Leopoldville 1930s – Postcards from the Art Deco (V)

January 3, 2018, 9:30 pm

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This post continues the earlier Art Deco tour of Kinshasa. Click on the link below for the previous post.
Leopoldville 1930s - Post Cards from the Art Deco (IV)

25). Cie Industrielle Africaine Building. Heading north up Ave. Kasavubu, turn left onto Blvd. 30 Juin. On the right is an early structure built before the railroad tracks were transferred south, opening up the right of way for the construction of the Boulevard (Jan. 23,2011). An early photograph of the rail line shows the Compagnie Industrielle Africaine building, a company founded in 1928 in Elisabethville (Lubumbashi), but with representation in Leopoldville. The location looks correct, but the façades of the respective buildings don’t quite match. Perhaps a future find will illuminate. In any event, in the mid-2000s, the building housed the offices of the accounting firm, KPMG. Today, the façade is shrouded in one of the billboard sheets that cover many of the tall buildings in town – unloved and unknown.

View looking down the railway line - the Cie Industrielle Africaine building is at left.

The building housing the KPMG offices in 2006

The building today - "To tonga Congo" means "Let's build Congo" in Lingala.

26). Force Publique Depot. Further down the Boulevard, turn left onto Ave. Liberation (ex-24 Novembre and Josephine Charlotte) then right on Ave. Gombe to Ave. Forces Armees. The colonial army, the Force Publique maintained a supply depot here on the road leading to Camp Leopold II (Camp Kokolo). In July 2017, the completed reconstructed facility was inaugurated as the Collège des Hautes études de stratégie et de défense (CHESD).

The Force Publique Depot looking down Ave Prince de Liege toward the Boulevard.

The interior court of the Collège des Hautes études de stratégie et de défense (CHESD).

A few art deco inspired villas face Boulevard 30 Juin, but by the time the Boulevard was being extended towards what is now Rond Point Socimat, International Style and Tropical Modernism were in vogue.

A villa on Blvd. 30 Juin near Cimetiere de la Gombe

(27). Cotex Concession. At the end of the Boulevard Ave Mondjiba (Ave. Engels) begins at the former Utexleo (UtexAfrica) complex. The Cotex concession facing the French Embassy is a singular example of industrial art deco design.

The Cotex compound during the reconstruction of Ave. Mondjiba in 2011.

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Leopoldville 1930s – Postcards from the Art Deco (IV)

January 3, 2018, 9:35 pm

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This post continues the earlier Art Deco tour of Kinshasa. Click on the link below for the previous post.

Leopoldville 1930s - Post cards from the Art Deco III

(22). Bralima. From Avenue du Commerce, continue down Ave. Kabasele (Ave. Olsen) through Ndolo in Barumbu Commune, passing the Bralima Brewery, whose Art Deco entrance was demolished in the 2000s.

The entrance to the Brewery in the 1940s

An Art Deco Bralima building looking down Ave. Kabasele Tshamala

(23). Sabena Guest House. Just after the elevated railroad bridge, on the left is the former Sabena Guest house, now the Socogitel Guest House. The owner is currently refurbishing the property in the original style. The original Sabena Guest House was built in 1937 to provide lodging for flight crews making the four-day flight from Belgium (Mar. 29, 2011). Passengers, as well, were put up for the night prior to connecting to domestic flights to interior destinations.

The Sabena Guest House Restaurant

The restaurant today.

The restaurant with the original tables.

(24). Stade Malula (Stade Reine Astrid). Continue down Ave. Kabasele Tshamala towards Ndolo Airport. Turn right onto Ave Kabambare. At the intersection of Ave. Kasavubu (Ave. Prince Baudouin) the Catholic Church built Stade Reine Astrid in 1937 (Feb. 6, 2011). This was the main sports venue in the capital until Stade Baudouin (Stade Tata Raphael) was built in 1952.

Stade Astrid in the 1940s - a Congolese athlete receiving a trophy

The Stadium from the street.

The Stade buildings where various sports associations have offices

Follow the link to the next post:

Leopoldville 1930s - Post cards from the Art Deco (V)

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Leopoldville 1952 – Message in a Pepsi Bottle

March 25, 2018, 4:09 am

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While walking around the American School (TASOK) campus on Mont Ngaliema a few months ago, I turned up a glass bottle embedded in the soil. It was a Pepsi-Cola bottle, but Pepsi-Cola is no longer produced in Kinshasa. It definitely ended up there after purchase at the student store, but when and how it found its way into the woods, intact, rather than as part of the trash piles tossed into the forest at different times, was intriguing.

A couple years ago, I researched a piece on the breweries in Kinshasa (June 12, 2015) and this find seemed to suggest the soft drink scene could use a look. Who knows what threads this inquiry might weave into a story?

As early as 1913, a French company, Georges Fabre et Cie, produced soda water, ice and flavored syrups in Kinshasa. It also operated a cinema distribution network.

Prior to World War II, the Brasserie de Leopoldville produced bottled water and soft drinks for the local market. In 1933, when Regideso was just beginning to provide piped, treated water to the municipality, a Brasserie advertisement urged people to drink the brewery’s bottled water, sodas and limonades to protect against epidemics.

Advertisement in the Etoile de l'AEF, Feb. 2, 1933

Bottle labels from a selection of soft drinks

In 1947, a bottle factory, “Bouteillerie de Leopoldville” was established by the Brasserie de Leopoldville with support from Heineken. The factory opened on Ave. du Camp Militaire (Ave Sgt. Moke) in November 1949. The new company contracted with A.W. Schmid of Pittsburgh, Pa. to oversee the installation and launching of the glass-making operation.

A view of the Boukin plant.

In the 1950s, two American firms looked at the Congo market and decided to invest bigtime. One was the US giant, Coca-Cola, which franchised its brand and secret recipe to the Ste. Congolaise des Boissons in 1950. The primary investor was the Sucrière du Bas Congo, the sugar plantation established at Moerbeke-Kwilu. Other investors included companies which were also part of the ultimate colonial holding company, the Société Générale de Belgique (SGB), including Profrigo, Cie. du Kasai and Belgo-Katanga, as well as an American firm called Industrial Sales Corp, the arm of the Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l’Industrie in the US, another SGB holding. Maurice Michaux, who operated a major grocery and food importing company in Leopoldville also subscribed to several shares. The plant opened in 1956 at 28 Ave. Olsen (Kabasele Tshamala), the road to Ndolo Airport, not far from where the US Consulate was located at the time (See Jan. 29, 2011).

Patrice Lumumba leaving a rally at a bar in Leopoldville in 1960 (possibly the OK Bar on Ave Itaga)

Rival US bottler, Pepsi Cola, conducted a prospecting survey in Congo in 1948 but opted initially to focus on East Africa. It came to Congo in 1952 under the auspices of Maurice Alhadeff, a naturalized American citizen originally from Rhodes who moved to Leopoldville from Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) in 1949 where he ran a string of businesses. In Leopoldville, he developed a number business interests, including ready-to-wear clothing affordable to the Congolese consumer (Aug. 5, 2011). Pepsi built its bottling plant on Ave. Charles De Gaulle (Ave du Commerce), in the main commercial district. Pepsi-Cola International launched a $75 million ad campaign in Africa at this time in which even local drums in Belgian Congo were tagged with the Pepsi logo. In 1957, Pepsi’s CEO, Alfred Steele visited Africa, stopping in Leopoldville on the way to Johannesburg with his wife, the actress Joan Crawford. Alhadeff facilitated their visit and presented the couple with a wood carving from his extensive collection. The following year, Alhadeff provided Pepsis for the kids at the Fourth of July party organized by American Men’s Club.

An order for bottle caps.

Alhadeff (r.) at the Pepsi plant

King Baudouin visits Leopoldville in 1955.
The Pepsi-Cola and Martini neon signs were visible from Stanley Monument 10 kilometers away.

Another investor in the soft drink market was the Compagnie Coloniale Belge, also known as PEK, which operated a prestigious retail store on Ave Beernaert (See Nov. 9, 2011). This firm established a Canada Dry plant on Ave Olsen, just up the street from the Coca Cola bottler. The Brasserie de Leopoldville, for its part, came out with a tangerine flavored drink called “Verigoud”. The new Bracongo Brewery, established in 1954, came out with a line of soft drinks called “Bako” later “Djino” and now “World Cola”.

A body-builder at the Funa Club holding a Verigoud bottle. A Jean Depara photo.

In addition to his business ventures, Maurice Alhadeff was an important patron of Congolese artists. He provided aspiring carvers and painters with tools and materials and then purchased their work. He advocated for a national museum and art institute to house the voluminous collection of traditional artifacts collected by the Musée de Vie Indigene (Sep. 12, 2011). He supported, among others, Nkusu Felelo, Francois Thango and Bela. In 1957, when the future President of the post-independence Senate, Isaac Kalonji, was preparing for an exposure trip to the United States, Alhadeff presented him with a painting by Albert Mongita to offer to President Eisenhower. Just prior to Independence in June 1960, my father met Alhadeff when he purchased of checked shirts and denim jeans for an Independence event and we received a mask and a carving from his extensive collection.

Maurice Alhadeff in his office.

Shortly after Congo’s Independence, the U.S. State Department organized a good will cultural tour through West and Central Africa, headlining the jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong and his All Stars band. In 1957, Armstrong cancelled a tour sponsored by the State Department to the Soviet Union, faulting the Federal Government’s lack of response to Governor Orval Faubus’ defiance of the Supreme Court’s desegregation order in Arkansas. Now with the “winds of change” bringing Independence to most of the colonial possessions on the continent, Armstrong accepted a joint sponsorship by the State Department and Pepsi Cola International. Louis arrived in Leopoldville by ferry from Brazzaville on October 28, 1960 with his spouse Lucille.

Albert Mongita, now Director of Cultural Affairs for the Congolese government, met the Armstrongs in traditional costume at the ferry landing. Things were tense. The country was in the midst of a constitutional crisis; President Kasavubu and Prime Minister Lumumba had sacked each in September and Joseph Mobutu had staged his first coup to neutralize the two. The United Nations peace-keeping mission was trying to find its footing and a rash of strikes were crippling both the public and private sector. There were food shortages in the city and across the country, as well. Armstrong and his band claimed to have stopped the war for 24 hours – hyperbole perhaps -- but the concert in Stade Baudouin certainly did bring out the crowds from the city.

Albert Mongita greets Armstrong at the FIMA beach. Lucille is behind Armstrong on the right.

The FIMA ferry in July 1960 during the mass exodus of expatriates after Independence.

Armstrong carried into Stade Baudouin on a modernized Tipoy.

At the end of June 1961, Congo’s first anniversary of Independence, the Miss Leo 1961 pageant was organized in Parc De Bock across from the Zoo (Feb. 6, 2011). Bracongo Breweries (Polar) sponsored the Negro Success band, Pepsi sponsored the Jecokat orchestra while Canada Dry paid for the announcement in the Courier d’Afrique newspaper.

Advertisement for the Miss Leo 1961 pageant in the Courier d'Afrique newspaper.

Miss Leo 1961 - her card says "La nouvelle bouteille Hostesse"

The following September, Pepsi Cola sponsored an exhibit of Congolese artists at its headquarters in New York City, which featured some of Alhadeff’s protégés, including six pieces by Francois Thango. Some critics charged that Alhadeff was only generating more knock-offs for the tourist trade, but international recognition of some of his artists demonstrated that finding talent required a large net.

Market scene by Thango

The Ivory Market at Place Braconnier.

The Ivory Market in the early 1960s - note several UN soldiers looking for bargains.

After Independence, the soda bottlers continued to expand their production in response to the burgeoning Kinshasa market. By 1970, the Coca Cola bottler recorded sales up 59% from the previous year. The Pepsi plant, Boissons Nationales, had a daily production of 3,600 cases. The Zairianization in November 1973 presented a problem for Pepsi. Ostensibly an international corporation and exempt from the nationalization measures, it was a franchise of the Alhadeff interests. Alhadeff had died in 1972, but the family incorporated American Alhadeff in Delaware in an attempt to protect the family investments.

A sidewalk cafe outside the Diacomichalis building on Boulevard Albert.

Another Jean Depara photo taken outside the Afro Negro Night Club on Ave De Gaulle.

The independent bottlers were in the crux of market forces. Canada Dry (Mineral Kin) does not appear to have survived the Zairianization in 1974. Coca-Cola, now Indus Boissons, was acquired by Bralima in 1992 and Pepsi’s Bonal in 1998. The Coca-Cola brand is everywhere in Kinshasa, but Pepsi disappeared from the market (except for imported canned drinks). New players include Industrie des Boissons au Congo, operating out of the former Bata shoe factory on Ave. des Poids Lourds (the fate of that company another story in itself). In addition to producing the new Coke Zero on the local market, Bralima’s primary innovation is upscale marketing of the Vital’O grenadine soda.

Bralima's Vital'O on Ave. Lukusa.

Entrance to the old Pepsi plant on Ave. du Commerce. The detail in the guardhouse on the right attests to its former glory.

Pepsi crate as a TV stand for a sentinelle's post.

I took my bottle to Boukin, the successor to the Bouteillerie de Leopoldville, to see if they could identify my bottle. The people I talked to were skeptical. We only produce bottles for Bralima and each one should have the Heineken star on it, they said. The most senior guy had worked for the company 20 years. Returning home, I found a diamond shape with a five-pointed star on the bottom of the bottle. Not discouraged, I found someone who could connect me with a former manager of the factory. He explained that Boukin has operated uninterrupted since its founding and was purchased by Heineken in 1988. During its 70-year history, Bouleo-Boukin produced all the glass beverage bottles in Kinshasa, including Pepsi and other competitors, as well as for the pharmaceutical industry. My bottle would have been produced at Boukin and judging from the style of the logo, probably made in the 1970s.

A selection of Boukin's production on display.

Today, plastic competes with glass on the Kinshasa soft drink market and one can even buy Bralima beverages in glass bottles retail without a deposit. Sing the praises of returnables. Kinshasa’s storm drains and water channels choke with plastic detritus.

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Leopoldville 1943 – Diamonds and the War Effort

March 31, 2015, 6:29 pm

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In the summer of 1943, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the CIA, placed an agent code-named “Teton” in Leopoldville. In real life a Michigander of Belgian descent named Antoine George Nader, he presented himself as Dr. Wilbur Hogue, on a mission to identify young Americans of draft age. His real assignment was to figure out what was happening to Congo’s diamond production, so critical to the Allied war effort, but which had suddenly dropped by an amount equivalent to the stones sold to Germany before the War. The OSS suspected someone was clandestinely smuggling the diamonds out of the country to the Third Reich.

The Congo diamond region

To legitimize his credentials and get some leads, Hogue stopped by the Institut de Medecine Tropicale Reine Astrid on Ave. Tombeur to consult an OSS informant, Dr. Adrien VanBrutsaert, who was working on a cure for sleeping sickness. VanBrutsaert suggested Hogue take a room at the Hotel ABC (See Mar. 27, 2011) and spend time in the bar, which always saw a steady traffic of locals and visitors of various stripes and origins. Hogue checked into the ABC and shaved his mustache, which he felt made him look too much like a spy.

Dr. VanBrutsaert's laboratory

Later that evening, Hogue took a place at the bar, playing with the tame python that liked to curl around patrons’ ankles.

From behind he heard a breathy voice, “You look new to Congo”. Crossing the room was a knockout blonde. “Virginie Mayonnez”, she said, offering her hand, “I work at the Free French Consulate”. Hogue introduced himself using his official cover story. “You won’t find many suitable boys for your army here”, Virginie responded, “most of them are missionary kids and spend their time making pets of exotic animals from the jungle”.

Hogue sensed another presence at his elbow. “Monsieur”, said the man in uniform, “Commissaire Smoutenbol of the Leopoldville Police. You must come to our office tomorrow to complete some formalities. Just routine, of course”.

After the policeman left, Hogue asked, “Can we have dinner tomorrow?”. “But of course”, answered Virginie, “Meet me at the Café de la Paix at 8:00”.

The bar at the Hotel A.B.C.

When Hogue arrived at the Police Station the next morning, he found Virginie, Commissaire Smoutenbol and several sunburned-looking men loitering on the verandah. It looked as though they had just come out of a meeting. They dispersed and Virginie left without even acknowledging him. Hogue completed three sheets of official forms for Smoutenbol, who duly stamped and initialed each page.

The Leopoldville Police Station

Virginie was waiting for Hogue at the Café de la Paix. She explained that Smoutenbol had been meeting with a delegation of cotton planters from Kasai Province. One of them was French and had a draft-age son, so the policeman had called her in for that. “But, there seems to be something more going on with them than just the cotton harvest”, observed Virginie.

While they were waiting for their drinks, a tall man in a white suit stopped by their table. He flirted with Virginie, reminding her that his offer of a sightseeing flight over Stanley Pool was still on the table.

“That’s Zamboni”, she explained to Hogue after the man left. “He runs a small trucking company, but he just got a new aeroplane. No one knows how he managed that, considering military priorities these days.” Sensing Virginie could be trusted with a little insight into the true nature of his mission in Leopoldville, Hogue opined that he was interested in knowing more about the Kasai economy. She suggested he talk with a Congolese nurse, Albert Monganga.

Virginie and Hogue at the Cafe de la Paix

Monganga was an “Assistant Medical”, highly trained and with years of experience, but in the segregated society of the Belgian Congo, could never become a doctor. Hogue found him at the Municipal Hygiene office on Ave. Wanson near the Zoo (See Feb. 6, 2011). Explaining his recommendation from Mlle. Mayonnez, Hogue embarked on a convoluted exposition concerning missionary kids, the war effort and the Kasai economy. Did Monganga have any thoughts on the matter? “I have heard that there are a lot of visitors these days at the ‘Petit Chutes’ outside town, the Chutes de la Lukaya.” Monganga replied, “You might want to take a look there”.

Albert Monganga directs Hogue to the Chutes de la Lukaya

The next morning Hogue took a small launch up the Lukaya to the falls. As he approached the beach, a shot ricocheted off the metal roof of his little steamer. Hogue steered into the papyrus and circled round to the thicket where the gunshot had come from.

Hogue approaching the Chutes de la Lukaya

Suddenly, someone jumped him from behind. Hogue threw the man off and picked up a large rock. Something told him this was no time for subtlety. “What do you know about the diamonds?” he roared.

“Commissaire Smoutenbol has organized a smuggling ring.” his attacker groaned miserably, “The planters bring the diamonds to town when they come on business and Zamboni flies them out of the country”. Hogue tied the man up and sent him floating down the Lukaya in his row-boat.

Hogue fends off his attacker

Getting to the truth

Back at the Hotel ABC in Leopoldville, Hogue sent a message detailing the entire smuggling operation to OSS Headquarters on a special transmitter provided to him by the spy agency. “CONGO CROSSING DIFFICULT PERIOD IN WAR EFFORT…” it began. Just as he finished transmitting, Virginie knocked on the door and entered with Albert Monganga. Without elaborating, she looked him in the eyes, saying, “You have done a great service to the Allied war effort”. Suddenly, a shot crashed through the door, just missing Monganga. Hogue grabbed his agency-issued semi-automatic. “Who is it?” he growled.

Hogue's room at the Hotel A.B.C. (note special transmitting equipment at left)

Zamboni pushed open the door and entered, pistol at the ready. “I see you met my friends at the falls”, he stated. “You’re clever, and good with your hands. You should join my company. I could pay you very handsomely”, he said, flashing a wad of bills.

“Get out of here”, snapped Hogue, “your kind will never succeed”.

M. Zamboni offers a deal

The next morning, Hogue received a terse response from headquarters. “ALLIED PARTNERS WARY OF COMPROMISING KEY STRATEGIC INTERESTS IN WAR RESOURCES EFFORT. MAKE NO FURTHER INQUIRIES, SUSPEND ALL INVESTIGATIONS INTO ILLICIT DIAMOND BUYING”. Bitterly disappointed, Hogue packed up his transmitter.

In the afternoon, dressed in his best suit and pith helmet, he took a taxi to Ndolo airport (See Jan. 27, 2014) where he saw Zamboni walking to his plane carrying a large case. The diamonds! Enraged at the ease of it all, he whipped out his pistol. “Zamboni!” he yelled, then thought better of it. Duty first. “Have a nice flight” was all he could muster.

Zamboni boarding his plane at Ndolo airport

Sources:

Roberts, Janine, 2007. Glitter and Greed.
Mwana Mboka, 2015. Poisson d'Avril.

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Leopoldville 1922 - Office du Travail Created

April 8, 2018, 4:06 am

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Kinshasa’s city hall, the Hotel de Ville, is getting a new annex. The four-story building on Ave. Ebeya, launched in November 2014 with a 9-month construction time frame, includes interior parking for 30 vehicles, offices for the Governor and Vice-Governor and conference facilities on the top floor. An air bridge will connect the new structure with the original building. Critics charged that the municipal authorities were planning to sell the existing structure to a third party. Robert Luzolanu, Provincial Minister of Plan, Budget and Infrastructure denied these allegations, arguing the emblematic building “embodies the identity of Kinshasa”.

The Hotel de Ville with the new annex at left

The Hotel de Ville was originally built for the Office du Travail de Leopoldville (Offitra), a labor bureau established in November 1922 to recruit workers for large public works projects around Leopoldville (Moyen-Congo) and the reconstruction of the railway between Matadi and Leopoldville (Bas-Congo). The three-story building towered over the rest of the cité as it existed at the time. The number of laborers recruited and housed at Offitra’s camp at Ndolo grew from 934 in 1923 to 5,108 in 1925. Pneumonia, meningitis and venereal disease were chronic health threats and Offitra organized vaccination campaigns to immunize its workers against these diseases. It was at this time, as well, that the Red Cross established its clinic in the cité to treat venereal disease in the growing municipality(See Mar. 1, 2014).

The Office du Travail shortly after construction.

Offitra shortly after construction - looking east down Ave. Cambier (now Ave. Ebeya)

The same view with image reversed.

In 1934, following the centralization reforms of 1933, the new District Urbain, as the municipal government was termed, moved into the building. Local government functions established here managed the entire urban district. A Comité Urbain named by the Governor General, drawn from the elite ranks of the business community, decided urban development priorities under a Commissaire de District Urbain, a senior member of the Territorial Administration.

The District Urbain with the Leopoldville coat of arms hanging from the second floor.

The District Urbain - late 1930s

Looking east on Ave. Cambier - note exterior stairs prior to construction of an extension in the 1950s.

In the years approaching Independence, the District building became known as the Service de la Population Blanche, attending to the European population residing in Ngaliema, Gombe and Limete Communes, while the African jurisdictions of the city were managed by the Service de la Population Noire built in 1951 near what is now the Stade des Martyrs. After the Communal Elections in 1957, a Belgian Premier Bourgmestre presided over a Conseil de Ville at the Hotel de Ville which included Congolese Bourgmestres from the newly-created Communes.

The Hotel de Ville with extension at right.

The former Population Noire is now the Ministry of Sports

After Independence in 1960, the Hotel de Ville managed the entire municipality that came to cover 24 Communes by 1968. Administratively, Kinshasa became both a municipality (Ville) and a province within the national provincial structure established by Mobutu after his take-over coup in 1965.

The Hotel de Ville in the 1970s

The Hotel de Ville in 2006

An earlier annex behind the Hotel de Ville - this structure is visible in the Office du Travail photo at top.

On February 26, 2011, Kinshasa Governor Kimbuta inaugurated a three-story Provincial Office building a few blocks west of the Hotel de Ville on Ave. Ebeya. At the time, Minister Luzolanu asserted that this new facility addressed all existing space constraints at the Hotel de Ville. However, three years later, the city decided to build the Annex and requested a waiver from national competition to award construction to a company called COVEC (China Overseas Engineering Group) in order to address urgent space constraints faced by the municipality. Critics questioned why a comparable building for the Hotel de Province cost $4 million while cost for the Annex was announced at $6 million. As of this writing, the construction fences are still up around the new building.

The new annex viewed from the Place du Marche

The Annex under construction

Sources:

Agence d’Information d’Afrique Centrale, Nov. 18, 2014. http://www.adiac-congo.com/content/kinshasa-lancement-des-travaux-dextension-du-batiment-de-lhotel-de-ville-23557

Kongo Times, July 23, 2014. http://afrique.kongotimes.info/rdc/echos-kinshasa/7851-gouvernorat-kinshasa-alerte-voleur.html

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Leopoldville 1944 – Cape Dutch Houses

July 1, 2018, 7:12 am

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This photo by J. Costa for Congopresse in 1944 shows a Cape Dutch-style villa facing Ave. Tombeur de Tabora (later Tombalbaye, now Tabu Ley). It was built as a set of four for Otraco’s European managers in the block bounded by Aves. Comfina, Kasai and Strauch in the transport company’s extensive concession southwest of the Gare Centrale. Similar structures in a different style were built between the four. To my knowledge, they are the unique structures in Kinshasa of this architectural style (which is more prevalent in Bukavu and Lubumbashi), except perhaps the Compagnie Coloniale du Congo’s PEK building on Ave. Beernaert (Equateur) (Nov. 11, 2011).

Ave. Tombeur at the corner of Ave. Belgika (Ave. Lokele).

The PEK building in 2004 housed the offices of Hewa Borwa Airlines.

Another contemporary photograph shows the neat white structures facing the street with a mature Malebo palm in front of one. In 2006, I offered a copy this photo to the owner of one of the houses in exchange for photographing it, and it took a bit of charm and persuasion before she acceded to such a bizarre request.

The Cape Dutch structures anchored the 4 corners of the block. A different model was built in between.

A view of the house from the gate.

Front entrance detail.

Three years later, the Wikinshasa team (see Sources, below) captured the house from the upper floors of one of the Onatra apartments across the street, showing some repairs under way and the trunk of a large Baobab tree lying on the ground. The researchers estimated the buildings were constructed in 1925-26, which would be consistent with other construction in the area at that time as the city’s commercial district moved south from the railway line (now Blvd. 30 Juin (Jan. 23, 2011).

The house in 2009 at the corner of Ave. Tombalbaye and Kasai.

The house from the side.

Recently, the Roi du Cossa restaurant opened in the house on the corner of Ave. Lokele. The Portuguese restaurant, a long-time purveyor of the best fresh-water shrimp (Cossa) in Kinshasa, had to move from its location on Ave. Mpolo to make way for another high rise. The old restaurants was in a non-descript colonial building with a now-enclosed wraparound porch. The new place fairly screams, “come in and get your Cossas!”. The owners knocked out several interior walls to create a large dining area, but kept the original facade intact.

Who can resist?

The former restaurant on Ave. Mpolo.

Ave. Tabu Ley is under reconstruction. Once it is completed, the street may provide the buildings some of the cachet of the original photo.

Looking east on Ave. Tabu Ley at Ave. Kasai.

Sources:

Wikinshasa.org. This website is one of the premier sources historic images of Kinshasa and their description. Commissioned by the French Embassy, the inventory was carried out between 2009-2010 under the direction of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication in collaboration with the Bureau d’Etude, d’Amenagement et d’Urbanisme (BEAU) and the Monuments and Sites section of the Institute of National Museums of Congo in Kinshasa. Link to the houses: http://www.wikinshasa.org/index.php/Lotissement_de_maisons_dites_hollandaises

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2018 Kinshasa - Mwana Mboka at large

July 21, 2018, 11:57 am

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Remember, you first heard from Mwana Mboka at this site. Pretenders will be dealt with gently.

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Leopoldville 1943 – Diamonds and the War Effort

March 31, 2015, 6:29 pm

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The Congo diamond region

Dr. VanBrutsaert's laboratory

Later that evening, Hogue took a place at the bar, playing with the tame python that liked to curl around patrons’ ankles.

After the policeman left, Hogue asked, “Can we have dinner tomorrow?”. “But of course”, answered Virginie, “Meet me at the Café de la Paix at 8:00”.

The bar at the Hotel A.B.C.

The Leopoldville Police Station

Virginie and Hogue at the Cafe de la Paix

Albert Monganga directs Hogue to the Chutes de la Lukaya

Hogue approaching the Chutes de la Lukaya

Suddenly, someone jumped him from behind. Hogue threw the man off and picked up a large rock. Something told him this was no time for subtlety. “What do you know about the diamonds?” he roared.

Hogue fends off his attacker

Getting to the truth

Hogue's room at the Hotel A.B.C. (note special transmitting equipment at left)

“Get out of here”, snapped Hogue, “your kind will never succeed”.

M. Zamboni offers a deal

Zamboni boarding his plane at Ndolo airport

Sources:

Roberts, Janine, 2007. Glitter and Greed.
Pevney, Joseph, 2015. Poisson d'Avril.

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Kinshasa 2018 – Former US Consulate Identified

August 2, 2018, 11:56 am

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In a post a few years back (Feb. 2, 2012), I reported my surprise at finding a photo of the first US Consulate in Leopoldville, located in a well-known landmark building on Place Leopold (aka Place Salongo and or Nioki). The Consulate closed soon afterwards as a consequence of Depression era budget cuts and did not reopen until 1934. In the records I’ve consulted to date, there is no indication where the new Consulate might have been. We know that Vice Consul Patrick Mallon hosted a reception at the Consulate for the Pan American flying boat crew in November 1941 (Apr.27, 2013) and another reference indicates that the Consulate moved to new premises in May 1943.

The Credit Foncier Africain building - State Department seal on left corner of the building.

During the Second World War, the US stepped up its presence in the capital to support the broader war effort. The Belgian Congo was so strategic, that in addition to the Consulate, the Bureau of Economic Warfare (BEW, later the Foreign Economic Administration, predecessor of USAID), the Office of War Information (OWI, predecessor of US Information Agency) and even the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, predecessor of the CIA) opened offices in the city. At the same time, at the end of 1941, Pan American Airways, under contract to the US Government, launched an air route from New York serviced by Clipper flying boats. The following year, the US Army dispatched a construction battalion to upgrade Ndolo Airport for land based aircraft (May 23, 2011), as well as the 23rd Army Station Hospital, to ensure an alternative trans-Africa route to India and China if North Africa fell to Axis forces. The US Army, BEW and OSS obtained properties on Ave. Gen. Olsen provided by the colonial government under terms of the Lend-Lease agreement. Although this was an industrial area behind the rail yards of the Gare Centrale, it was conveniently located to the airport. The OSS managed a succession of agents engaged in a clandestine effort to prevent Germany gaining access to Congo’s uranium by investigating illicit diamond sales.

US Troops on parade in 1942

The Consulate moved in May 1943 to the premises recently vacated by the US Army on Ave. Olsen (Kabasele Tshamala). At the same time, the Colony granted a 1 acre (71 hectare) plot to build a Consulate. Already, the State Department was budgeting for new facilities. In February 1943, Frederick Larkin, the Director of State’s Office of Foreign Buildings, testified before the House Appropriations Committee that Leopoldville was one of eight projects, “in very bad condition”. The following year, when the Consulate was raised to Consulate General, Larkin travelled to Leopoldville to begin preparing plans for the new Consul’s residence on the River. It was now one of 10 priority projects around the world and the Executive Office of Management and Budget planned for a completely furnished combined consulate and staff living quarters.

The process of building a new Consulate took a long time and appears to have been sidelined to other priorities. In 1951 the House Appropriations Committee was still presented with a combination office building and staff quarters in the planning stages. By now, however, the Consulate owned a lot at Ave. Aviateurs and Wahis, the site of the football pitch used by Ste. Anne (where the Consulate would eventually be built), and held two other residential properties on Ave Leopold (Tshatshi) and Blvd. Albert (30 Juin). But no construction had started.

The lot at Aviateurs and Wahis in the 1930s (center right). Ste. Anne in the foreground.

Student gymnastics in the lot in front of Ste. Anne.

US Consulate property in Kalina.

Meanwhile, the Consulate offices remained on Avenue Olsen. The Consulate was lodged rent tree under terms of the Lend-Lease Agreement, but neither the Belgian nor US governments were prepared to do anything to improve the property. A missionary couple who visited in 1952 described the Consulate as, “a small office in a shabby orchre-colored building.” In August 1953, Consul Patrick Mallon (on his second tour, now Consul General) described the public perception of the Consulate as,

"a joke, and I am frankly ashamed, humiliated, when anyone other than a native comes into the office and sees the filth and squalor, the absurdly overcrowded conditions and the general tone of the office which can be best described as 'rotten'".

The consulate was in an industrial neighborhood on an "unbelievably rough cobblestone street", and on two sides of the compound were a soap factory and a chemical plant. Trucks carrying beer and soda bottles from the Brasserie de Leopoldville (June 12, 2015) clattered by in both directions -- with full and empties. Five of eleven consular officers (some with families) lived in three adjacent properties. In August 1956, a visitor noted a new Consulate was under design to replace the "rattletrap: that now housed the Consulate and the US Information Agency. A Consular officer described the premises in 1958 as, "an acient wooden house, a decrepit construction, standing seemingly on its last legs, while we waited for a new office building to be completed.

The Sabena Guest House on the road to the airport. Note the cobblestone street.

The Department’s budget for 1954 acknowledged a property on Ave de la Raquette, the actual site of the Residence, and estimated the cost of construction of an office building at $220,000. By 1955 the Consular Residence was complete and the Department could concentrate on the Consulate. The new Consulate was inaugurated by Governor General Petillon in January 1958 (Jan. 29, 2011).

The new US Consulate in 1959.

The location of the former Consulate remained elusive. A guidebook from 1953 listed the Chancery at Ave. Olsen and a letter on USIS letterhead provided a street address of 25 Olsen (I could digress here to note that Kinshasa parcels can have any of three different numbering systems, and many gates have no numbers at all. But another time). It seemed the Consulate would have been located at the junction of Ave Syndicat, but when visited earlier this year, a wooden “rattletrap” was not apparent and the wall around the compound precluded further investigation. A reader of this blog (who incidentally arrived in Kinshasa in 1956 as I did) shared a photograph from the era. This weekend I went down Ave. Kabasele to the site and was pleased to confirm the location against the photograph. Whatever the complaints about a rattletrap wooden building, the structure behind the wall is clearly a 1940s structure. Certainly not “rattletrap” at the time of occupation by the Consulate. It appears staff were indulging in chronic complaining about their posting, or perhaps referring to outbuildings on the property.

US Consulate on Ave. Olsen 1950s (note cobblestone street)

The US Consulate site today.

On the way to the old Consulate, I passed through Pl. Forescom with the new Congolese Armed Forces Monument in the roundabout. A crane with a wrecking ball was taking down the remains of the CFA building. When I returned later that afternoon, it was gone. Congolese authorities, and certainly commercial interests, have no motivation in preserving the first US Consulate in Kinshasa, but the building had architectural merit in its own right. The rond point is changing. Bralima and the owners of the Forescom building seem committed to permanently draping the building in beer billboards. Across the way, another modern wedge-shaped structure sits where Chez Patrick Restaurant used to be. How the new developer’s plans fit into the circle remain to be seen.

The CFA building in 2002

The wrecking ball at work. New building facing the corner of Ave du Port.

The Armed Forces monument. CFA building behind billboard on right.

The Forescom building 2018.

References:

Lawrence, 1972, American Foreign Service Journal.
Liturgical Arts, 1956
U.S. Congress, House, 1943. Appropriations Committee.
U.S. Congress, Senate, 1955. Appropriations Committee.
U.S. Congress, Senate, 1956. Appropriations Committee.
Williams, Susan, 2016. Spies in the Congo.

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Leopoldville 1928 - The Royals Visit

August 21, 2018, 5:33 pm

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Ninety years ago, at the end of June 1928, King Albert and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium visited Leopoldville. The city was selected to replace Boma as the capital of the Belgian Congo in 1923, but the formal move would not take place until October of the following year when Governor Tilkens officially took residence in the city. The activities of the royal visit provide a snapshot in time of the city’s development and foreshadowed some of its future development.

Kinshasa port, commercial district and cite in the 1920s

The royal couple arrived by train from Kisantu on June 27. They had flown from Boma to Thysville (Mbanza Ngungu) to avoid a Yellow Fever epidemic at the railhead in Matadi. From there, they continued by rail to visit the Botanical Gardens at Kisantu and then on to Leopoldville. At that time, the railway line ran down what is now Blvd. du 30 Juin and the Gare was located where the Regina Hotel stood, opposite Place Braconnier (Jan. 23,2011). Kolonga Molei, journalist and first editor of the news magazine “Zaire” in 1971, recalled at three years old, sitting on his father’s shoulders watching all the white people in their white uniforms and suits and sun helmets, and the tallest of them (Albert) on whom everyone was focused.

Every aspect of the visit was choreographed with great ceremony to impress upon the Congolese the link that bound them to the metropole. They might have a traditional chief, but Albert was their King.

The King and Queen alighting from the train in Leopoldville

Another view of the train station in 1925 when Prince Leopold III visited

The building on the right above facing the Place Braconnier was the Banco de Angola

The King and Queen’s visit was extensively documented by photographer Casimir Zagourski, a Polish exile who set up shop in Leopoldville in 1924 (July 12, 2014). Dozens of his images were reproduced as postcards. However, after a commemorative album was published without his permission, in compensation, the Colonial Ministry commissioned 500 photographs showcasing the accomplishments of the colonial mission – ports, railway lines, hospitals, mission stations, and plantations. There was also an African photographer during the royals’ visit. He shows up in the Zagourski images, so it is not clear if he was an independent or one of Zagourski’s team.

A souvenir packet of Zagourski's photos

The Royal party at the Provincial Governor's Residence. African photographer on right.

Albert leaving the Texaf textile mill. African photographer on right documenting the event.

Zagourski photo of the crowd along the parade route

June 29, Albert visited the installations at Texaf and ceremonially switched on the machines in the new “salle des batteurs” which transformed Congolese cotton into thread (July 3, 2011). The Texaf Director, Joseph Rhodius, assured that notwithstanding the doubts of some, Congolese workers could produce quality output if well supported. He promised to present the Queen the first bobbin of thread and first piece of fabric, expected to be produced by December. Texaf was the first major industry in the city, going beyond its primary role as a transportation nexus and administrative center. In 1928, as well, the colony ceded the port installations at Leopoldville to a private company, the Chantier Naval et Industriel du Congo (Chanic), which Albert also visited.

Leaving the Texaf building.

Texaf in 2016 - The textile mill has closed and the extensive plant is now repurposed as office space.

The King visits a barge under construction at Chanic

On Saturday, June 30, the Royal couple met with the movers and shakers of the city, beginning with the Comité Urbain, an advisory body chaired by the Commissaire de District. Responding to Commissaire Wauters’ address, the King expressed his approval of initiatives to drain the wetlands on the periphery of the city and the recent provision of piped water. They next met with the Chamber of Commerce, many of whose members sat on the Comité Urbain. Here, the King admonished them not only to serve their constituents, but to make recommendations to Government which would contribute to the overall development of the Colony. Albert also presided over the inauguration of the new Chamber offices launched by Prince Leopold during his visit in 1925. Finally, a reception was held in their honor at the Cercle de Leopoldville, known informally as the “Cercle des Nobles” for its exclusive character.

Stopping in front of the District Building on Ave Cambier. The Marche Coupole in the background

Leaving the Chamber of Commerce

At the Cercle de Leopoldville

Today the Cercle building is occupied by the Traffic Police. The back of the original building faces Blvd. 30 Juin.

Sunday morning, a brief Te Deum mass was held at Ste. Anne prior to departing for the new administrative district of Kalinato inaugurate the monument to Leopold II, Albert’s father. The site on Kalina Point formed the base of the fan of streets where the Governor General’s residence was to be built (Sept. 12, 2011). Although an architectural competition was held for the Residence in 1928, it was never built due to Depression era budget cuts (Jan. 17, 2012). The equestrian statue of Leopold was an exact copy of the Thomas Vincotte statue erected in front of the Royal Palace in Brussels in 1926, a gift of the late sculptor’s family. Colonel Paul Ermens, the Commandant of the Force Publique and President of the monument Committee, gave a laudatory address enumerating Leopold’s vision and strategic actions to make Belgium a great world power. Commissaire Wauters in his turn assured the sovereigns that the entire population of Leopoldville, white and black, was grateful for the attention paid to their city.

Albert and Elisabeth leaving Ste. Anne.

The monument to Leopold II, looking south from Kalina Point.

Albert (foreground) and Leopold on the grounds of the National Museum, Ngaliema.

A monument to Laurent Kabila and his mausoleum now occupy the original site of the Leopold II monument.

King Albert also visited the Christian Brothers Professional School at Kintambo in Leopoldville Ouest. Meanwhile, the Queen visited the European hospital on Mont Leopold (Ngaliema) (Nov. 26, 2012) and finding it to be too narrow and uncomfortable, urged that a new high-quality facility be built to serve the growing European population. A site was identified on a hill in Kalina and construction started on Clinique Reine Elisabeth (Clinique Ngaliema) that same year. As a result of her trip, the Fonds de la Reine Astrid pour l’assistance medicale aux indigenes (FOREAMI) was created in 1930. The King established the Institut National pour l’etude agronomique au Congo Belge (INEAC) in 1933. Both of these royal priorities were commemorated in the Albert Monument erected in 1939.

The King at the Christian Brothers school in Kintambo.

A portion of the Albert monument depicting the work of FOREAMI at the National Museum.

Finally, on Monday July 2, the Royal visitors drove to Ndolo airport for a flight to Luebo in Kasai Province aboard Sabena’s tri-motor Handley Page “Princesse Marie José” (Apr. 27, 2013). From there, they would take the new railway line to Katanga. After visiting the copper belt cities, they boarded a river boat at Bukama and followed the arc of the Congo River by steamer and rail north and westward to Kongolo, Kindu, Stanleyville (Kisangani) and Coquilhatville (Mbandaka) before returning to Leopoldville by air on August 12. The King and Queen stayed only briefly before continuing on to Matadi and returning to Belgium.

At Ndolo Airport

Leopoldville was a growing city of 40,000 people, of which some 37,500 were Congolese. In addition to the recent construction of the administrative district of Kalina, piped water was supplied and Texaf planning to build a hydro-electric plant on the Inkisi River at Sanga to supply its expanding textile mill. That and the Chanic naval yards were the basis of a growing industrial base which would attract more Congolese to the city. The old narrow-gauge railway from Matadi was in the final phase of reconstruction and the capital was connected to Belgium by air and served as a hub for a rapidly growing internal air netork. Old Leopoldville (Kintambo) remained the capital of Congo-Kasai Province, but Kalina was the administrative capital of the entire colony and adjacent Kinshasa rapidly growing into a complimentary commercial hub. All these factors, and an increasing white population would lead in the coming years to the relocation of some African neighborhoods south of Kinshasa and the creation of a neutral zone to separate the two communities (July 31, 2011).

Sources:

Brossel, C. 1934. Le Roi Albert, chef de la colonie, Librairie Falk Fils
Congo - Revue Générale de la Colonie Belge, 1928, Vol.2.
Fall, N’Goné, 2001. Photographies Kinshasa, Revue Noire.

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Leopoldville 1959 – Martyrs for Independence

January 13, 2019, 5:38 am

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On December 30, 1958, leaders of the Kalamu Section of ABAKO (Alliance des Bakongo, an early political party) wrote to the Premier Bourgmestre (Mayor) of the City of Leopoldville advising of their plans to hold a meeting at the YMCA the following Sunday, January 4. Assuming they had concurrence with their plans, the ABAKO leaders began notifying their membership of the planned event. Because of the New Year holiday, however, the Bourgmestre, Jean Tordeur, did not receive the letter until Friday, and his response was not received by Vital Moanda, the President of ABAKO Kalamu, until noon on Saturday, January 3. The Bourgmestre noted that ABAKO did not request permission, therefore the meeting should be considered private, otherwise they were well-informed of the regulations governing public meetings.

A view of Kalamu from Stade Baudouin (Photo: Pvt. Coll.)

Leopoldville was in a state of heightened political tension at this time. In December 1957 the previous year, the Belgians had allowed the first opening toward Congolese self-governance with elections of African Bourgmestres in 8 newly-created Communes. July 6, 1958 a new Congolese-edited political journal, the Presence Africaine was inaugurated on Ave Victoire in Dendale Commune. Joseph Kasavubu, President of ABAKO and Bourgmestre of Dendale Commune, attended. Across the river in Brazzaville in August 1958, French President DeGaulle announced Independence for all French Territories in Africa. On December 28, Congolese delegates returned from the Pan-African Conference in Accra. Patrice Lumumba, Gaston Diomi (Bourgmestre of Ngiri-Ngiri) and Joseph Ngalula (Editor of the Presence Africaine) organized a press conference outside the Kalamu Commune office on Ave. Victoire to report on the meetings. Considering that ABAKO Bourgmestres headed the three Communes in the “Nouvelle Cité”, ABAKO felt under pressure to respond to the initiative led by Lumumba’s rival MNC.

Legend: [1] Kalamu Commune Office, [2] YMCA, [3] Kasavubu's residence [4] Foncobel, [5] Commune of Dendale, [6] Commune of Kalamu, [7] Commune of Ngiri-Ngiri.

The “Nouvelle Cité”, was created south of the original (old) African cité after World War II under the direction of Leopoldville Territorial Administrator Fernand Dendale and then more formal subdivisions were developed by the Office des Cités Africaines. The African population of the city had more than doubled during the war, from 47,000 in 1940 to 96,000 in 1945, and new residential areas were urgently needed. The post-war economic boom that continued to attract migrants had faltered, however. Unemployment in the city had nearly doubled from 13,173 to 22,277 in the seven months leading up to December.

Middle class housing on Ave. Prince Baudouin in 1947. (Photo: Pvt. Coll.)

These new developments were established as the Communes of Dendale (now Kasavubu), Kalamu and Ngiri-Ngiri for the elections in 1957, while the old Cité was subdivided into the Communes of St. Jean (Lingwala), Kinshasa and Barumbu. The Nouvelle Cité was connected to the old Cité and the European section by Avenue Prince Baudouin (see map below). After the creation of the Office des Cités Africains (OCA) in March 1952 (Sept.30, 2011), the agency built several planned subdivisions in Kalamu, including Renkin (now Matonge), Foncobel (now Kimbangu) and Yolo Nord & Sud the adjacent the European Commune of Limete. Further development to the south was constrained by large concessions previously granted to European companies and individuals, such as Foncobel (Fonds Colonial Belge). As a result, OCA opted to build large “satellite” communities further south (Matete, Ndjili, Lemba) which were connected to the city via Blvd. Leopold III (now Blvd. Lumumba).

Ave. Prince Baudouin in the late 1940s. The Foyer Social is at left (Photo: Pvt. Coll.)

The YMCA, recently opened on Ave Prince Baudouin in Kalamu, was a logical choice as a venue, but potentially problematic considering the tenuous relationship of the sponsoring branch of the Belgian YMCA with the other Protestant groups in the city. The established missions accepted the need for programs focused on youth but were wary of a religious movement not specifically associated with a church, recalling the negative reaction to the Salvation Army and the Kimbanguist church (May 14, 2012) The Colonial authorities were cautiously open, but noted that other youth-focused groups existed, such as the Catholic JOC. After a decade of preparatory work in the city, the YMCA complex was inaugurated in 1958 by Provincial Commissioner Paquet. The facility comprised two wings surrounding a basketball court and included a 40-bed hotel, a restaurant, auditorium, classrooms and workshops. The YMCA designated Simon Tezzo, a former OTRACO train station master affiliated with the American Baptist mission, as facility manager.

The YMCA on Ave. Baudouin shortly after opening. (Photo: aml-cfwb.be)

The Bourgmestre’s veiled warning unsettled the Kalamu organizers. It was very late in the day to advise their supporters of a change of date, which they now proposed for January 18. A small group that appeared at 10:00 on Sunday morning accepted the decision and dispersed, but people continued to arrive at the YMCA and by 13:00 over 4000 had filled basketball court. Kasabubu’s arrival to confirm the rescheduling (the Abako President’s residence was located diagonally across Ave Baudouin from the Y), appeared to mollify expectations, but the sudden arrival of the Premier Bourgmestre’s representative captured the crowd’s attention and people turned back and filled the street between Ave Victoire from the Y along Ave Prince Baudouin. Europeans driving by on Ave. Baudouin had stones thrown at their cars.

The crowd gathered at the YMCA basketball court. (Photo: rtbf.be)

Kasavubu (dark suit) addresses the crowd at the YMCA (Photo: Mboka Mosika)

Kasavubu returned at 15:00, but his remarks in French were drowned out by the crowd. Shortly after, the police on the street began to beat back participants in an attempt to drive them away. Demonstrators targeted gas stations on Ave. Prince Baudouin. The arrival of a contingent of Military Police from nearby Camp Leopold II only inflamed the crowd. Bourgmestre Pinzi climbed up on a vehicle to calm the crowd, but to no avail.

Kalamu Bourgmestre Pinzi speaking from the top of a vehicle. (Photo: Mboka Mosika)

Attack on a Petrofina gas station. (Photo: rtbf.be)

Around 5:00 pm, the rioters began to move “en masse”, albeit slowly, northwards towards the European city. At the same time other rioters headed south towards the Foncobel commercial district at the end of Ave. Baudouin. This was a European commercial center in the heart of the Congolese cité.

Legend: [1] the European city, [2] the old African cité, [3] the Nouvelle Cité, [4] Ave Baudouin linking the three districts.

Foncobel was a large land concession granted to the Fonds Colonial Belge, created in 1929 by local entrepreneur Joseph Jancart and the Expansion Colonial Belge as primary investment partner. By 1949, Foncobel was dissolved, the General Assembly noting that the company had no recent activity. OCA picked up the concession to develop new housing, with Foncobel retained as the name of the quartier. It was a commercial center serving the Nouvelle Cité. Most of the proprietors were Portuguese or Greeks who provided retail commercial services to Congolese. Though not Belgians, the mob focused their frustration on them. The shopkeepers sought shelter together and some pulled out hunting rifles to defend themselves.

Rioters attacking a Police vehicle. (Photo: afp.com)

By 20:50 the situation appeared out of control and Provincial Governor Bomans called in the Force Publique, the colonial Army. These were joined the following day by elements of the Metropolitan army flown in from the Belgian Metropolitan military base at Kamina. Complicating the Force Publique’s mission were European “volunteer” militia that arrived on the the streets but were encouraged to return home after being advised that the Congolese NCOs commanding the guard posts would be giving them orders.

Elements of the Force Publique confront the rioters (Photo: rtbf.be)

On the night of January 4, the Force Publique deployed its troops to erect barricades and secure 5 zones to prevent the rioters from entering the European city. Primary points included the Gombe River bridge on Ave. Josephine Charlotte (now Liberation), Police Camp Lufungula on Ave. Huileries (Democratie), the Zoo on Ave. Baudouin (Kasavubu) up to Ave. Kabinda, and the Marche on Ave Plateau as well as Ave Syndicat to the east leading into the industrial neighborhood of Ndolo. Thwarted in their attempt to invade the European city, at 2:00 am on January 5, the mob sacked the new Sarma commercial block, one of several buildings designed by architect Claude Laurens in the 1950s (Aug. 5, 2011). At about the same time, on Ave. Josephine Charlotte, the military rescued the Danish Consul and his wife who had been pulled from their car by demonstrators.

The SARMA store near the Marche Publique. (Photo: wikinshasa.org)

Throughout the day Monday, January 5, the Force Public maintained the cordon around the European city and proceeded with mopping up operations, including rescue around noon of Europeans from Foncobel. On Tuesday, January 6, the FP occupied the Communes of Dendale, Kalamu and Ngiri-Ngiri. On the following day, the military secured the Commune offices in the three locations.

A commercial street after the riots. (Photo: rtbf.be)

The Belgian authorities blamed the Congolese leadership of the Communes for the riots and issued an order for Kasabubu’s arrest on Jan. 5. Pinzi was also arrested. This, as elsewhere in Africa during the struggle for Independence, had the effect of enhancing their credentials. The Force Publique proceeded with mopping up activities, but still the operation (according to their own records) resulted in 12 killed and 72 injured.

The Force Publique maintains order following the riots (Photo: aml-cfwb.be)

On January 13, King Baudouin announced eventual independence for Congo. A Working Group at the Ministry of the Colonies had been expected to issue a report on possible governance reforms in the colony on that very date, but overtaken by events, the riots forced Belgium’s hand.

One casualty of the riots was the Premier Bourgemestre, Jean Tordeur, who was transferred to a cushy exile in Ruanda-Urundi. Another was the new African hospital under construction on Ave. Josephine Charlotte near Camp Leopold. Construction halted under reports that the structure was unsound, and later that budget resources dried up after Independence. After a brief period as an MPR party facility, it was not until 2010 that the Kabila government launched a rehabilitation of the structure as the Hopital du Cinquantennaire.

Hopital du Cinquantennaire. (Photo: Ambassade de la RDC on flickr)

The drive for Independence carried Kasavubu to become Congo’s first President in June 1960 in which he served until he was deposed by Joseph Mobutu in November 1965. In 2010 on the 50^th Anniversary of Independence, a statue in his honor was erected at Rond Point Kimpwanza on Ave Victoire in Kasavubu Commune. Arthur Pinzi became Minister of Finance in the Adoula Government in 1961, then Ambassador to Cote d’Ivoire. Gaston Diomi was elected Governor of Leopoldville Province after Indpendence. Quartier Renkin in Kalamu, developed into the celebrated Matonge district of the Kinshasa music scene.

President Kasavubu's house on Ave. Kasavubu in 2017. (Photo: author)

Kasavubu's House. (Photo: author)

A statue of President Kasavubu at Rond Point Kimpwanza in 2010 (skyscrapercity.com)

In 1967, Mobutu’s new youth movement JMPR (Jeunesse de la Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution) attempted to take over the YMCA. After a three-and-a-half-hour interrogation of two secretaries at the Y, the JMPR ejected the YMCA staff and occupied the building. The following year, the JMPR ceded the premises back to the YMCA, but the facility no longer had the same vitality. A women’s group held meetings there and a school opened. Today, two schools operate there on a split schedule and the meeting hall is a popular venue for community workshops.

The basketball court at the YMCA in 2017. (Photo: author)

The restaurant at the YMCA. (Photo: author)

A commemorative poster on display at the YMCA. (Photo: author)

The events of January 1959 in the Nouvelle Cité were clearly the catalyst for accelerated independence in a timeframe not anticipated by the colonials. With the coming of Independence on June 30, 1960, the locus of governance shifted from Brussels to Leopoldville and the axis of power established between the administrative district of Kalina (now Gombe) and the Presidential palace on Mont Ngaliema. Leopoldville-Kinshasa continued to play a central role in affairs of state, but the local government at the Commune level would never again be so influential. Local government elections, including those for Commune Councils are scheduled for December 2019, the first such since Mobutu's coup in 1965.

Sources:

Archives et Musée de la Littérature (http://www.aml-cfwb.be/catalogues/general)

Belgium, Chambre de Représentants, 27 mars 1959, « Commission Parlementaire chargée de faire une enquête sur les évènements qui se sont produits à Léopoldville en janvier 1959 »

Mboka Mosika, 17 décembre, 2017. « Liste des bourgmestres de la ville de Léopoldville des années ’58 et ‘59 » (http://www.mbokamosika.com/2017/12/liste-des-bourgmestres-de-la-ville-de-leopoldville.html)

Mutamba Makombo, 1998. Du Congo belge au Congo indépendant, 1940-1960: émergence des "évolués" et genèse du nationalisme, Publications de l’Institut de formation et d’études politiques.

Ryckmans, Francois, 2019. « Il y a 60 ans, au Congo belge, le soulèvement de Léopoldville »,(https://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_il-y-a-60-ans-au-congo-belge-le-soulevement-de-leopoldville?id=10110666)

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Kinshasa 2019 - Where does a New President lay his Head?

January 28, 2019, 10:03 am

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On January 24, 2019, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo was sworn in as fifth President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The grand event, an unprecedented peaceful transfer of power, was the first in nearly 60 years of Independence. It took place at the Palais de la Nation, today the President’s Office, but originally constructed in the late 1950s as the residence of the Governor General of the colony (Sep. 12, 2011).

January 24, 2019 - Felix Tshisekedi takes the oath of office at the Palais de la Nation (Photo: www.presidentrdc.cd)

At Independence, June 30, 1960, the first President, Joseph Kasavubu, also took the oath of office in the Palais de la Nation, but he was not destined to be its first resident, because the Belgians had decided to convert the facility into the Parliament of the new nation. What about the former Governor General’s residence, the late 1920s edifice 100 meters up Ave. Tilkens (now Ave. du Fleuve)? That was assigned as the official residence of the Prime Minister, Kasavubu’s rival, Patrice Emery Lumumba. On the eve of Independence, at which neither politician had sufficient seats in Parliament to form a government, a compromise was worked out whereby Kasavubu became President and Lumumba the Prime Minister. The new President moved out to Mont Stanley (Mont Ngaliema) to the recently completed residence of the Governor of Leopoldville Province.

The first Official Residence of the President of the Congo (Photo: author coll.)

The Governor General's residence in the late 1950s. It became the Prime Minister's residence at Independence
(Photo: author coll.)

The Provincial Governor’s residence was built on a spectacular site overlooking the Kinsuka rapids of the Congo River during Governor Julien Babilon’s term in office (1955-59). During this time, the Stanley Monument and Provincial Office Building (now the Ministry of Defense) were completed on the summit of Mont Stanley, adding to the urbanization of the area led by Imafor’s “100 Maisons” residential subdivision. The residence was an International Style box in two stories, with the top floor projecting over the base on all sides. In addition to initiating construction of the Residence, Governor Babilon also gave his name to Quartier Babylon in Kintambo Commune, built by the Office des Cités Africains in the mid-1950s (Sep. 30, 2011).

The President's Residence on Mt. Ngaliema. Ministry of Defense building on left (Photo: author coll.)

President Kasavubu on the balcony of the Residence (Photo: author coll.)

In September 1960, as tension between Kasavubu and Lumumba escalated, both he and Lumumba requested the United Nations provide a security detail at their residences. On September 15, Mobutu staged a coup neutralizing both Kasavubu and Lumumba and essentially confining Lumumba to house arrest. In November 1960, Lumumba slipped through double rings of UN and Congolese Army guards around the Prime Minister’s residence and sought to escape to Stanleyville (Kisangani). He was apprehended in Kasai province, returned to Leopoldville, then transferred to Katanga in January 1961, where he was assassinated. Kasavubu continued to conduct affairs of state, receiving new Ambassadors, government ministers and supplicants. He remained at the official residence until Mobutu’s coup second coup on November 24, 1965.

A UN security detail at Kasavubu's residence (Photo: Corbis)

Meanwhile, General Mobutu, the strongman behind the Presidency, established his headquarters in what became Camp Tshatshi, strategically located adjacent to the Presidential Residence. In 1964 he notified Imafor’s subsidiary, Imbaleo, that he was taking over “100 Maisons” to expand the Camp (Imafor was a real estate company established by Joseph Rhodius, Director of the Texaf textile complex). No compensation has ever been paid to Texaf or Imafor. After the coup, he began to expand the grounds around the Presidential Residence, creating formal gardens along the bluff between the residence and Stanley Monument and extending a vast Presidential Zoo down Mont Ngaliema to the river. He used the Residence more as an office and venue for receiving official visitors, preferring to sleep in the security of fortified Camp Tshatshi. In 1967 as well, Congo hosted the annual meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and a new conference center with villas for 40 heads of state was built southwest of the Residence. In July 1976, during the heyday of US-Zaire relations, Mobutu hosted a huge Bicentennial reception for the American community, at which Mwana Mboka and new best friend were privileged to shake the “Grand Leopard’s” hand.

Mobutu and Foreign Minister Bomboko Lokumba receiving the press at the Residence (Photo: author coll.)

OAU Village around 1971. President's Residence in upper right. (Photo: Elisofon Collection, Smithsonian Institution)

In 1970, the Governor of the Central Bank, Albert Ndele, began building an “official residence” for himself in the hills of the Binza district in Ngaliema Commune. He tapped the skills of the team of Eugene Palumbo and Fernand Tala N’gai who designed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs complex (1965) and the Supreme Court (1969) (Aug. 20, 2011) and the thinking of the team for the Supreme Court can definitely be seen in the circular plan from which the rest of the building and grounds radiated. It was an opulent structure, reportedly using Italian marble from a quarry that supplied the Vatican. The result, taking in the topography of the site, was said to resemble to map of the Congo. Ndele was named Minister of Finance in September 1970 (considered a demotion), then dismissed in November. Although the Bank claimed the property in its inventory, it passed under the control of the Presidency and served as a guest house for high ranking visitors. Among others, US National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, stayed there in April 1976.

The Palais de Marbre (Photo: Lagae & deRaedt, 2015)

In November 1975, President Mobutu laid the first stone for a new Palais du Peuple on Ave. Triomphal which was to be built under the terms of bilateral cooperation with China. As early as the mid-1960s Mobutu had requested designs from such architects such as Marcel Lambrichs (Aug.15, 2011) and Anibal Baldo for new Parliament building. This building, completed in the 1980s, became the new home of a moribund Parliament which had started with such anticipation in June 1960 on the banks of the Congo in the Palais de la Nation.

The Palais du Peuple in 2010 (Photo: Wikinshasa)

In 1977, Mobutu reintroduced the office of Prime Minister (his post-coup Prime Minister, Leonard Mulamba lasted less than a year). The new Prime Minister was Mpinga Kasenda, a rising star in the state political party, the MPR. He moved into the former residence of the Otraco Director in Ngaliema Commune overlooking Ngaliema Bay off Ave. Mondjiba adjacent Kintambo. The building, built in the 1920s (King Albert and Queen Elisabeth stayed there during their visit in 1928. Aug. 22, 2018), is contemporary to the Prime Minister’s residence in Kalina, which now serves as the Prime Minister’s office.

The Prime Ministers's residence in 2011 (Photo: Wikinshasa)

The original building, probably during King Albert and Queen Elisabeth's visit in 1928. Photo by Zagourski.
(Photo: author coll.)

In 2004, under the "1 + 4" Peace Accord formula, VP Arthur Zahidi Ngoma lived in the residence.
I used to tell people I had a "distant" view of the river from my apartment. (Photo: author coll.)

In 1982, Prof. Lumuna Sando, a critic of the Mobutu regime, reported to the Second Russell Tribunal in Rotterdam, that Mobutu had three principal residences in Kinshasa; the original Kasavubu residence, which served as his office; the Palais de Marbre, often used as an official guest house; and a “Palais Privé” behind the Okapi Hotel in Binza. However, the President preferred to stay within Camp Tshatshi, in a residence known as “OAU II”, reported to include an underground prison cell. As the Mobutu regime came increasingly under pressure to open political space, the President often spent weeks at a time at his official residence in Gbadolite, his home village in Equateur Province. In fact, the President had official residences in all Provincial capitals and many smaller municipalities.

The Lion fountain in Mobutu's palace in Gbadolite (Photo: Monuc)

President Mobutu chose to announce an opening for multi-party politics in April 1990 at the Nsele Pagoda (June 4, 2017), another of his palaces, though not used as a residence. Mobutu imagined that this gesture might result in one or two opposition parties, but overnight, hundreds of new political groupings were registered. In March the following year, Mobutu signed an Ordonnance creating a constitutional conference called the Conférence Nationale Souveraine (CNS), held at the Palais du Peuple, to elaborate a framework for the Third Republic. The CNS opened in August, but before anything could be accomplished, the “Pillages” of September 22-23 rocked Kinshasa and spread throughout the rest of the country. On September 28, Mobutu met with opposition members at the Palais de Marbre which resulted in the nomination of Etienne Tshisekedi as Prime Minister on the 30^th. A long-term opposition figure and founder of UDPS in 1982, Tshisekedi was appointed Prime Minister on October 16 in a ceremony at the Marble Palace, but two days later Mobutu changed his mind and chose another opposition figure, Mungul Diaka.

"Pillage du 23 au 24 Sept. 1991 a Kinshasa" - Pierre Bodo (Photo: Art Richelieu Castor-Hara)

The country continued to limp along from crisis to crisis (a second Pillage in January 1993) and a series of seven government reshuffles, in which Tshisekedi was appointed two more times, the last for a week in April 1997. On May 17, 1997, the AFDL led by Laurent Kabila captured Kinshasa. Kinshasa residents joined the conquerors and sacked the President’s official residence on Mont Ngaliema and attacked other symbols of the departed dictator. Laurent Kabila moved into the Marble Palace. On January 16, 2001, one of his body guards shot him as he was working in his office. The building was largely abandoned and is only open to the public on January 16 and 17 each year (anniversaries of Kabila and Lumumba’s assassinations). Visitors may view the office just as it was on the day he was shot, including blood stains.

Visitors lining up to visit the Palais de Marbre. (Photo: grandhotelkinshasa.blogspot.com)

Kids waiting to visit Laurent Kabila's Mausoleum - January 16, 2017. The dome of the Palais de la Nation in the background (Photo: author coll.)

Laurent’s son, Joseph Kabila Kabange, was named President by the late President’s entourage. He moved to a property at the summit of Avenue de l’Ouganda overlooking Ngaliema Bay in Gombe Commune, which he developed into a sumptuous personal residence. When questioned about his personal plans after the CENI named Felix Tshisekedi the winner of the Presidential race, Kabila indicated he was not planning to leave where he was. Prime Minister Tshibala, occupying the Primature residence in Ngaliema Commune, relocated to a villa on Ave. Justice in Gombe, so the Prime Minister’s residence could be readied for the new President. At the time of posting, Tshisekedi and family had moved from the Hotel du Fleuve, located mid-way between the Palais de la Nation and Kabila’s residence to the Cité de l’Union Africaine (ex-OAU). The historic preservationist in me would like to see the Kasavubu residence rebuilt. There is precedent: the White House in Washington, DC after the War of 1812 and the Imperial Palace in Tokyo after World War II.

The Cite de l'OUA shortly after completion in 1967

Sources:

Lagae, Johan and Kim DeRaedt, 2015. “Building for ‘Authenticite’ Eugene Palumbo and the Architecutre of Mobutu’s Congo”, Journal of Architectural Education, Oct. 2015.

RFI Afrique - http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20190127-rdc-residence-felix-tshisekedi-palais-presidentiel-kabila

Texaf – Price Waterhouse Coopers report on creation of Imbakin Holding SA, Mar. 25, 2014 (http://www.texaf.be/fileadmin/user_upload/NTCdocument/Texaf__RC_scission_1_1397305227.pdf)

Wikinshasa - http://www.wikinshasa.org/

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Kinshasa 2019 – Overpasses on Blvd 30 Juin

April 20, 2019, 11:31 am

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1958 – Le Plein Vent restaurant

≪ Previous: Kinshasa 2019 - Where does a New President lay his Head?

In January 2011, I wrote a piece about Boulevard du 30 Juin when the expansion to 8 lanes of the original four was nearing completion (Jan. 23, 2011). During the last three years I’ve lived here, this seven-kilometer artery through the center of Gombe Commune has provided mostly smooth and efficient movement of traffic (though the downtown section from the Gare Central to Ave. Huileries is often congested from mid-morning to midafternoon). The stately Limba (Terminalia Superba) trees and the landscaped traffic islands are gone, but as a transportation solution for a growing city, it works.

Construction equipment on the new Boulevard, ex-Sabena building in background (author coll.)

The 8-lane Blvd. under construction (author coll.)

The Boulevard looking east to Rond Point Mandela at Ave. Liberation. (author coll.)

On my morning commute on April 1^stI found traffic snarled at the intersection of Ave Liberation (ex-24 Novembre, aka Rond Point Mandela) and 30 Juin, where technicians from the Office de Voirie et Drainage (OVD) were digging up the pavement to take soil samples prior to construction of a major concrete overpass at that intersection.

Blvd. 30 Juin in the 1970s. View of the rond point which became "Mandela" (author coll.)

The rond point in 1954 with new Blvd under construction. Sabena towers upper right.

Traffic cop on the original circle 1958 (author coll.)

Today OVD announced several contracts with two Chinese companies and Office des Routes to build overpasses at notoriously congested intersections. The projects are to be undertaken in the framework of President Tshisekedi’s “100 Days” national infrastructure campaign.

The OVD Plan for the overpass.

Blvd. 30 Juin at Ave. Liberation looking east.

Coincidentally, two days later, I found an article posted on Citylab describing how US cities are tearing down urban freeways in favor of surface boulevards (like 30 Juin serves today), which allow residents in isolated neighborhoods to travel from one to the other, reduce noise and air pollution and free up land for other development, including affordable housing. The planners at OVD seem to be taking Kinshasa back 50 years in terms of what was then considered state-of-the-art transportation planning. It is reported that this “traffic solution” will be applied to Ave. Liberation and Sgt. Moke, at Ave Sendwe and Blvd. Lumumba, at Ave Kasavubu and Triomphal, Socimat Circle, at the junction of Boulevard du 30 Juin and Ave Mondjiba, and the snarl of Kintambo Magasins at the western end of Mondjiba.

Oakland, CA. Plan for replacement of I-695 elevated freeway with a surface boulevard.

The problem at 30 Juin and Liberation (the closest intersection on my commute) is not traffic volumes (though these are only to increase if no other east-west, cross-town arteries are developed) but rather a total disregard of the Code de la Route by many drivers, most outrageously those of “ketch” shared taxis and taxi-buses that provide most public transport in Kinshasa. Traffic at this intersection is directed by one of the innovative traffic robots designed by a Congolese woman engineer (Aug. 17, 2016). If one follows the signal, traffic can move smoothly. But invariably, a selfish driver will ignore the signal and create gridlock with vehicles trying to follow the light. Meanwhile, the “Roulage” traffic police, are observed to be more interested in shaking down random motorists for petty bribes than enforcing the Code.

Traffic robot at Ave Liberation. (author coll.)

It appears that the approaches to the overpass will block vehicular and pedestrian traffic along at least one kilometer of 30 Juin, from the second “Sabena” building (Mar. 29, 2011) on the west to the Cimetière de la Gombe to the east. To be fair, there are no lively, interconnected neighborhoods threatened with exclusion by this proposed barrier, but commuters already have to straddle a 60-centimeter concrete divider to cross the Boulevard at Ave. Forces Armées as well as at Ave. des Jacarandas by the Belgian Embassy. The overpass will require them to hike 500 meters to Ave. Liberation to cross the Boulevard. The protected areas under the overpass risk becoming havens for the shegué street children who already beg at the intersection.

Traffic jam before Ave. Liberation. Rain brings out the worst in some drivers. (author coll.)

Kinois are familiar with the vaunted technical solutions for this intersection. In 2009, when the Boulevard was being widened, the traffic circle named for Nelson Mandela, with its inspiring “Peace Dove” monument was razed. The monument, created in August 1991 to commemorate Mandela’s visit to Kinshasa, was relocated a block north to the corner of Ave Kisangani and Justice outside the Nigerian Ambassador’s residence. At the time, Vice Prime Minister Bongeli justified the move, “To make an omelet, you must break the eggs”, promising that trees would be replanted to meet modern standards and the monument repositioned where people could admire it. A decade later, trees have not been planted and the monument appears to have been dumped in the weeds at this intersection rather than placed there in permanent honor.

Rond Point Mandela prior to reconstruction of the Boulevard - 2006. (author coll.)

Monument Colombe on Rond Point Mandela -2006 (author coll.)

Monument Colombe on Ave. Justice today (author coll.)

Efficient traffic management at this intersection is possible without an overpass. The “Roulages” traffic police can properly enforce the Code de la Route, as was the case when the City enforced registration of the informal taxis in 2018 and painting them uniform yellow. The proposed overpasses appear to be an expensive solution to a mis-diagnosed problem. There are several east-west corridors (Aves. OAU-Prince de Liege (Sgt. Moke)-Kabinda corridor is the closest parallel route) that could benefit from this kind of investment and reduce pressure on Blvd. 30 Juin. But engineers like to build. This task should be given to traffic planners. It is not the purpose of this blog to take a nostalgic view of Kinshasa as it once was, but rather to question whether all reasonable options have been considered to improve the city’s development.

Sources:

Citylab.4/3/19 https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/04/urban-worst-freeway-without-future-teardown-demolition-list/584707/?utm_campaign=citylab&utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_source=twitter&utm_term=2019-04-05T11%3A14%3A05

Radio Okapi.4/10/09: https://www.radiookapi.net/sans-categorie/2009/04/10/infrastructures-routieres-boulevard-du-30-juin-les-kinois-saluent-les-travaux-de-rehabilitation-mais-s%25e2%2580%2599inquietent

Radio Okapi.12/6/13: https://www.radiookapi.net/actualite/2013/12/06/nelson-mandela-monument-symbole-de-la-paix-de-la-liberte

Radio Okapi.4/19/19 https://www.radiookapi.net/2019/04/19/actualite/societe/lutte-contre-les-embouteillages-kinshasa-accord-pour-la-construction

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Leopoldville 1958 – Le Plein Vent restaurant

December 9, 2019, 9:03 am

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1958 – Le Plein Vent restaurant (suite & fin)

≪ Previous: Kinshasa 2019 – Overpasses on Blvd 30 Juin

Colonial Leopoldville was a creation by and for Europeans. Notwithstanding the presence of numerous Congolese settlements on the Congo River at the time of Stanley’s arrival in 1881 (May 22, 2017), the choice and development of this particular location was made entirely in consideration of its utility as a late Industrial Revolution transportation nexus, linking a rail line from the coast to steamboats servicing the fan of rivers stretching into the interior of the vast colony. While the focus of this blog is the built environment of Kinshasa – then and now – it is not the intention to dwell on the accomplishments of Europeans. However, few people since Stanley (except perhaps Mobutu Sese Seko) have had as much influence on the urban development of the city as Joseph Rhodius.

Leopoldville station 1882 (Author coll.)

Joseph Dieudonné Rhodius arrived in Congo in 1912 on a six-month contract to identify limestone deposits for a cement factory. This task quickly completed, he signed on with the Matadi-Leopoldville railway (Compagnie du Chemin de fer du Congo) which sent him to Leopoldville to complete construction of the Hotel ABC (Mar.27, 2011). In July 1914, he became the Director of Synkin (June 18, 2012), before starting his own business empire. As President of the Kinshasa’s Stanley Pool Chamber of Commerce and member of the Comité Urbain for several years, he was able to influence urban development on a number of levels. Beginning with what became the largest industrial employer in the city (TEXAF and the Utexléo textile plant), this led to the construction of two dams on the Inkisi River (at Sanga and Zongo) to supply his factory and the city, a piped water distribution service, palm oil plantations and cattle ranches in Ngaliema Commune and finally real estate development, including the Rhodeby subdivision in Ngaliema which was subsumed into Mobutu’s Camp Tshatshi after Independence. Within the prism of paternalism, he was also concerned about the Congolese, advocating for adequate rations for plantation workers, developing education (St. Joseph school at Ste. Anne Parish was named in recognition of his patronage), recreation facilities (Stades Astrid, Ermens and Baudouin), the Scout movement and health facilities (Kintambo Hospital which was originally built by the Utexléo Foundation).

The TEXAF textile complex in the 1920s. Congo River at upper left (wikinshasa.org)

Leaving Synkin in April 1922, he created Rhodius Freres, an import-export firm. To capitalize the new firm, he contributed property held in Brazzaville and a lot at Aves Villas and Jardins (now Aves. Kalemie & Kolwezi) in Leopoldville, while his brothers sold property at the intersection of Aves. Cite (now Tabu Ley) Marais and Plateau. The new company built its main office near the port on Ave Ministre Rubbens (now Nation), in the heart of Kinshasa’s commercial district. During the Minister of the Colonies’ visit that year, Rhodius gave a speech as President of the Chamber of Commerce, urging decent treatment for workers in order to obtain maximum productivity from them. In November 1925 he obtained a 2000-hectare agricultural concession from the Colony in the Binza hills west of Leopoldville in (Ngaliema Commune), which became the Domaine de Rhodeby, a contraction of his and his wife’s names.

Rhodius Freres store on Ave. Rubbens (Life magazine, 1920s)

The TEXAF textile mill was created in 1925 with capital from the Lagache interests in Antwerp. The site, a 45-hectare concession between Kalina and Leopoldville Ouest, was leased from the Colony (July 3, 2011). By 1927, Rhodius had become the manager (Administrateur Délégué) in Leopoldville, and the Texaf balance sheet included Fr.4.75 million in assets from his investments in Rhodeby and a subsidiary, Rhokasai.

The first buildings under construction at TEXAF June 1927 (texaf.be)

The growing factory required a regular supply of water. In October 1929, TEXAF and the Colony, along with minor partner Compagnie de l’Ozone in Belgium, created a municipal water distribution company, the Société de Distribution d’eau de Léopoldville (when Rhodius was Director of Synkin in 1920, that company created the first piped water supply for the city with a pumping station on the Congo River at Ndolo). The new project called for tapping the Lukunga River in Binza to produce 1000 m3/hr of filtered water. A 12-kilometer pipeline carried the water to Leopoldville. Several villages had to be relocated to preserve the watershed. Rhodeby was assured to receive piped water at the same rates as the rest of the city. The following year, the capital was raised to 35 million francs. In September the Colony sold 4 hectares of land on the Binza road to the company to build an Ozone water treatment plant (giving the name “Ozone” to that neighborhood). When Prince Leopold III and Princess Astrid visited in January 1933, Rhodeby and the water works was one of the stops on their tour of the city.

Water tower from the earlier Synkin system (Author coll.)

In March 1933, the colonial government created the Régie des Distributions d’eau de la Colonie (Regideso) to amalgamate existing water systems in Boma, Matadi, Coquilhatville and Stanleyville under a quasi-public utility. Notably Leopoldville was not included in this scheme. By this time, however, the guaranteed production rates enjoyed by the Leopoldville concessionaire were too onerous for the Depression-era Colonial budget and in September the following year company was dissolved and taken over by Regideso. The Colony bought out Texaf’s 48% holding in the water company and merged it into Regideso. At the same time, commitments of another Texaf subsidiary, Société Hydro-électrique de Sanga, to provide electrical power to the Colony at cost were rescinded.

The water treatment plant at Ozone in the mid 1950s (Author coll.)

The Société Hydro-électrique de Sanga, was created because the machines in the expanding textile plant were powered by electricity. Since diesel generation was very costly, in June 1930, TEXAF began building the Sanga hydro-electric dam on the Inkisi River some 70 kilometers southwest of the capital. In addition to providing power for the TEXAF factory, Sanga also concluded an agreement to deliver electricity to Colectric, the colonial utility that operated a diesel-electric generating plant serving the city. In July 1932 the 5,550 KWH, Sanga facility came on line when Governor Tilkens flipped the switch to send power to the capital. Colectric placed its diesel plant, located on the Leopoldville road (opposite the current Russian Embassy on Ave Justice), in back-up reserve in case of unanticipated cuts from the dam site. While no longer directly involved in municipal water or electricity provision, Rhodius’ companies had created the basis for the new colonial capital’s urban utilities.

Installation of the turbines at Sanga - January 1932 (Author coll.)

The Sanga complex after expansion in 1952 (Author coll.)

In March 1934, the company reorganized. TEXAF assets were transferred to create a holding company, the Société Immobilière, Agricole et Forestière du Congo (IMAFOR). IMAFOR was intended to undertake real estate investments and issue mortgage loans, engage in construction and sale of construction materials, rental and property management, and notably, development and operation of public utilities, including water and electricity. TEXAF contributed all its land holdings to the new firm, except for 11.5 hectares in Leopoldville. This included the 2000 hectares in Binza acquired by TEXAF in 1925 and another 689 hectares obtained in Binza in July 1933. The Credit Anversois, the original investor in TEXAF, maintained its 50% share in the new company. At the same time, another company, Usines Textiles de Léopoldville (Utexléo), was created to operate the textile mill. The capital was comprised of the physical plant, machines and stock as well as the 11.5 hectares withheld from IMAFOR’s property inventory. All previous commitments made to the Sanga hydro-electric dam were assumed by the new company. In 1936, IMAFOR was granted a five-year concession on 300 hectares at Kinsuka on the river below Rhodeby.

Fish ponds at Rhodeby near the rapids at Kinsuka (Author coll.)

By this time, Rhodius Freres had vacated the property on Ave Ministre Rubbens, which was now converted to the Cinema Central. The “l’Eveil de l’AEF”, a weekly published in Brazzaville, reported on a boxing match in April 1935 held in the “Grande Salle” behind the Cinema, in space provided by Rhodius Freres. Tickets were Fr.10 for Europeans and Fr.2 for Congolese. In March 1938, Texaf provided space for the recently created Musée de la Vie Indigene, which included a sales office where art from around the country could be sold (Feb.20, 2011).

The original Rhodius Freres store converted to cinema (Author coll.)

The first locale of the Musee de la Vie Indigene in TEXAF property - 1938 (Raymaekers, 2017)

Utexleo produced 1.3 million meters of textiles for the domestic market in 1939, up from 6000 meters a decade earlier. This phenomenal expansion was due in part to tariffs which discouraged importing Japanese goods. At the beginning of the war, against the advice of the Texaf board in Brussels, Rhodius travelled to the US to obtain new equipment. The existing plant was expanded to include 3 hectares of new buildings. By the end of 1943, with new machines acquired from the US, production reached 3 million meters, an accomplishment further facilitated by forced cotton production in many regions of the country (implemented by Cotonco and its subsidiaries, on which Rhodius served as Administrator).

Advertisement for Utexleo (Author coll.)

In September 1943 as well, Rhodius created USI, the Utexleo, Sanga and Imafor Association for the Improvement of the African workforce. Concerned about the extreme demands of the war effort on productivity, the big companies were engaged in “hearts and minds” initiatives toward their African workers, creating social funds, especially after bloody worker strikes at mining sites in Elisabethville and Manono in 1941. However, when European employees of Utexleo struck in October 1945, the Africans staff did not join the action and at the Sanga hydro dam, Congolese ensured the facility continued to operate throughout the strike.

Setting the bobbins at Utexleo in the 1950s (Author coll.)

Sanga power station control room - 1950s (Author coll.)

The first project of USI was a three-year professional school, including dormitory facilities for external students, which opened in 1945. Tuition was free for all students who were accepted in the program. Another project Rhodius was involved in to benefit the Congolese in Leopoldville was the Parc des Sports General Ermens, which was inaugurated on Easter day 1946. Initiated by Father Raphael de la Kethulle (Tata Raphael) in 1941, Rhodius chaired the committee that shepherded the project to fruition throughout the resource-limited war years. Construction of the 8-hectare complex was launched in 1943 under Public Works architect Marcel Hentenryck (who also designed the Public Market in that year and later the adjacent Stade Baudouin, now Stade Tata Raphael (Feb. 6, 2011). The Art Deco complex included a large swimming pool, 5 football pitches, 9 tennis courts and other facilities.

The entrance to Parc des Sports General Ermens upon completion (U.Wisconsin Milwaukee digital archives)

The pool at Parc des Sports Gen. Ermens (U.Wisconsin Milwaukee digital archives)

Two years later, Governor General Jungers laid the foundation stone for Stade Baudouin. Rhodius was there to assist as President of the Comité de Patronage of the Parc des Sports.

Earlier that year, Utexleo created a native welfare society, Fonds de Bien-être Indigene Utexleo, independent of USI. In March 1951, the Foundation began construction a 150-bed hospital for Utexleo employees in nearby Kintambo. Designed by the architect, Ilensky, the new facility opened in 1953 (Apr. 30, 2011).

Rhodius and Governor General Jungers lay the foundation stone for Stade Baudouin - July 1948 (Author coll.)

The completed stadium mid 1950s (Author coll.)

Meanwhile, new factories were being added at the Utexleo site on Ave. Ermens, including Socotex in 1946 (blankets), Tissaco in 1948 (sacks), Bonneterie Africaine in 1952 (socks), and Blanchisserie de la Gombe in 1953 (industrial laundry). At Kinsuka, along the river in Domaine Rhodeby, two industrial firms were created in which Imafor had substantial interests. Bricongo in 1950 (bricks) and Carricongo in 1951 (construction stone), important inputs to the burgeoning construction sector in the capital.

Women ironing fabric at the Blanchisserie de la Gombe (Author coll.)

The Bricongo (now Brikin) manager's house at Kinsuka in 2005 (Author coll.)

In 1950, IMAFOR began planning to develop 60 hectares of its agricultural land in Rhodeby as a residential subdivision. The company paid increased taxes on the property to allow this change in use. By 1955, the new development, “Cent Maisons”, though still more commonly known as “Rhodeby”, was nearing completion and the lots connected to electric and water service. In 1957, Mwana Mboka started kindergarten at the newly opened Athenée de l’Ozone. The route covered by TCL buses (Oct. 23,2011) started at Leo Deux (Kintambo Magasins) at the bottom of Mont Leopold (Mont Ngaliema) and meandered up the hill through Cent Maisons before reaching the school.

The kindergarten at Athenee de l'Ozone in 1958 (Author coll.)

In November 1955, Imafor announced plans to embark on its next project, a commercial-residential complex to be called “Residence Astrid” on its property at Ave. Astrid and Ave Rubbens. The company nearly doubled its capital to 63 million francs for this project which was designed by Rhodius’ architect, Ilensky. The Comité Urbain approved a building permit in May 1956 for a building with apartments, offices and shops valued at 47 million francs. The following year, however, the company noted economic conditions prevailing in Leopoldville did not favor the sale of residential lots in Rhodeby and IMAFOR was instead focused on completing “Residence Astrid”, scheduled for the second half of 1958. By then, the company had taken possession of the first wing facing Ave. Ministre Rubbens and had rented about half of the 12 apartments. The second, larger wing facing Ave. Reine Astrid, containing shops, two floors of office space and 24 apartments was still under construction. Imafor remained optimistic, despite the unfavorable economic climate.

The original Rhodius store on Ave Rubbens (r.) was demolished to make way for the new building (Author coll.)

When the building was finally completed, it became a prestigious address. Germany moved its Embassy there after Independence, as did Switzerland. Italy maintained a commercial attaché office and Fiat had its Congo headquarters there, too. USAID opened an office and the US Embassy rented a number of apartments for its staff.

On the commercial side, a Swiss entrepreneur opened a fondue restaurant called Le Plein Vent on the top floor of the building in December 1957. Offering only classical cheese fondue initially, the venue provided a panoramic view of the river and Brazzaville through its open windows. It quickly became a fixture of Leopoldville’s night scene.

Another Rhodius property which may have been demolished for the new building. I have not been able to locate where this might have been (Author coll.)

After Mobutu’s first coup in September 1960 in which he “neutralized” both President Kasavubu and Prime Minister Lumumba, the young Colonel moved into a villa in Rhodeby (the loyalty of the troops at the main army camp at Camp Leopold/Kokolo were considered unreliable). Many of the former European residents had left the country after Independence and not returned. Dr. Bill Close, who came to Leopoldville in June 1960 with a Moral Rearmament team and eventually became Mobutu’s personal physician, described the residence as having belonged to a bank. Mobutu drew reliable army units from the Para commando battalion in Thysville around him and Rhodeby began to take on the aspect of a military camp. When Lumumba was arrested near Port Francqui, in December 1960, he was first brought to Mobutu’s residence and locked up for the night in Security chief Victor Nendaka’s garage.

In May 1961, secessionist Katanga President Moise Tshombe and his Foreign Minister Evariste Kimba were held there after being detained for trying to leave a round table conference in Coquilhatville (Mbandaka). The following January, Antoine Gizenga was transferred to “Camp Rhodeby” after the UN brought him from Stanleyville (Kisangani) to resume his participation as Vice-Prime Minister of the Assembly.

Mobutu's residence in Rhodeby - 1970 (Elisofon archives)

Mobutu's residence in Rhodeby in 1965. It was destroyed when L.D. Kabila's forces captured Kinshasa in May 1997 (YouTube)

IMAFOR created “Imbaleo” in 1961 to manage the Rhodeby concession, but the “winds of change” were not in the company’s favor. In 1964 Mobutu notified Imbaleo of his intention to expropriate the Rhodeby concession to create a military base which became Camp Tshatshi. No compensation was ever offered by the government. In 1994 Imbakin took the government to court and won a 2.5 billion Belgian Franc indemnity two years later. No payments were ever received however, and in 2001, Imbakin ceded its claims to Texaf. In March 2005 Texaf and Congo Textile Printers (another struggling texile mill on the river downstream from Rhodeby taken over by the Chinese company CHA) merged to form Congotex, but the venture only lasted four years (July 3, 2011). With the closure of the textile plant in Kinshasa, Texaf chose to focus on real estate development.

The main gate at Utexafrica in 2016 (Author coll.)

In the 1980s the Swiss owner of Le Plein Vent decided to sell and the Janmohammed family, which also owned Patisserie Chantilly and Cosy Grill, bought the restaurant. About the same time, the Zairian government sold the former Vice Governor’s residence on La Raquette to the Swiss government (near what is now the Hotel Fleuve Congo, Aug. 20, 2011) for use as its Embassy. With the departure of the diplomatic tenant, the building services at the Residence des Flamboyants (as renamed under Authenticité), which included premises of the Tax Office, began to decline and the owners of the fondue restaurant felt they were being burdened with all the maintenance costs. Certainly, a nighttime visit to the Plein Vent was a memorable experience. The parking area on Ave. Lumpungu was dark and a little dodgy. The elevator up to the restaurant was dimly lit and shook as though it might plunge down the shaft at any moment. But the doors opened directly into the restaurant, which was bright and immaculate, the service attentive. Because it now opened at night, the views of the river were limited and a renovation in 2006 enclosed the breezy open windows.

Residence Flamboyants in 2018. Le Plein Vent on the top floor (Author coll.)

The interior of Le Plein Vent (Author coll.)

↧

Leopoldville 1958 – Le Plein Vent restaurant (suite & fin)

December 9, 2019, 1:07 pm

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Gentle readers. For some reason, Blogger won't let me complete the post that follows this one. I will try to revise it into one posting, but in the interim, please find this conclusion helpful in understanding the main story.

In the 1980s the Swiss owner of Le Plein Vent decided to sell and the Janmohammed family, which also owned Patisserie Chantilly and Cosy Grill, bought the restaurant. About the same time, the Zairian government sold the former Vice Governor’s residence on La Raquette to the Swiss government (near what is now the Hotel Fleuve Congo, Aug. 20, 2011) for use as its Embassy. With the departure of the diplomatic tenant, the building services at the Residence des Flamboyants (as renamed under Authenticité), which included premises of the Tax Office, began to decline and the owners of the fondue restaurant felt they were being burdened with all the maintenance costs. Certainly, a nighttime visit to the Plein Vent was a memorable experience. The parking area on Ave. Lumpungu was dark and a little dodgy. The elevator up to the restaurant was dimly lit and shook as though it might plunge down the shaft at any moment. But the doors opened directly into the restaurant, which was bright and immaculate, the service attentive. Because it now opened at night, the views of the river were limited and a renovation in 2006 enclosed the breezy open windows.

Residence Flamboyants in 2018. Le Plein Vent on the top floor (Author coll.)

The interior of Le Plein Vent (Author coll.)

In 2018, the owners of Le Plein Vent decided the challenges of operating the fondue restaurant in the Flamboyant Building were a drag on the business. They relocated the restaurant to the premises of the former Cosy Grill next to their Chantilly patisserie on Ave. Lukusa.

An advert for the restaurant shortly before it closed (voila.cd)

Sources:

Bulletin Officiel du Congo Belge, Ministry of the Colonies, Bruxelles. (multiple years)

Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, Smithsonian Institution (www.africa.si.edu)

Japan External Trade Organization, Institute of Developing Economies, “Texaf”. (www.ide.go.jp)

Raymaekers, Jan, 2017. “The Musée de la vie indigene in Leopoldville”, Academie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer.

Texaf web site (www.texaf.be/en/about-us/history.html)

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Digital Photo Archive (www.collections.lib.uwm.edu)

Wikinshasa, Atlas de l’architecture et du paysage urbains (wikinshasa.org)

YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGUkWC0JBU8)

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Kinshasa 2016 – Legacy of the Baobabs

April 12, 2016, 11:49 am

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One of Kinshasa’s sobriquets is “Kin Malebo”, named for its location on the “Pool Malebo” widening of the Congo River, but which in turn takes its name from the Lingala word for the Borassus, or Sugar Palm, which line the banks of the river. Another remarkable tree that impressed early European visitors to the area was the baobab (Adansonia digitata). These huge trees, which looked as though they had been upended with roots sticking up in the air, were a notable fixture in the Congolese settlements the explorers visited. Antoine Lumenganeso Kiobe, former Director of the Congolese National Archives, describes the remaining baobabs and other ancient trees in Kinshasa as witness to an era before the disruption and displacement of colonialism.

Baobabs in a Bateke village

Along what is now the Port of Kinshasa was a series of Bateke villages set in groves of baobabs that impressed visitors. Capt. Henry Bailey, named Henry Stanley’s second Chef de Poste at Kinshasa in 1886, was entranced, “Kinshassa – what a beautiful place it looked in contrast to all the other stations I had seen on the Congo! It is situated close to the water on sloping ground, in the midst of gigantic baobab trees, which suggest the idea of a park.” Early Belgian administrators named the original street along the bluff, Avenue des Baobabs (now Ave. Wagenias).

Capt. Henry Bailey's depiction of his new assignment

Later colonials were not so charitable. In July 1891, Lt. Richard of the Force Publique dynamited a number of baobabs to create a military camp along what is now Avenue des Aviateurs, between Ave. du Port and Place de La Poste (See Mar. 13, 2011). Still, in the early years, baobabs were ubiquitous in the rapidly developing commercial center that was Kinshasa.

The first Post Office in Kinshasa

The beach at Port Citas in 1906, which later became part of Onatra (now SCTP)

A public place in Kinshasa

The Hotel ABC under construction in 1913

The Compagnie du Kasai headquarters in the 1920s (photo is mis-labeled)

Over time, as Kinshasa developed, the baobabs began to disappear. Redevelopment of the Port in 1925 resulted in many being eliminated, except for one at the entrance to the port that remained until 1956. When the Brasserie du Bas-Congo brewery was built in 1948, a baobab having a diameter of 5 meters was removed (See June 12, 2015). During a heavy rainstorm in 1986, a baobab between the Hotel de Ville and African Lux toppled onto a parked car.

The baobab between the Hotel de Ville and Rodina (later African Lux) in the 1950s

A few baobabs can still be found in Kinshasa. One on Ave. de l’Avenir near CBCO in Commune de Ngaliema, attests to the original village of Chief Ngaliema who negotiated with Stanley and other arrivals in 1881 (See Jan. 9, 2011). The spirit lives on in named restaurants such as Le Grand Baobab on Ave. Wagenia at the entrance to the Brazzaville ferry.

Baobab behind Hotel Estoril on Ave. Kabasele Tshiamala

Baobab at the tomb of Mfumu Mvula in Kingabwa

Baobab at the American School of Kinshasa

Sources:

Bula N’zau (Henry Bailey), 1894. Travel and Adventures in the Congo Free State, London: Chapman and Hall.
Lumenganeso Kiobe, Antoine. 1995. Kinshasa: Genèse et sites historiques, Kinshasa, Arnaza-Bief.

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Leopoldville 1958 – Le Plein Vent restaurant

February 27, 2020, 12:00 pm

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1923 – Place de la Poste

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Leopoldville station 1882 (Author coll.)

Joseph Dieudonné Rhodius arrived in Congo in 1912 on a six-month contract to identify limestone deposits for a cement factory. This task quickly completed, he signed on with the Matadi-Leopoldville railway (Compagnie du Chemin de fer du Congo) which sent him to Leopoldville to complete construction of the Hotel ABC (Mar. 27, 2011). In July 1914, he became the Director of Synkin (June 18, 2012), before starting his own business empire. As President of the Kinshasa’s Stanley Pool Chamber of Commerce and member of the Comité Urbain for several years, he was able to influence urban development on a number of levels. Beginning with what became the largest industrial employer in the city (TEXAF and the Utexléo textile plant), this led to the construction of two dams on the Inkisi River (at Sanga and Zongo) to supply his factory and the city, a piped water distribution service, palm oil plantations and cattle ranches in Ngaliema Commune and finally real estate development, including the Rhodeby subdivision in Ngaliema which was subsumed into Mobutu’s Camp Tshatshi after Independence. Within the prism of paternalism, he was also concerned about the Congolese, advocating for adequate rations for plantation workers, developing education (St. Joseph school at Ste. Anne parish was named in recognition of his patronage), recreation facilities (Stades Astrid, Ermens and Baudouin), the Scout movement and health facilities (Kintambo Hospital which was originally built by the Utexléo Foundation).

The TEXAF textile complex in the 1920s. Congo River at upper left (wikinshasa.org)

Rhodius Freres store on Ave. Rubbens (Life magazine, 1920s)

The first buildings under construction at TEXAF June 1927 (texaf.be)

Water tower from the earlier Synkin system (Author coll.)

The water treatment plant at Ozone in the mid 1950s (Author coll.)

Installation of the turbines at Sanga - January 1932 (Author coll.)

The Sanga complex after expansion in 1952 (Author coll.)

Fish ponds at Rhodeby near the rapids at Kinsuka (Author coll.)

The original Rhodius Freres store converted to cinema (Author coll.)

The first locale of the Musee de la Vie Indigene in TEXAF property - 1938 (Raymaekers, 2017)

Advertisement for Utexleo (Author coll.)

Setting the bobbins at Utexleo in the 1950s (Author coll.)

Sanga power station control room - 1950s (Author coll.)

The entrance to Parc des Sports General Ermens upon completion (U.Wisconsin Milwaukee digital archives)

The pool at Parc des Sports Gen. Ermens (U.Wisconsin Milwaukee digital archives)

Two years later, Governor General Jungers laid the foundation stone for Stade Baudouin. Rhodius was there to assist as President of the Comité de Patronage of the Parc des Sports.

Rhodius and Governor General Jungers lay the foundation stone for Stade Baudouin - July 1948 (Author coll.)

The completed stadium mid 1950s (Author coll.)

Meanwhile, new factories were being added at the Utexleo site on Ave.Ermens, including Socotex in 1946 (blankets), Tissaco in 1948 (sacks), Bonneterie Africaine in 1952 (socks), and Blanchisserie de la Gombe in 1953 (industrial laundry). At Kinsuka, along the river in Domaine Rhodeby, two industrial firms were created in which Imafor had substantial interests. Bricongo in 1950 (bricks) and Carricongo in 1951 (construction stone), important inputs to the burgeoning construction sector in the capital.

Women ironing fabric at the Blanchisserie de la Gombe (Author coll.)

The Bricongo (now Brikin) manager's house at Kinsuka in 2005 (Author coll.)

In 1950, IMAFOR began planning to develop 60 hectares of its agricultural land in Rhodeby as a residential subdivision. The company paid increased taxes on the property to allow this change in use. By 1955, the new development, “Cent Maisons”, though still more commonly known as “Rhodeby”, was nearing completion and the lots connected to electric and water service. In 1957, Mwana Mboka started kindergarten at the newly opened Athenée de l’Ozone. The route covered by TCL buses (Oct. 23, 2011) started at Leo Deux (Kintambo Magasins) at the bottom of Mont Leopold (Mont Ngaliema) and meandered up the hill through Cent Maisons before reaching the school.

The kindergarten at Athenee de l'Ozone in 1958 (Author coll.)

The original Rhodius store on Ave Rubbens (r.) was demolished to make way for the new building (Author coll.)

Another Rhodius property which may have been demolished for the new building. I have not been able to locate where this might have been (Author coll.)

Mobutu's residence in Rhodeby - 1970 (Elisofon archives)

Mobutu's residence in Rhodeby in 1965 (YouTube).
It was destroyed when L.D. Kabila's forces captured Kinshasa in May 1997

IMAFOR created “Imbaleo” in 1961 to manage the Rhodeby concession, but the “winds of change” were not in the company’s favor. In 1964 Mobutu notified Imbaleo of his intention to expropriate the Rhodeby concession to create a military base which became Camp Tshatshi. No compensation was ever offered by the government. In 1994 Imbakin took the government to court and won a 2.5 billion Belgian Franc indemnity two years later. No payments were ever received however, and in 2001, Imbakin ceded its claims to Texaf. In March 2005 Texaf and Congo Textile Printers (another struggling texile mill on the river downstream from Rhodeby taken over by the Chinese company CHA) merged to form Congotex, but the venture only lasted four years (July 3, 2011). With the closure of the textile plant in Kinshasa, Texaf chose to focus on real estate development.

The main gate at Utexafrica in 2016 (Author coll.)

In the 1980s the Swiss owner of Le Plein Vent decided to sell and the Janmohammed family, which also owned Patisserie Chantilly and Cosy Grill, bought the restaurant. About the same time, the Zairian government sold the former Vice Governor’s residence on La Raquette to the Swiss government (near what is now the Hotel Fleuve Congo, Aug. 20, 2011) for use as its Embassy. With the departure of the diplomatic tenant, the building services at the Residence des Flamboyants (as renamed under Authenticité), which included premises of the Tax Office, began to decline and the owners of the fondue restaurant felt they were being burdened with all the maintenance costs. Certainly, a nighttime visit to the Plein Vent was a memorable experience. The parking area on Ave. Lumpungu was dark and a little dodgy. The elevator up to the restaurant was dimly lit and shook as though it might plunge down the shaft at any moment. But the doors opened directly into the restaurant, which was bright and immaculate, the service attentive. Because it now opened at night, the views of the river were limited and a renovation in 2006 enclosed the breezy open windows.

Residence Flamboyants in 2018. Le Plein Vent on the top floor (Author coll.)

The interior of Le Plein Vent (Author coll.)

An advert for the restaurant shortly before it closed (voila.cd)

Sources:

Bulletin Officiel du Congo Belge, Ministry of the Colonies, Bruxelles. (multiple years)
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, Smithsonian Institution (www.africa.si.edu)
Japan External Trade Organization, Institute of Developing Economies, “Texaf”. (www.ide.go.jp)
Raymaekers, Jan, 2017. “The Musée de la vie indigene in Leopoldville”, Academie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer.
Texaf web site (www.texaf.be/en/about-us/history.html)
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Digital Photo Archive (www.collections.lib.uwm.edu)
Wikinshasa, Atlas de l’architecture et du paysage urbains (wikinshasa.org)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGUkWC0JBU8)

↧

Leopoldville 1923 – Place de la Poste

March 24, 2020, 6:33 am

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On July 21, 1923, the elite of Kinshasa, European and African, gathered to inaugurate a bust of King Albert 1er at the Place de la Poste. Only 3 weeks earlier, a Royal Decree established Leopoldville-Kinshasa as the new capital of the colony, transferring that honor from the port city of Boma (Jan. 17, 2012). Since the colonial government’s decision in 1910 to transfer the port from its location above the rapids at Leopoldville to Kinshasa, seven kilometers upstream, the latter center had been developing rapidly as a commercial alternative to Leopoldville’s administrative role (Mar. 13, 2011). The spatial requirements of this burgeoning city required a more ordered land use plan, which was prepared in 1917 by newly arrived architect, Gaston Boghemans. The plan incorporated existing streets, rail lines and land use with grand diagonal boulevards intersecting to create prominent public places. The map also included the Congolese “cité”, which was growing to the south as rapidly as the European township.

Before the ceremony (The Albert bust under wraps between the two warehouses upper right) (Author coll.)

Bogheman's map of Kinshasa 1917 (Cocatrix)

The new statue of the King faced the Place de la Poste at the end of Avenue Militaire, created in 1892 when Lt. Richard blew up a grove of baobabs to create an army camp (Apr. 12, 2016). The bust depicted the King in his uniform and helmet as commander of Belgian forces at the Yser River during World War I. The sculptor is unidentified, but the bust resembles several erected in Belgium at this time.

The Albert bust after unveiling. Bogheman's Post Office upper left (author coll.)

The Albert bust on Ave. Militaire (author coll.)

A bust of King Albert in Chimay, Belgium (wikimedia)

To the north across Ave Militaire was the new Post Office, also designed by Boghemans (Aug. 5, 2011), which gave the Place its name. Built in neo-classical Beaux Arts style, it set new standards of construction in brick with concrete moldings that were nonetheless adapted to the local climate and existing construction expertise. Continuing in clockwise fashion around the Place was the Sedec commercial building, a brick V-shaped structure formed by intersection of Avenues Rubens and Beernaert. Sedec (Société d’Entreprises Commerciales au Congo) was the retail arm of the Lever Brothers palm oil company (Oct. 8, 2017).

The Post Office with Sedec building on right (author coll.)

Place de la Post in the 1930s. Sedec building in center (author coll.)

On the opposite side of Ave Beernaert was the two-story fabricated metal building of the Congo Trading Company of Antwerp, a firm that dated back to the Congo Free State administration. In December 1914 after five years collecting bird specimens in the interior, James Chapin, a young ornithologist with the American Museum of Natural History, returned to Kinshasa and took a room there (Mar. 13, 2011). At the time the Albert monument was inaugurated, Congo Trading had gone out of business and the property acquired as the Kinshasa headquarters of the Katanga-based Foncière Immobilière Colonial (Fonico). In the mid-1930s the building housed the Amicale Francaise, the social center of the French community in Leopoldville.

The Congo Trading building. Note pousse-pousse at the curb by the stairs (author coll.)

The Congo Trading building, looking down Ave des Manguiers (author coll.)

Between Ave des Manguiers (the continuation of Ave. Militaire) and Ave de la Douane was a single-story arcaded building which became the Righini Bar. Paolo Righini also owned the Garage Mayo across the street. Righini provided taxis and rental cars and offered direct phone lines from the Hotel Cosmopolite in Leopoldville, the Wathelet Guest House in Ndolo and the Hotel Metropole in Kalina to ensure prompt response for those requesting his services. At the outset of World War II, Righini was among several Italians interned and his bar taken over by Arthur Hardy (June 28, 2011).

The Righini bar and Garage Mayo in the 1930s (author coll.)

Anchoring the southwest corner of Ave Beernaert and Militaire was the two-story commercial building and adjacent warehouses of the “L’Africaine Banque d’Etudes et d’Entreprises Coloniales”. Established in 1898 during the rubber boom, the firm was declining in the 1920s and closed its Congo operations. The property was acquired by the African and Eastern Trade Corporation, another firm in the Lever Brothers empire, created in 1919 from a merger of some branches of Lever’s West African firms. In Congo, the company took over the venerable Hatton and Cookson of Liverpool. The building was originally exposed brick, like the Sedec building across the Place, but later plastered and painted white.

A view south on Ave Beernaert. African and Eastern building on right (author coll.)

Bogheman’s original plan anticipated a major plaza at the west end of Ave. Militaire, on an axis with Place Leopold, the beginning of the road to Leopoldville, whereas the Place de la Poste was not even detailed. In July 1924, an obelisk monument to aviators killed in a crash landing at Leopoldville 1921 was inaugurated and Aves Militaire and Manguiers were renamed Avenue des Aviateurs (Feb. 24, 2012). With its divided roadway and angled parking at the center, the avenue remained a premier commercial location into the Independence period.

The Albert monument with Monument des Aviateurs on right (author coll.)

What happened to the Albert bust? Unlike the colonial statuary taken down throughout the country in 1971 (July 5, 2011), this one had been removed by the late colonial period. In June 1939, a monumental complex honoring the late King was erected in front of the Gare at the beginning of a Boulevard that would lead to Leopoldville along the old railway line (Jan. 23, 2011). Was the bust relocated to another provincial location at that time? There were at least four identical or similar ones in Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) and Jadotville (Likasi) in Katanga, another in Matadi and one in Stanleyville (Kisangani).

This bust of Albert in the city park in Elisabethville dates from 1925 (author coll.)

In Stanleyville, the bust was located in the heart of the commercial district (author coll.)

In Matadi the Albert bust was located in the square next to the Hotel Metropole (r.) (author coll.)

Inaugurating the Albert monument in Jadotville in the 1940s. Was the Leopoldville bust relocated there? (author coll.)

In the 1950s the Post Office became the Musée de la Vie Indigene after the main Post Office moved to a new building Boulevard Albert in 1954 (Feb. 20, 2011). In the late 1960s, it was demolished to make way for the Bank Belge d’Afrique’s seven-story headquarters building. The Belgian owners withdrew in 1988 and it became the Banque Congolaise, which folded in January 2011 following allegations of money laundering. In a startling repurposing, the building became the not-so-secret headquarters of the security service, the Agence National de Renseignements (ANR). The ANR closed half of Ave des Aviateurs and part of Ave de la Nation in a further truncating of the Avenue started up the street in the 2000s by the US Embassy and Monusco.

The old Post Office as the Musee de la Vie Indigene in 1961 (H.Foreman, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee digital coll.)

Place de la Poste in the 1950s (author coll.)

The ANR building in 2016 (l.), AMI building center.

The Sedec building was acquired by a South Asian importer called Union Africaine de Commerce (UAC), established in 1975 selling high end furniture and appliances. The Sedec building was likely acquired in the mid-1980s when Unilever was divesting its Zairian holdings. The name UAC harked back to the United Africa Company, part of the Unilever empire of which Sedec was a part.

The Fonico building was demolished sometime in the late 1930s and in the late 1940s the corner location was chosen for the new headquarters of the Agence Maritime International, the colonial shipping agency.

UAC building center left, AMI building right. Ave Equateur was under reconstruction when photo taken (author coll.)

The Righini Bar, later the Hardy Bar, then the Café Rubbens, and which was the best source of ice cream in the 1950s, reopened as the Belgian Cultural Center, the Centre Wallonie de Bruxelles, in the 2005.

The Centre Wallonie de Bruxelles. (author coll.)

The Garage Mayo was demolished in the years leading up to Independence. In the 1960s, a 4-story building was erected which became one of the agencies of the parastatal insurance company, SONAS.

The SONAS building. (author coll.)

The African and Eastern building was acquired by Lebanese owners of City Market, about the same time UAC acquired the Sedec property. The classical lines of the original building are covered in panels to suggest cohesion of several buildings patched together.

City Market facing Ave Equateur (author coll.)

Sources:

Cocatrix Anne-Laure, 2013. Atlas Archives, Boulevard du 30 juin Kinshasa: https://issuu.com/anne-laurecocatrix/docs/annexes_atlas

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Digital Photo Archive (collections.lib.uwm.edu)

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Leopoldville 1962 - "Le Twist a Leo" by Manu Dibango

March 25, 2020, 1:18 pm

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Manu Dibango, legendary Cameroonian saxophonist, known for his fusion of rumba, jazz, funk and traditional music, died in Paris on March 24, 2020 of Covid-19. Before he rose to fame on the African and international music scene in the late 1960s, he tried his hand in Kinshasa with Joseph Kabasele’s (Grand Kalle) African Jazz and then managing a nightclub with his own band.

Dibango's first hit was Soul Makossa in 1972

Born in Douala in 1933, his father arranged for him to go to France for secondary school in 1949. He graduated in 1956, but did not pass the university entrance exam. At that point, his father stopped sending him money, so he turned to his avocation for music, moving to Belgium where he ended up at a Brussels club called “Les Anges Noire”. On the eve of Congo’s independence in 1960 he met Kabasele (composer of Independence Cha Cha) who persuaded him to return to Léopoldville with African Jazz in 1961.

By his own account, Dibango was enthralled with the Congolese capital:

“I dreamed of an Africa that looked like this. She welcomed me – wealthy, flashy… The air was sensually moist. Money, sex, sorcery, and physical strength combined in this capital, which was creating its own language and building its own history. At dusk, when candles and gas lamps were lit in the Cité– the black side of town – the crowds would surge, warm and talkative. In the ngandas, the many open-air bars, women and men sat in front of the cases of beer that surrounded the stage. The great Kabasele and his African Jazz called forth the crowd’s madness – undulating bodies, hot glances, soft eyes, fast talk, and the hips of beautiful dancers held in their skin-tight wrappers. Pale beers were gulped down between two plates of fish served with plantain or manioc – la dolce vita.” (Dibango, 1994:41)

Blvd. Albert in the late 1950s (author coll.)

He played with African Jazz in the Cité, but also picked up gigs in the former European district of Kalina with a Belgian band, “Juan les Pins”, led by a musician he’d known in Brussels. With Kabasele’s authorization, he played with “Juan les Pins” at the Auberge Petit Pont in September 1961 (Courier d’Afrique, Sep. 30-Oct. 1, 1961:2). These were fascinating times, as the cold war played out on the streets of Léopoldville, Congolese politicians intrigued with and against each other, Europeans who fled in 1960 were returning (restarting economic outlets) and United Nations personnel with money to spend frequenting the bars and restaurants.

The Petit Pont Restaurant in the late '60s (author coll.)

Friction began to develop between Kabasele and the band, however. Band members asked questions about his Belgian wife, Coco, and why he didn’t keep mistresses in the Cité. The young Cameroonian had feet in both cultures and Kabasele picked up on this and suggested Dibango take over his night club on Ave. DeGaulle, the “Afro Negro”. Ave DeGaulle was located in Kalina, but was a major shopping destination for Congolese, as well. This was a perfect solution for the couple – Coco ran the bar, ordered the food and paid the musicians, while he led the band. Europeans and UN personnel looking for something different became regular patrons. The ambiance of the Afro Negro and Léopoldville’s nightlife in this period was captured by Congolese Angolan photographer, Jean Depara (July 12, 2014).

Outside the Afro Negro Club (author coll.)

The Afro Negro Club in 1969 (Revue Noire)

Afro Negro - at the bar (author coll.)

When Chubby Checker popularized the Twist on the Dick Clark Show in August, 1960, it wasn’t long before it reached Léopoldville. Music aficionados were curious, but no records were available on the local market. In 1962, Dibango composed one of his first recordings, “Twist a Leo” on the African Jazz label.

Link to YouTube

Twist A Leo

Ayé Ayé Ayé Ayé

Oui mon corps balance

Dans un temps de twist

Ayé Ayé Ayé Ayé

Oh, le Twist fait rage à Léopoldville

De Limete à Kalina

De la Citéá Parc Hembise

On danse le Twist, eh henh, à Léopoldville

De Lipopo à Kalina

De la Citéà la Pergola

On danse le Twist à Léopoldville

Ayé Ayé Ayé Ayé

J’ai perdu la tête

En dansant le Twist

De Limete à Kalina, Vie !

De la Cité au Royal

On danse le Twist

On ne se plaignent pas, ça va bien

Oh Oui

Ayé Ayé Ayé Ayé

Oui on a perdu la tête, j’ai perdu la tête

(Lyrics transcribed by Mwana Mboka)

The relationship with Kabasele remained problematic. Dibango met aspiring banker, Dokolo Sanu (who would found the Bank of Kinshasa in 1969) who suggested he start a new club. Dibango and Coco opened the “Tam Tam”. By his account, the new venue was a success; down to earth but very popular. However, in 1962, his parents persuaded him to move back to Cameroon, where he opened another “Tam Tam”. The new venture in Cameroon closed as civil war engulfed the country and Dibango moved to Europe and super-stardom.

Sources :

Courier d’Afrique, Léopoldville (multiple issues)

Dibango, Manu, 1994. Three Kilos of Coffee : An Autobiography, University of Chicago Press.

Kwaku Akyeampong Michael, Henry Louis Gates and Steven J. Niven, 2012. Dictionary of African Biography, Oxford University Press.

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Leopoldville 1918 – “La Grippe Espagnole”

July 13, 2020, 11:19 am

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1960 – Patrice Lumumba’s Residence

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1962 - "Le Twist a Leo" by Manu Dibango

I recently heard a piece on U.S. National Public Radio about Brian Melican's article in the New Statesman entitled, “A tale of three cities: the places transformed by pandemics across history” (Melican, Apr. 20, 2020). His research examined the plague in Marseille in 1720, cholera in Hamburg in 1892, and Spanish Influenza in Ostersund, Sweden in 1918. In this time of Covid-19, I wondered how Kinshasa fared during the Spanish Flu, or “Grippe Espagnole”, epidemic in November 1918.

Kinshasa circa 1918 - the central business district (now Ave. de la Nation)

Leopoldville, and Kinshasa, (the two were separate and distinct polities at this time), were coming out of four years of world war, which had negatively impacted the economy. In fact, the outbreak reached Stanley Pool the day after word of the Armistice in Europe. Although Congolese Force Publique troops had defeated the Germans in their colonies of Kamerun in 1914 (Aug. 3, 2014) and Tanganika in 1916, the War continued to be a significant burden for the Congo. German submarine activity in the South Atlantic had curtailed imports, and more importantly, suppressed exports upon which the colonial economy depended.

Kinshasa in 1919

In mid-November 1918, the first cases of Spanish Flu were reported in Leopoldville. While the contagion is acknowledged to have come from ships originating in Europe calling at the port cities of Boma and Matadi, the virus was simultaneously spreading to up-river communities in the east of the colony, particularly from the mining cities of Katanga, which were infected via the railroad from South Africa. As early as October 16, 1918, the Vice Governor General of Katanga issued an Ordonnance providing measures to take to contain the “Spanish Influenza” virus.

The public market in Kinshasa, located opposite the current Poste Centrale on Blvd du 30 Juin.
Note railway line to Leopoldville in upper left provided the right-of-way for the future Boulevard.

The virus quickly spread in Kinshasa, then Leopoldville and across the river to Brazzaville. In its centenary history, the Catholic church recorded that 250 Congolese died in Kinshasa, 150 in Kintambo (Leopoldville) and 500 in Brazzaville. Catholic missionaries could only provide hot water as treatment for victims. The British Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) reported that hundreds died, 3000 fled back to their home villages, spreading the contagion. The Congolese population of Leopoldville was estimated about 5,000 at this time.

The port at Kinshasa

The American Baptist mission in Kintambo saw students in its preparatory primary school scattered by the influenza in November, although classes did resume by January. Dr. Catherine Mabie, writing about the impact on the mission’s hinterland around Leopoldville noted:

“Spanish influenza found its way into the river and despite all quarantine regulations has spread like August grass fires over the entire country. The hungry, ill-nourished native fell easy prey to its ravages. Many villages have been decimated. Some have lost more heavily even to a fifth or fourth of their population. Station day and boarding schools have been closed and pupils returned to their towns, but January finds the plague well-nigh spent and schools reassembling”.

By the beginning of 1919, the epidemic had reached Stanleyville from the Katanga while the strain originating in Leopoldville had infected Congo River communities as far upstream as Bumba, 250 kilometers downstream from Stanleyville.

The original hospital for Congolese in Leopoldville. Now known as l'Hôpital du Rive.

The government imposed strict limitations on travel and transportation between cities and rural areas. Shipping on the river was suspended for three weeks. This had a knock-on effect on other economic activity and the food supply chain for Congolese workers in the city failed. Only direct intervention by local authorities prevented famine. Schools closed. Death among prison inmates was particularly high. Medical facilities were rudimentary. The only hospital serving Congolese was located in Leopoldville on a site just above the rapids (now known as l'Hôpital du Rive, above), and its 100-bed capacity was stretched to more than 300. In addition, a small dispensary was located in Kinshasa (Nov. 26, 2012).

Quarantine facilities for tuberculosis patients

In a letter to the Tribune Congolaise in April 1919 after epidemic had subsided, a Kinshasa resident reported there were:

“Very few deaths among the white population. The scourge found a well-prepared fertile ground among the native population where death does its massive harvest; shall we ever know how many of these poor misérables died of this epidemic. The situation was already precarious in the light of the fact that famine was threatening certain regions like Middle Congo and Lower-Congo and Mayumbe. Many Blacks died from these regions because, being underfed, they could not put up any resistance again: death! They could be seen collapsing in the streets and dying at the very spots where they fell after long hours and hours of agony”.

(Tribune Congolaise, April 17, 1919, cited in Sabakinu, 1984, translation in the original)

Kinshasa cité, possibly Ndolo (Barumbu), note river on horizon.

In its annual presentation to the Belgian Chamber of Deputies in 1919, the Ministry of Colonies focused on the economic consequences of the epidemic -- citing nearly 3,000 tons of exports idled up river from the port at Kinshasa out of an annual shipment of 30,000 tons. The Chamber was also apprised that the expected shortfall in tax revenues in 1919 was also due to the pandemic. The report acknowledged that it was impossible to determine how many Congolese died across the colony because the Ministry only reported cases specifically treated in its medical facilities, which were primarily located in the European towns. However, 60% of those treated were flu cases, of which 4.8 % died, and the Ministry estimated that hundreds of thousands of Congolese perished. Out of an estimated six million people in the colony, the death toll from the epidemic would be upwards of 300,000. The New York Times, reporting from Brussels on April 24, 1919, cited estimates of as many as 500,000 deaths among Congolese.

Another view of the Kinshasa cité.

The colonial government public health system was already coping with on-going epidemics of sleeping sickness, infantile paralysis, cholera, small pox as well as influenza. Sleeping sickness was a major challenge, because it devastated the Congolese workforce necessary to keep the colonial economic machine going. The colonial health service had an extensive monitoring system in place, checking arrivals on river boats, and imposing quarantine. By February 1919, the epidemic had eased in Kinshasa and Leopoldville.

Quarantine camp for Small Pox victims.

The influenza pandemic was transformational for Congolese urban dwellers. As the author of the report to the Chamber in 1918 observed, the higher salaries offered in cities did not compensate for inadequate housing, insufficient and mediocre food, exposure to accidents and risk of disease. Belgian labor policy considered the Congolese to be lazy and therefore formal work was seen as a moral obligation and contributing to the colonial civilizing mission. The virulent flu epidemic reinforced these apprehensions among Congolese, and the author argued, labor policy must increasingly be responsive to self-interest rather than relying on compulsion.

Another view of the Kinshasa business district (Now Ave. Isiro).

Sources:

American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, 1919. Annual Report.
Baptist Missionary Society, 1919, Annual Report.
Belgium, Chambre des Représentants, « Rapport annuel sur l’activité de la colonie du Congo Belge présenté aux chambres législatives », 1918 & 1919
Cornet, René-Jules, 1971. Bwana Munganga, Academie Royale des Sciences d’Outremer.
L'Eglise Catholique au Zaire: un siècle de croissance (1880-1980), 1979. Edition du secrétariat de l’épiscopat.
Sabakinu Kivilu, 1984. “Population and Health in Zaire during the Colonial Period from the End of the 19^th Century to 1960”, Transafrican Journal of History, Vol. 13, pp. 92-109.

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