated, and recommended Katumbi be allowed to return to the DRC a free man.[32]

On 2 January 2018, Katumbi declared his candidacy for president for the 2018 DR Congo general election.[33] The next day, his home in Lubumbashi was surrounded by police who accused him of hiring mercenaries, which he denied.

On 12 March 2018, Katumbi officially launched his presidential campaign as well as his new political alliance, Ensemble pour le changement (Together for Change).[34]

On 9 May, Katumbi was accused of inciting rebellion against Kabila.[35] He was also accused of being behind the 2018 Équateur province Ebola virus outbreak.[36]

On 25 May, Katumbi discussed with fellow opposition presidential candidate Félix Tshisekedi at the Atlantic Council fielding a single opposition candidate.[37]

On 1 June, attackers burned posters of Katumbi in Lubumbashi, and attempted to attack Katumbi's residence.[38] The next day, it was revealed that the perpetrators were a mission sent by Kabila, who tried to kill Katumbi's relatives.[39]

On 9 June, Katumbi gave his first presidential campaign speech via Skype to thousands of supporters in Kinshasa.[40]

On 13 June, Katumbi was arrested at Zaventem Airport in Brussels for allegedly traveling with a fake passport while attempting to travel to Russia to attend the opening ceremony of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[41] He was later granted a temporary residence permit by the Belgian authorities. Katumbi discovered that Congolese authorities had canceled his passport while going through customs at Zaventem.[42]

On 3 August 2018, Katumbi was blocked from entering the DR Congo via the border with Zambia.[43] Those close to him are discussing with MONUSCO about Katumbi's return to the country before the presidential filing deadline on 10 August. He was greeted by thousands of his supporters in the Zambian portion of the town of Kasumbalesa, along the border with the DR Congo.[44]

On 4 August, it was announced that Katumbi would appear before the customs union to attempt to enter the country again.[45]

On 5 August, Katumbi's lawyer, Eric Dupond-Moretti, announced that he would attempt to reach out to the United Nations concerning Katumbi's denial of entry into the DR Congo.[46] The same day, Ensemble's secretary general Delly Sesanga announced that they would file for Katumbi to run for president even if he was not in the country.[47]

When the final list of retained candidate for the December 23rd election was out, his name was missing since he did not make it to return home and file for his candidature.

On 9 July 2021, lawmakers in the National Assembly introduced a bill that would restrict the presidency to Congolese nationals with two Congolese parents. This would make Katumbi ineligible to run in the 2023 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election as Katumbi's father is of Greek origin. [48]

In December 2021, Moïse Katumbi officially launched his political party in view of the 2023 presidential election.[49] On 13 July 2023, Chérubin Okende, former minister and spokesman of Katumbi's party, was shot dead in Kinshasa.[50]

Katumbi is generally viewed positively both in Katanga Province and nationally for both his development of the Katanga region and as president of TP Mazembe.[27] He is known for being generous, giving money directly to those who ask [4][17] and investing his own funds in social causes.[8]

The media has described Katumbi's public perception as being a "self-made man"[20][28] and a "man of the people".[18] In 2011, nearly one million people signed a petition asking Katumbi to remain governor after he said he planned to quit.[17]

In 2012 he was named one of "The 50 most influential Africans" by The Africa Report.[54] Jeune Afrique named him "African of the Year" in 2015.[3]

Media related to Moïse Katumbi at Wikimedia Commons