Leopoldville 1960 – Patrice Lumumba’s Residence

November 3, 2020, 12:45 pm

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1926 – Hotel Sica – The Mystery of the Memling

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1918 – “La Grippe Espagnole”

$

0

0

This photograph, taken of a villa on Boulevard Albert 1er across from the Leopoldville golf course in May 1948, was Patrice Lumumba’s residence in 1960 when he became Prime Minister of the independent Republic of the Congo.  Lumumba was allocated the house by virtue of his nomination in February 1960 to the College Exécutif, a six-member advisory committee of Congolese representatives to the Governor General.  Otherwise, even this late in the colonial period, an African could never have purchased a house in the European city. Lumumba was tapped to represent Kasai Province, though he had lived in Leopoldville since September 1957 (Jan. 17, 2016).

The villa on Blvd. Albert 1er, May 1948 (author coll.)

Family photo in the garden. (Published in Jet Magazine, March 9, 1961)

After the Elections in May, Lumumba was designated to form the first government. Kasa-Vubu, representing the important Bakongo community in the capital, threatened to boycott and a compromise was reached whereby Kasa-Vubu would be elected President by the Parliament. Jean Van Lierde, a friend and advisor to Lumumba, recalled waiting at the house on the Boulevard on June 23 for Kasa-Vubu’s three ABAKO nominees for the Premier’s expansive cabinet. Following the Independence festivities and transfer of sovereignty to the new nation, President Kasa-Vubu moved into the former Provincial Governor’s mansion on Mont Stanley (Jan. 28, 2019), while Lumumba had to wait until July 5 for Governor General Henri Cornelis to vacate the Governor General’s residence on Ave. Tilkens (Ave du Fleuve) (Sep. 12, 2011).  By this time, General Janssens’ neo-colonialist position had precipitated an army mutiny and plunged the new nation into the Cold War.

Lumumba gives a press conference in the residence, June 2, 1960 (author coll.)

Belgian actions to safeguard its citizens by militarily occupying key cities and airports provoked Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba to break relations with Belgium on July 14. Lumumba announced the country would call for Soviet support if Belgium did not withdraw. Meanwhile, the United Nations decided to send a peace-keeping force to the new country. Relations with the UN soured in August when the international body appeared to acquiesce to the secession of Katanga Province. Furthermore, relations between President Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba became strained as the Prime Minister expressed increasingly stronger anti-imperialist positions while the President appeared influenced by strong messages from western Ambassadors.  Both Brussels and Washington approved plans to remove Lumumba. The conflict came to a head on September 5 when Kasa-Vubu went on Radio Leopoldville to dismiss Lumumba.  Shortly afterwards, Lumumba came on the radio dismissing the President. The following day, Kasa-Vubu’s Prime Minister designate, Joseph Ileo, issued a warrant for Lumumba’s arrest. The United Nations closed the radio and all airports in the country.

Ghanaian soldier at the radio station September 5, 1960 (author coll.)

According to the Loi Fondamentale, the constitutional framework drafted by the Belgians, Kasa-Vubu was in his rights as President. But Lumumba cried foul and secured a vote in his favor in both Houses of the National Assembly on September 8, and called upon the UN to reopen the radio and airports. The UN placed guards at Parliament, the President and Prime Minister’s residences. In the afternoon of September 11, a National Army (ANC) unit arrested Lumumba at his residence on Blvd. Albert, executing Ileo’s warrant.  He was taken to Camp Leopold II (now Kokolo), but released after two hours. The Premier toured the cité rallying his supporters, then drove to the radio station three blocks from his home.  A Ghanaian guard detail refused him access.  At that point, Lumumba decamped from the Prime Minister’s residence for his private one.  Mme. Lumumba was seen leaving the residence in a vehicle filled with the family’s luggage.

Ghanaian troops at the Prime Minister's Office. Lumumba on the balcony (arrow) (author coll.)

Ghana troops reinforce positions at the radio station, September 1960 (author coll.)

Tensions remained high in the city, with neither side conceding and the UN’s stated position of neutrality appearing to favor the Kasa-Vubu faction. Ghanaian troops withdrew from the Radio station on September 13 when the new Minister of Information in the Ileo government arrived to take possession.  The following day, Colonel Mobutu announced on the radio he was neutralizing both factions until the end of the year – a coup d’état.  From this time, Lumumba remained in his residence, effectively neutralized if not under house arrest, with a detail of UN troops securing the residence, and protecting Lumumba from an outer ring of Congolese military prepared to arrest him at any opportunity.

Ghanaian troops secure the perimeter of Lumumba's private residence (author coll.)

Col. Mobutu attempts to arrest Lumumba on October 11, 1960. The Ghanaian guard refused.  (Author coll.)

On the night of November 27, in pouring rain, Lumumba slipped out of his residence, hidden on the floor of the back seat of his Chevrolet station wagon under the legs of the house workers.  Driving the workers home at night was a normal occurrence and the UN detail barely gave to car a look.  The ANC questioned the driver, who said he was also going to buy cigarettes, and would bring them back a carton, and they let him pass.  Lumumba rendezvoused with a number of supporters (including Pauline and son Roland, who had moved into the cité), and in a three-vehicle convoy set out for Stanleyville (Kisangani), 2000 kilometers to the northeast, where Lumumbists under Antoine Gizenga held power.  On December 1, Lumumba and his party were apprehended by Congolese security services near Mweka in Kasai Province.  His return to Leopoldville and subsequent transfer to and murder in Katanga is beyond the scope of this post, but can be consulted in detail in Ludo De Witte’s The Assassination of Lumumba (2001).

Lumumba in his car before confinement (The Africa Report, Sept. 18, 2020)

During years the family was in exile, Lumumba’s younger brother Louis was an influential player, elected as Governor of Sankuru Province in 1963 and named to the Board of Air Congo in 1968.  In 1971, however, he was accused of illegal diamond dealing.  The family retained possession of the house on the Boulevard, even while the children now and then appeared as members of the opposition to Mobutu in the diaspora. With Mobutu’s overthrow in May 1997 and Laurent Kabila’s advent as President, daughter Juliana Lumumba returned to Kinshasa as Minister of Culture and Arts in Kabila’s government.

The Lumumba residence in 2006 (author coll.)

In June 2013, the Matata Ponyo government released an RFP to rehabilitate the Lumumba residence and construct an annex for Mama Pauline Opango Lumumba.   Additional RFPs were issued following year in April and May, for further restoration of the residence and to build a guard house and upgrade the security wall around the property.  Pauline Opango Lumumba died in December 2014 and the family held a wake at the residence. Ownership of the property passed to Lumumba’s son, Roland.

Pauline Opango Lumumba's wake (Radio Okapi, Aug. 28, 2017)

In December 2018, “African Challenges” published an article by a Kinshasa correspondent arguing the house should become a museum. It cited the only “unique” historical relic was a white Ford Maverick up on blocks in the rear of the property.  Why, the author asked, wasn’t the state doing more to preserve such important artifacts of this National Hero?  The question of museum status (and public support) for the Lumumba residence, as well as that of Kasa-Vubu on Ave. Kasa-Vubu, are important issues for the country to address 60 years on, but the Maverick (which could be seen in the carport in 2006) was not the getaway car.  The Chevrolet station wagon has consistently been cited as the vehicle.  Ford did not introduce the Maverick until 1970.  

The Maverick on blocks outside the carport (African Challenges, Dec. 22, 2018)

A view of the Maverick in 2006 (author coll.)

The Lumumba residence occupies a prominent, easily accessible, location in Kinshasa and could be repurposed as a museum if the family agreed. As a tourist attraction for both national and foreign visitors, it has huge potential to tell Lumumba’s and the country’s story.

Sources:

• African Challenges, Dec. 22, 2018. “Devoir de mémoire: ce qui reste du héros national Patrice Lumumba à Kinshasa” https://www.africanchallenges.com/devoir-de-memoire-ce-qui-reste-du-heros-national-patrice-lumumba-a-kinshasa/
• De Witte, Ludo, 2001. The Assassination of Lumumba, Verso.
• Radio Okapi, Dec. 12, 2014. https://www.radiookapi.net/actualite/2014/12/29/pauline-opango-la-veuve-de-patrice-lumumba-inhumee-kinshasa

---

Leopoldville 1926 – Hotel Sica – The Mystery of the Memling

April 15, 2021, 7:02 am

≫ Next: Kinshasa 2021 - Sims Chapel Replica in Kwilu Province

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1960 – Patrice Lumumba’s Residence

$

0

0

In 2011, I posted a piece about the Hotel Memling, its origins as the Hotel SICA and after 1937, a property of Belgian Airlines Sabena (Mar. 29, 2011). Recently, a colleague shared an early photo of the Hotel SICA which sent me back to research. The complex in the picture clearly reads “Hotel SICA” on the gables of the annexes in the foreground, but the main building in the background doesn’t match the SICA. My friend’s photo looked more like the Hotel Metropole of the 1920s. Was there a connection? I believe I’ve solved the mystery by consulting documentation at hand and conjecture from the evidence portrayed in images.

The photograph of the Hotel SICA.

The Hotel Metropole in the 1920s

A related issue was Belgian Airline Sabena’s claim to have created the Hotel Memling in 1937, although that name did not appear in print until after 1952. In my original post, I hinted, admittedly obliquely in retrospect, that Sabena based its claim to the Memling on the Sabena Guest House (near Ndolo Airport on Ave Kabasele Tshamala), both of which were subsumed by the Compagnie des Grands Hotels Africains in 1959.

The Sabena Guest House - the car dates this image from the 1930s (author coll.).

As described in the earlier post, the original building where the Memling stands today was built by the Société industrielle et commerciale de l'Afrique occidentale (SICAO) around 1920, but which went bankrupt in 1924. Two years later, the Société Immobilière, Commerciale et Agricole (SICA), was created by Louis Promontorio. An early colonial figure, Promontorio worked for the Compagnie du Kasai and the Dutch House (NAHV), then opened his own firm in Leopoldville (Kintambo) in 1912. In 1924, he floated the Cie Urbaine des Transports en Commun du Stanley Pool. Promontorio put up a controlling interest of 128 of 200 500 franc shares in the new company, but it seems Leopoldville was not yet ready for public transit (Oct. 24, 2011).

The SICAO Building under construction around 1919 (author coll.).

When SICA was founded in November 1926, Promontorio was granted 850 of 2500 Fr.1000 shares on the basis of a 0.44-hectare property (about an acre) in Kinshasa. He also received 1250 “Founder” shares, which gave him a majority of votes in the new company. Another, non-capitalized asset but referenced in the founding documents, was a contract with option to buy on a 50-hectare parcel at Kingabwa (part of contemporary Commune de Limete), upstream from Kinshasa. Following the designation of the Board of Directors, the company established its Congo headquarters at the Hotel de la SICA. This suggests that the hotel was in operation prior to SICA’s formation, most likely this was the SICAO property Promontorio contributed as in-kind capital.

The Hotel SICA around 1940 (liberas).

The Hotel Metropole was operated in the 1920s by Felix Mertens, the same time as the SICA. A period photo shows a two-story building about the same size as the SICA, but with freshly-painted stucco walls rather than exposed brick and arched windows instead of square enclosing the second-floor balcony. The Metropole appears to have had a short run before succumbing to the Depression. The earliest references I’ve found date from 1924-25. In 1926, a cook at the hotel, D. Bandago, was diagnosed with tuberculosis by the local health service. The hotel-restaurant was recorded in Congo Revue 1927 and in 1928 it was listed as a destination for a taxi service from the Garage Mayo on the Place de la Poste (Mar.24, 2020). But by the beginning of the 1930s, the Hotel Metropole disappeared from the Leopoldville hotel scene.

The Hotel Metropole in the 1920s (author coll.).

The photo showing the Metropole with “Hotel Sica” on the annex gables suggests the Metropole was taken over by the SICA. The photo of the Metropole above shows a building in the background which is obviously the SICA. This would place the Metropole at the corner of Ave. Stanley and Ave Bangala where the Residence Atlantic is today.

This acquisition of the Metropole by SICA is corroborated by photos in the Henri Guillaume collection at the Liberaal Archives in Ghent (liberas). Guillaume went to Congo in 1939 to work for the SICA. His photos show a variety of perspectives of the two buildings, including the annexes between the two hotels which housed European staff, and where Guillaume had an apartment. At the end of 1928, SICA’s balance sheet showed real estate valued at Fr.4.2 million, up from Fr.1.9 million the year before, suggesting acquisition of the Metropole.

Henri Guillaume on the grounds of the annexes around 1939 (liberas).

Guillaume outside the Metropole with Hotel SICA in background (liberas).

But what of Sabena’s claim that it built the Memling in 1937 (Hotel Memling)? First, Guillaume’s photos show that the two original hotel complexes were still extant in 1939. Second, there is nothing in the SICA’s annual reports from 1936 to 1958 that indicate Sabena had any investment in the property. Finally, the first multi-story wing of the SICA along Ave. Stanley must have been built in the early 1950s, when SICA decided to focus on its real estate activities in Kalina, Kingabwa and near the port. The first images specifically naming the Memling date from 1952, in a tourist brochure produced in Brussels.

Some of Leopoldville's hotels in 1952 (author coll.)

The Hotel Memling (R) incorporating the original SICA building (author coll.)

Another compelling indicator comes from Tom Marvel, US Press Attaché in Leopoldville during the war who returned to Congo in late 1945, and reported that he, “saw a friend at the Sica, then had lunch at Sabena, and met the four o'clock Fima (ferry) from Brazza.” In Sabena’s annual report for 1945, the company claimed revenues of Fr.3.7 million from operation of its guest-houses. Similarly, in 1949 the Sabena Revue, the airline’s magazine published a full-page advertisement for the Hotel Regina, the Storey-Day property around the corner on Blvd. Albert (Mar. 29, 2011). The ad promoted the Regina’s services for transportation and reservations upon arrival at Ndolo airport, and the amenities of its “Hôtel de Premier Ordre” – a renowned restaurant, bar, grill-room, patisserie and a catering service. No mention was made of the SICA or the Memling in the magazine. If Sabena was operating a major hotel downtown, or planning a major expansion, it would have received some coverage. Instead, the magazine touted the establishment of Sabena Guest Houses around the country.

This photo from the mid-1950s shows the SICA complex along Ave. Stanley.

(Thanks to my colleague for labelling)

Absent any conclusive link of Sabena to the SICA in 1937, my initial conclusion stands, that the airline’s claim to the Memling is based on the 1959 merger which brought the SICA property and the Sabena Guest House at Ndolo under the same corporate framework. Certainly, the Art Deco architecture of the Guest House suggests its construction in the 1930s (Jan. 4, 2018).

A view of the Sabena Guest House in the 1950s (author coll).

A significant restructuring of SICA took place after World War II. Louis Promontorio had died and his place on the Board taken by his son, Victor. Victor was born to a Congolese mother in Kintambo in 1912. When she died in 1919, Promontorio took him to Belgium. There he graduated with a law degree from the University of Louvain in 1935, making him among the first Congolese to obtain a university degree. In 1960, he participated in the Round Table meeting in Brussels that led to Independence, and was elected Senator from Equateur Province in the first Parliament in June that year. Promontorio (Seya Tshibangu under Mobutu’s Authenticité) became the first Congolese attorney admitted to the Leopoldville bar in 1963. 

In November 1946, Victor resigned from the SICA board, and was replaced by Robert Cousin, representing the Société Mobilière et Imobilière Hosa (which provided much of the funds for the capital increase in 1948). Armand Regnier, Administrator and longtime Secretary General of the firm, resigned as well and was succeeded by Louis Lambelin, who became the Managing Director. Another board member, Hoebrechts, was replaced by Count Jean de Broqueville. The following year, Promontorio and his stepmother, ceded 8.8 hectares in Ndolo to the company. The firm nearly doubled its capital from 7.4 million francs to 13.4 million. In September 1948 capital was raised to Fr.40 million. That year, the value of land, buildings, material and furnishings was reported at Fr.13 million. In 1950 these assets had increased to Fr. 15.5 million, of which Fr.9.6 million was buildings. The following year, the value of buildings rose to nearly Fr. 20 million. This suggests that Wing A was completed in 1951 (rather than 1937) and it follows that the hotel began to be referred to as the “Memling” after 1952 (though why a 15th Century Flemish painter inspired SICA’s board is unclear). Notably, guidebooks and the company’s own letterhead continued to show the Memling as “Propriétaire Société SICA”.

Letterhead showing ownership by SICA (author coll.)

Construction of the new three-story wing on Ave. Stanley required the demolition of the Metropole annexes. At the same time, the terrace of original SICA building along Ave. Moulaert was enclosed and the facade remodeled to tie in with the new structure. The main building of the former Hotel Metropole was demolished before Independence in 1960 and an office-residential building, the Residence Atlantic, was built.

The modified SICA building (foreground) and the new "Memling" wing (author coll.)

An interior view of the new wing (author coll.)

In 1955 the original SICA building was demolished and replaced with “Wing B”, an eight-story structure that angled from Ave. Stanley down Ave. Moulaert (Ave. Tchad), adding another 75 rooms, for a total of 114.

Construction of "Wing B" along Ave Moulaert. Note Otraco Building construction upper right.

(author coll.)

Hotel Memling late 1950s. Note construction of Residence Atlantic at far end of Wing A (author coll).

Hotel Memling 1961, note completed Residence Atlantic (Northwestern University, Foreman Coll.)

After Congo’s Independence June 30, 1960, the Memling became a primary center of political activity, inasmuch as it housed much of the foreign press and was located opposite the Hotel Stanley, where the United Nations established its initial headquarters (June 3, 2015). Competing political factions held press conferences or organized demonstrations in the street outside. In 1963-64, Wing C was built in the same architectural style as Wing B, extending down Ave Moulaert, bringing the total number of rooms to 174.

The Memling shortly after completion of "Wing C" in mid-1960s (author coll).

The Sabena Guest House was later acquired by Boniface Zoao, the last Bourgmestre (Mayor) of Kinshasa, who was replaced by a military governor in 1966. One of his relatives manages the property today and is slowly upgrading the buildings and grounds hoping to attract substantial clientele again.

The former Sabena Guest House in 2017 (author coll.)

The restaurant of the Guest House (author coll.)

Note the wing motif over the garage (author coll.)

In 1985, the Memling's “Wing A” was demolished in a major renovation of the property. Eighty four years after Sabena’s alleged construction of the Memling, or 70 years after the construction of “Wing A” in 1951, perhaps it doesn’t matter much who built what when. The Memling remains both a historic and significant contemporary fixture in downtown Kinshasa.

Interior view of the Memling of the wing replacing "Wing A" (trip advisor)

Sources: 

• Bulletin Officielle du Congo Belge (multiple years) 
• Congo: Revue générale de la colonie belge, 1927, Vol.8, No.1. 
• Liberas – Centrum voor de Geschiedenis van het vrije denken en handelen (liberas.eu)

Kinshasa 2021 - Sims Chapel Replica in Kwilu Province

April 30, 2021, 4:42 am

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1929 – Funa Club Founded

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1926 – Hotel Sica – The Mystery of the Memling

$

0

0

Five years ago, I wrote about Sims Chapel in Kinshasa (May 4, 2016). Built in 1891 by Dr. Aaron Sims of the American Baptist Missionary Union, it is the oldest permanent building in the city and still serves a regular congregation.  Recently, I learned of a new church under construction about 250 kilometers east of Kinshasa at Kinkosi in Kwilu Province that is a reproduction of Sims Chapel.

Sims Chapel in Kinshasa

Kinkosi is a parish in the church district of Kikongo, part of the Communauté Baptiste du Congo (CBCO). CBCO is a member of the Eglise du Christ au Congo, which federates all the Protestant denominations in the country. In the early 1920s, residents of Kinkosi learned of Baptist missionaries at Sona Bata near Kinshasa who were preaching, teaching and healing. The villagers thought these services could benefit them and two young men hiked west for ten days to Sona Bata to ask the American Baptist missionary to send a pastor to their village. It was not until 1926 that a Congolese pastor was available to come to Kinkosi, but the response of the villagers was such that the mission decided to open work in the region and in 1929, Kikongo station was established on the Wamba River (Strong Eyes of Faith).

Aerial view of Kikongo and Wamba River

Kikongo and Sona Bata circled in red.

As the centenary period of the Kinkosi church’s founding approached, the congregation reached out to missionary Glen Chapman, who with his spouse Rita, has served at Kikongo since 1992. Glen suggested a commemoration with a historic church that was representative of CBCO, and they agreed to use Sims Chapel as the model. He was able to secure financing from the Emmert Legacy fund and brokered a construction contract between the village and two builders who had successfully completed buildings and other infrastructure for the Université Baptiste du Congo at Kikongo.

A community meeting at Kinkosi

Kinkosi church - the rafters are up.

Installation of the tin roof.

The roof is on.

While researching this post, I discovered that Kinkosi may not be the first instance of replicating Sims Chapel. In 1900, a new chapel was erected at the Baptist post of Kifwa, a predecessor location of the Sona Bata station, which was established on the rail line in 1907. The choice was more likely practical than symbolic, as Dr. Sims’ chapel had proved to be a design that Congolese without extensive construction background could produce. The brick and thatch roofed structure was 24’ x 50’ (7 x 15 meters) vs 20’ x 60’ (6 x 18 meters) for Sims Chapel.

(Baptist Missionary Magazine, 1900)

Sims Chapel in 1897 (Baptist Missionary Magazine, 1897)

The church roof was completed in March 2021 and the Rector of the Université Baptiste du Congo is planning its dedication.

• Kinkosi photos courtesy of Glen Chapman.

Leopoldville 1929 – Funa Club Founded

May 30, 2021, 10:53 am

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1942 – Guilherme Marques helps launch Academie des Beaux-Arts

≪ Previous: Kinshasa 2021 - Sims Chapel Replica in Kwilu Province

$

0

0

I learned to swim at the Mampeza Pool in Leopoldville Ouest, as Commune de Ngaliema was known in the mid-1950s. The pool was built in the valley of the Mampeza river opposite Camp Reisdorf (now Camp Loano), the Force Publique Logistics base. Five or six years old, I stood at the end of the low board, looking down at the black water (the pool was a concrete tank without tiles) as my father patiently treaded water below and urged me to jump in. I finally took the plunge and began a splashy dog paddle as Dad stayed at my side.

The Mampeza swimming pool 1950s (Smithsonian Institution)

The Mampeza pool on right (cegesoma.be)

I have not yet been able to confirm the origins of the Mampeza pool. It might have been built by the Provincial Government, which installed a small pump on the river in 1920 to provide water for Old Leopoldville, or else the Chanic shipyards, which took over the original river port at the mouth of the Mampeza in 1928. In July 1932, Club de la Mampeza organized a swimming match as part of the joint Belgian and French National Day observances.

A party at the Mampeza (author coll.)

There was another swimming pool 15 kilometers across town on the Funa River at the south side of Ndolo Airport (Apr. 27, 2013). As early as 1923, a local entrepreneur opened a bar on a bend of the river with a sandy bottom he called Funa Park, a nod to Coney Island’s “Luna Park”. In 1929, four Belgian residents decided to improve upon the swimming hole by damming the stream, first with sand bags, and later concrete. In 1931, the Funa Club was founded. The Club organized a fair in April 1934, serenaded by the New Best Fellows orchestra. The following month, Mampeza organized a match with the Funa swim team and invited the Caimans from Brazzaville to join. The new Governor General, Pierre Ryckmans, an avid swimmer, preferred the Mampeza, but accepted the Honorary Presidency of the Funa Club for protocol reasons. There were rumors in 1935 that a new municipal pool would be built near the Diables Rouge football pitch (in the vicinity of contemporary Notre Dame de Fatima Church), as both Mampeza and Funa pools were considered far from the colonial administrative district of Kalina and were also restricted to members. Nothing further came of this initiative.

The Funa Club in 1933 (author coll.)

These two pools were restricted to membership by the White community. Access to swimming opportunity for Congolese was a priority for the Catholic missionaries and in May 1934, Father Raphael de la Kethulle (Tata Rafael) of the Scheut mission obtained use of a hectare along the Funa river upstream from the Funa Club to create a swimming pool for the students of St. Pierre school and others of the cité. Throughout the 1930s, both Mampeza and Funa swim clubs hosted matches with each other and responded to invitations from the Caimans across the river. Mampeza completed a major makeover in August 1936, expanding to a 10 x 45 metre pool, with two boards, a water filtration system and a generator to provide electricity. In a major event in November 1936, Mampeza hosted an evening gala. Colectric provided lights, the Ciné Palace set up the sound, the Force Publique band entertained the participants, topped off with a fashion show parade. The Caimans lost a water polo match to Mampeza 5 to 2. Vice Governor Ermens, District Commissioner Morel and Papal Nuncio Reggio attended.

The Mampeza in the 1940s (author coll.)

On the eve of World War II, Tata Raphael, who completed Reine Astrid Stadium in 1937, began thinking about developing a major sports complex for Congolese residents of the city. Plans were drawn up in 1941 by Public Works architect E. Popijn, who designed College Albert (cite) and the Medical Assistants School (Feb. 27, 2020).

Architect's drawings for Parc des Sports Gen. Ermens (wikinshasa.org)

The Funa Club celebrated its 10th anniversary in October 1941 by building a new dam to supply water and refurbishing the concrete and tile. During World War Two the United States opened an office of the Board of Economic Warfare in Leopoldville to coordinate delivery of Congo’s strategic resources to the US war effort (May 23, 2011). A member of the mission, John Canaday, who later wrote detective novels under the pseudonym of Matthew Head, recalled, 

 “If I had a favorite spot in Leopoldville, the Funa was it. It was a big pool, wide open to the sky, set out in the middle of great empty fields beyond the edge of town. As a pool there wasn’t anything exceptional about it; it was just the usual concrete basin, with concrete pavement along the banks, and along one side this pavement was widened into a terrace to accommodate a scattering of tables under bright beach umbrellas”. (Head, 1950:82)

The Art Deco facade of the Funa Club in the 1940s (author coll.)

In January 1942, the colonial government authorized the Scheut Mission to expand its site on the Funa to 75 hectares. But only five months later, rescinded its grant to allow for the extension of the Ndolo Airport runway (Apr. 27, 2013). At the end of the year, the government promised to return the site to the Catholics if there were no further needs for airport expansion. Finally, in June 1943, the Scheut Mission was granted 12 hectares for a sports complex. Construction began that year under Marcel Hentenryck, who also designed the art deco Public Market that year. Parc Sports Ermens was inaugurated in April 1946. The complex featured a large pool in addition to football and tennis facilities.

The Parc des Sports Gen. Ermens pool in 1947 (author coll.)

Kids enjoying the pool 1953 (LIFE Magazine, Getty Coll.)

Meanwhile, the Funa Club owners were considering a bid from the city to buy the facility. In December 1944, the Comité Urbain agreed to buy the pool, noting its plans to build a separate pool for Europeans as well as others serving the Congolese community, though there is no evidence this ever happened. The Allied liberation of Belgium was celebrated at the Funa in May 1945, and in December, the acquisition of the pool by the municipality was completed. The local government planned to upgrade the water filtration system. The colonial government also contributed, ceding rights to the 14 hectares where the Funa was located in 1949 and making direct budget allocations during the 1950s. 

 

During the riots in January 1959, which led to Independence the following year (Jan. 13, 2019), many Europeans were stranded at the Funa club and could not get home because the riot centered on Ave. Prince Baudouin (now Kasavubu), which the main route from the European city to the pool.

Belgian soldiers' weapons stacked up at the Funa, Feb. 1959 (author coll.)

After Independence, things continued much as before notwithstanding the political and social disruption in the city. The club closed for cleaning in mid-November 1960 and reopened the following Saturday with a “Soirée Dansante” for members. Orchestre Pespi-Cola provided entertainment. In April 1961, a US newspaper reported that Europeans flocked to the pool during their lunch hour. Noting that there had been no color bar prior to Independence, Congolese could patronize the club if they paid the $0.60 entrance fee. Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, a Haitian anthropologist who researched youth in the city during World War II, returned in 1965 to study the life of women in the capital. She quoted an article in the “Progrès” which stated that whites would vacate the pool when Congolese entered. Going to the Funa was an expensive proposition for most Congolese, Comhaire-Sylvain. noted, describing the habits of a two-income couple for whom a taxi from town and back was Fr. 600, the entrance fee Fr. 100 and a sandwich Fr.150. In a recent article in E-Journal Kinshasa, a Kinois recalled catching the TCL (Oct. 24, 2011) 1-Line bus from Bandalungwa to the Funa with enough money for his entrance fee and a soft drink.

The Funa Club in the late 1950s. The City "modernized" the original Art Deco facade (author coll.)

Entrance to the changing rooms (author coll.)

Many of the American School (TASOK) students started going to the Funa Club on Friday afternoons in the early 1960s. I do not recall tension between white and black pool users. The large pool with its blue tiles, diving boards and water slide was a great improvement over the Mampeza. The “Mamp” faded from memory.

The Funa Club in 1967 (Elisofon Collection, Smithsonian Institution)

Body builders show their stuff (photo Jean Depara, lepoint.fr)

The Funa continued to operate in the 1970s. Entrance fees were 70 makuta ($1.40). Former Commissaire Regional (Governor) Sakombi Inongo claims he privatized the pool during his tenure in 1975-76. But by the 1980s it was in decline. Kinshasa’s budget for 1986 included plans to rehabilitate the Funa Club, as well as the MPR complex at Nsele, which also boasted an Olympic size pool (June 4, 2017). But that did not happen and during the 1992 Conference Nationale Souveraine sessions assessing the failures of the Mobutu regime, the Social and Cultural Commission deplored the abandonment of the Funa Club. During an assignment in Kinshasa in the early 2000s, I dropped a colleague off on Ave. Kabasele Joseph near the end of the Ndolo Airport runway. I had an eerie feeling like “déjà vu”, recognizing the side lane where we had stopped as the entrance to the Funa Club. But it was now built up all around with houses within cement block compounds.

The Funa Club site

The last record I can find for the Mampeza was for a Ball Pelote match in 1956, about the time I started swimming there. At the end of a stay in Kinshasa in 2006, I went looking for the Mampeza. I found a small path between the walls off Ave. Ngumi where Hotel Pyramid is located. On the other side was the overgrown Mampeza stream and I followed a path along it twenty meters further where the space opened out into a courtyard between houses formed by the old pool. In contemporary Kinshasa, swimmers have to join hotel pools like the Elaeis, the ASK in Ma Campagne or the Shark Club at the Athenée.

The Mampeza pool in 2006 (author coll.)

Mampeza pool in 2006, vestiges of blue paint and hand rails (author coll.)

Sources: 

• Avenir Colonial Belge, Leopoldville, 1940-43 (multiple issues) 
•  Comhaire-Sylvain, Suzanne, 1968. Femmes de Kinshasa hier et aujourd'hui, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG. 
•  « Courrier d’Afrique », Leopoldville, 1941. (multiple issues) 
•  « L’Eveil de l’A.E.F. », 1932-36 Brazzaville (multiple issues) 
•  « Historique du Funa-Club ASBL », 1949. (gparchives.com) 
•  Head, Matthew, 1950. Congo Venus, New York: Dell Publishing Company, Inc. 
•  « Jeune, j’ai nagé à Cosbaki, à Funa et à l’Athénée de la Gombe », E-Journal Kinshasa, Oct. 2020. (https://e-journal.info/2020/10/jeune-jai-nage-a-cosbaki-a-funa-et-a-lathenee-de-la-gombe/) 
•  Lelo Nzuzi, Francis, 2011. Kinshasa Planification & Aménagement, l’Harmattan. 
• VanderLinden, Jacques, 1994. Pierre Ryckmans 1891-1959: Coloniser dans l'honneur, Bruxelles : De Boeck-Wesamel. 
• Wauters, Julien, 1926. Le Congo au travail, Maison national d'edition l'Églantine.

Leopoldville 1942 – Guilherme Marques helps launch Academie des Beaux-Arts

October 4, 2021, 12:52 pm

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1928 - Chanic founded on Ngaliema Bay

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1929 – Funa Club Founded

$

0

0

A few years ago, I posted a piece about Guilherme d’Oliveira Marques, known as the “Painter of the Congo” (May 17, 2017). It was prompted by a serendipitous find of an old photo of his house. Today, in a similar vein, while researching another topic, I learned about his role in helping start what is now the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa.

One of the ateliers at the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa (author coll.)

In 1942, Brother Marc Wallenda of the Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes at Gombe Matadi mission near contemporary Mbanza Ngungu in Congo Central Province, had finally realized his dream of starting an art school at the mission. Previous construction starts had been re-prioritized for uses deemed more important by the mission’s hierarchy. Now the walls were up, but lack of funds meant the roof would have to be thatch rather than galvanized metal, the norm at Catholic missions at the time. On a visit to Leopoldville, Brother Marc met Marques and the latter proposed they organize an exhibition of his paintings as a fund raiser, to which Marques donated over 60 pieces. The event was held in the new hall at College Albert (Jan. 17, 2012) on a Sunday morning and by 4:30 pm, all the paintings were sold out. Brother Wallenda had his new roof.

Gombe Matadi in the 1940s (author coll.)

The Centre Culturel at College Albert, now College Boboto (author coll.)

Marques painting of the old city market ca. 1943 (author coll.)

The new school was inaugurated at Gombe Matadi August 15, 1943. The following month, the first students, Andre Lufwa Mawidi and Jacob Wineguane, were admitted. From the outset, Brother Wallenda discouraged reproduction of traditional sculpture, but encouraged the young artists to develop their own styles. Two years later, he took some of his own paintings to Leopoldville for another fund raiser, and like the event with Marques, the paintings sold out, enabling the purchase of proper tools, instruments and materials. Another exhibition in 1946 added funds for the young institution. 

It was becoming clear to Wallenda that a growing art school would be better placed in Leopoldville than in rural Bas-Congo. In 1949, the Colonial Minister granted 10 hectares on Ave. Josephine Charlotte (Ave. de la Liberation) for the school. Brother Marc had to switch to his fund-raiser and builder mode again. Two years later, the first buildings were completed and the school was accredited as the “Ecole officielle des Beaux-Arts Saint-Luc”, a reference to Wallenda’s alma mater in Liege. A painting program was added to the sculpture section in 1950, pottery in 1953 and architectural design in 1958. Andre Lufwa became the first Congolese member of the teaching staff.

Brother Wallenda and Andre Lufwa (eventsrdc.com)

Lufwa produced the “Batteur du Tam-Tam”, a white cement sculpture placed at the entrance of the first Foire International de Kinshasa (FIKIN) in 1969 (Mar. 20, 2015). Other works include the imitation stone Leopards at the entrance to the Presidential Gardens on Mont Ngaliema, and “Voyageur” on the grounds of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Lufwa never received any royalties for his work. He continued to work with his son, Bernard, also a sculptor, at their atelier in Commune Ngaliema.

Batteur du Tam-Tam - 2017 (author coll.)

Lufwa's Leopards at the Presidential Gardens - 1973 (author coll.)

Even though he was a member of the intellectual property body SOCODA, founded in 2011, Lufwa was thwarted in his pursuit of compensation for his work, by his estimation over one million US dollars. In 2019, Lufwa, now 94, appealed to the new President Felix Tshisekedi to establish his royalty rights. In early January 2020, hospitalized at Clinique Ngaliema, a journalist noted with irony that the Ministry of Foreign Commerce was investing $1.3 million to rehabilitate the FIKIN complex. Lufwa died January 13, 2020. At the end of February, the Academie des Beaux-Arts memorialized the artist in a ceremony on the campus and a bust of the artist was placed outside the sculpture building.

Andre Lufwa and Tam-Tam model (La Prosperite)

Memorial service for Prof. Lufwa, Academie des Beaux-Arts (congocreation.com)

Bust of Brother Wallenda, Academie des Beaux-Arts (author coll.)

Sources: 

• Biographie Belge d’Outre-Mer, 2015. « Wallenda (Victor Arnold) dit Frere Marc-Stanislas”. 
• Eventsrdc.com, May 12, 2019. https://www.eventsrdc.com/le-cri-de-detresse-dandre-lufwa-a-fatshi-je-demande-au-president-de-simpliquer-personnellement-afin-que-je-percoive-mes-droits/ 
• La Prosperite, Jan. 9, 2020. “Concepteur du batteur de tam-tam de la FIKIN : L’artiste André Lufwa entre la vie et la mort ! «

Leopoldville 1928 - Chanic founded on Ngaliema Bay

March 27, 2022, 4:25 am

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1957 –Fish at the Zoo

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1942 – Guilherme Marques helps launch Academie des Beaux-Arts

$

0

0

The Chanic shipyards by Guilherme Marques d'Oliveira (Ph: katembo.be)

Among my earliest memories of Kinshasa are the sounds emanating from the Chanic shipyards; the clanging of steel, the staccato of the rivet guns and the calls and swishing of bicycles at the end of the day as workers headed up Ave. de l'Avenir to their homes.

In December 1927, a syndicate of investors representing several Société Générale de Belgique (SGB) companies met in Brussels to plan the establishment of a naval shipyard in Leopoldville. These were later joined by the Crédit Générale du Congo (Bank of Brussels interests) and the Union des Transports Fluviaux (Unatra) a river shipping parastatal in which the colony owned 58% of the shares, though most of the private shares were controlled by SGB (Oct. 31, 2011). In September the following year, these investors created the Chantier Naval et Industriel du Congo (Chanic) to undertake industrial and metal fabrication work, including naval shipyards, concrete construction and general industrial activities. Unatra ceded its old shipyard at Leopoldville Ouest as its contribution, gaining a majority share of 50%, while the other investors put up the working capital, for a total of 60 million francs.

The Chanic installation shortly after taking over from Unatra (Ph. author coll.)

On the face of it, this appears to be a fairly typical colonial corporate transaction of the go-go years prior to the Depression. But it also involved some mutual problem solving between well-placed entities in the private sector and the colonial government. What was so attractive about the site above the rapids on Ngaliema Bay in Leopoldville Ouest? 

When Henry Stanley returned to the Congo in King Leopold’s employ in 1880, he reached Ngaliema Bay from the coast at the end of 1881 and founded his fourth station on Mount Khonzo Ikulu (now Mont Ngaliema) on December 1st. Two days later he launched a small steamer on Ngaliema Bay, the “En Avant”, which he brought in pre-fabricated sections along the caravan road. A secure mooring area for the steamer was completed February 1882. Stanley’s embryonic fleet was joined by the “AIA” and “Royal” later that year. Protestant missionaries were also setting up their bases at Leopoldville (as formally named by Stanley in April 1882) to support evangelization of the Congo Basin. George Grenfell of the British Baptists (BMS) brought the first 800 loads of the “Peace” in July 1883 (Jan. 14, 2017) and in November 1884, the Livingstone Inland Mission (LIM) launched the “Henry Reed” (May 4, 2016). There were now five steamers calling at the Ngaliema port.

L-R, the "En Avant", the "A.I.A", the "Roi des Belges" (Ph. author coll.)

The fleet became known as the Marine du Haut Congo, becoming a department of the colonial administration in 1886. By 1898, when the rail line from Matadi reached the port, the fleet comprised some twenty steamers and transported 10,000 tons of cargo. But the Leopoldville port was constrained by limited frontage along the water and the nearby rapids. By 1910, it was agreed that Kinshasa was a better location for the river port.

The port under the "Marine du Haut Congo" (Ph. author coll.)

The port as developed by the Marine du Haut Congo (Ph. author coll.)

By 1918 the Marine transported 28,971 tons of cargo, all on ships built in Europe and assembled at the yard. In 1920, seeking to upgrade the shipping operation, the government converted the Marine into the Société National des Transports Fluviaux au Congo (Sonatra), a wholly owned state corporation. But Sonatra faced stiff competition from the Compagnie Industrielle et de Transport au Stanley-Pool (Citas), created in 1907 by the SGB’s principal colonial holding, CCCI and based in Kinshasa, where the new port was being built (Mar. 13, 2011). Already in 1922, Sonatra relocated its offices to Kinshasa. In 1925 the government merged Sonatra and Citas to create Unatra, with the state as the majority shareholder. Although shipping on the upper river was the main priority for the new entity, the shipyards at Leopoldville Ouest remained under Sonatra management and later Unatra, until 1928 when the facility was transferred to Chanic.

The port as developed by Unatra (Ph. author coll.)

The agreement creating Chanic specified that Unatra would undertake routine maintenance of its fleet at its Ndolo yards, upstream from the new port at Kinshasa, but Chanic would assure major repairs and assembly of steamers manufactured in Belgium and shipped to the colony. When Otraco succeeded Unatra in 1936, a modification to the contract with Chanic was reached to allow Otraco to expand its yards at Ndolo, but otherwise maintained the same basic framework whereby major work was done by Chanic.

Aerial photo of Chanic in the 1930s by Sabena (Ph. author coll.)

In June 1929, Chanic obtained a five-year lease with option to buy on a 17-hectare parcel for a naval yard and other industrial operations. The site was on the road to Kinshasa upstream from the original shipyards where the Basoko River drains into Ngaliema Bay. Chanic agreed to compensate Congolese living on the site and cover the costs of relocating a government fuel depot established there. Considering that the original port was nearly fifty years old, the Basoko site would allow Chanic to develop a modern operation. Chanic built an oxygen and acetylene plant on the site and developed slips for assembling steamers and barges.

The Basoko site in 1954 with original shipyards in the distance (Ph. author coll.)

Chanic also purchased the former British Consulate building next to the American Baptist Mission, located between the shipyards and the Basoko site, as residence for the Director General (Oct. 22, 2016). The original two-story prefabricated building was enclosed behind a screen of windows and doors.

The Director General's residence in the 1960s (Ph. roomfordiplomcacy.com)

The global Depression hit Congo hard, and Chanic’s primary client, Unatra, saw transport orders for both import and export cargo plummet. Chanic looked for other work consistent with the scope of its industrial vision. The challenge for diversification along these lines was that all departments needed investment to expand their operations.

Chanic's booth at the July 1931 Commercial Fair in Leopoldville. Aside from the ship’s anchor center, non-nautical products include oxygen bottles (L), bicycles and light fixtures (Ph: author coll.)

The company did obtain other work, including construction of streets and storm drains in the new administrative district of Kalina (Jan. 17, 2012). Chanic also fabricated concrete pavers, which the city began installing in the downtown streets in 1931. Some of these can still be seen on Ave. Kalemie (Ave. Banning) where the asphalt applied later has eroded. Chanic also took over representation of Ford automobiles after the L.H. Gillespie firm went bankrupt in 1930 (Mar. 14, 2012). The dealership was located on Ave. Tombeur de Tabora, a block from the Gillespie property.

Original Chanic pavers on Ave. Kalemie (Ph. author)

Belgian Prime Minister Pierlot passes Chanic Ford on his visit to the colony in 1942 (Ph: News from Belgium, Sept. 5, 1942)

A fundamental conflict persisted between Chanic and Unatra, its largest shareholder. Unatra had anticipated that savings on repairs and a revenue stream from part ownership in the venture would accrue, while Chanic expected a dedicated market would fund its operations. On the eve of war, even the colonial government argued Unatra, now Otraco, should buy back the shipyards, signaling a consensus that the arrangement had failed. 

With the outbreak of war in May 1940, Chanic’s Secretary General, Adolphe Ruwet, under prior contingency planning for war time separation of the colony from Belgium, left Bordeaux for the Congo to take over management of the company. The situation in Leopoldville was challenging. The firm had staffed up in anticipation of large contracts for assembling ships and barges for Otraco, but now found its materiel blocked in occupied Belgium. Finding productive employment for its European workforce was problematic, as it was not feasible to terminate their contracts and return them to Belgium.

The Chanic yards during World War II (Ph. author coll.)

Ruwet learned there was a dearth of imported agricultural tools on the market because of the conflict in Europe. The metal fabrication workshop began making shovels, hoes and machetes. The company also proposed to open a canning line for foodstuffs, primarily palm oil. As the workshop’s small furnace was not adequate for this increase in production, Ruwet ordered a large electric furnace from the United states, which came on line in 1942. So as not to impede work at the shipyards, which he was certain would see an uptake in naval orders as the war effort developed, the foundry was installed at the Basoko site, where the oxygen and acetylene plant was located. The crowning achievement of this effort was the launching, in October 1943, of the first 800-ton barge entirely constructed in Congo. By the end of the war, the shipyards had built 18 barges, 36 smaller craft, produced 4000 tons of steel, while also fabricating 681,000 agricultural tools and 580,000 tin cans.

(Ph. News from Belgium and the Belgian Congo, May 6, 1944)

The barge is launched (Ph. author coll.) Chanic came out of the war as a significant commercial representative of US industrial equipment, including Hyster forklifts, Laplant Choate scrapers and Athey Truss Wheel trailers. Caterpillar tractors imported by Chanic were used to prepare Ndolo airfield to accommodate U.S. bombers in July 1942 (Apr. 27, 2013). The firm procured Fruehauf trailers and fitted them with metal bodies to transport workers to the cité. In 1941, Chanic imported three Rearwin Cloudster single-engine aircraft from Wichita, Kansas, which it assembled for local customers. In 1946, Chanic founded the Compagnie General d’Automobiles et d’Aviation Au Congo (CEGEAC). Rearwin Aircraft had gone out of business, but the new company picked up De Havilland and later Sikorski helicopters. Chanic ceded the Chanic Ford property on Ave. Tombeur to the new firm. An advertisement for CEGEAC (Ph. author coll.) The end of the war in Europe allowed Chanic to resume supply chain links with the metropole. In January 1947, the shipyard began assembling a steamer to be named, “Le Katanga”, which would be the largest “courrier” passenger boat on the river. May 1948, Chanic launched the renamed MB “General Olsen” (named for Otraco’s retiring Director) on a test run prior to handover to Otraco. The boat had been ordered in December 1939, but the engines remained in Belgium at the outbreak of war. Originally designed as a steamer, the boat was now equipped two 500 HP diesel engines and radar which cut the time between Leopoldville and Stanleyville to six days instead of ten. The General Olsen in 1948 (Ph. author coll.) Like most colonial companies, Chanic was compelled to recognize the contribution of its African workforce to the war effort, in particular those assuming skilled positions previously held by Europeans. The number of Congolese working in “artisan” jobs had nearly doubled, from 61 before the war to 112 in 1945. The company allocated five million francs to creating a social welfare fund for its workers. A skilled riveter in the Chanic yards 1950s (Ph. flickr.com) The Chanic Football Club - 1947 (Ph. author coll.)

During the 1950s, Chanic expanded its production of river craft in rhythm with the growing post-war economy, in particular Otraco’s capital investment program. A new design of Integrated Tow Boats (ITB) which maximized streamlined units of power boats and barges to increase passenger and cargo carriage on the river. In 1953, Chanic delivered the MB “Moulaert”, which became the “Tshatshi” after Independence. 

The Industrial Representation Department, created during the war, responded to demand for industrial machinery. The Caterpillar account in 1955 alone sold 680 dozers and scrapers, 442 engines and 767 other Caterpillar products. The tin can production line was terminated, but Chanic found a new outlet in constructing steel tanks for the industrial sector, including fuel tanks for the cement factory of Cico at Lukala and Petro Congo in Leopoldville. 

The number of Congolese employees, which reached 3,700 in 1949, declined to 2,500 following a meccanization program launched in 1951 which resulted in more Congolese filling high-skill professions. From 112 Artisans in 1945, this classification increased to 238 in 1952.

Chanic workers at the end of the day (Ph. flickr.com)

Chanic installations in the 1950s (Ph. author coll.)

A new headquarters building at Basoko was completed in 1953, the company’s 25th anniversary. The shipyard and slips at Basoko were closed in 1958, consolidating all ship building and repairs at the original yard.

Chanic headquarters on Ave. Mondjiba during the widening of the street in 2011 (Ph. author)

On the eve of Independence in June 1960, Chanic transferred its legal entity to Belgium to protect its assets from potential adverse fiscal and tax policies the new country might apply. The following year, Chanic registered two new Congolese companies, Chanimetal (comprising the shipyards and foundry) and Chanico (industrial representation). The economic dislocation that followed the events of Independence had a significant impact on ship building. This was mainly due to problems of its primary client, Otraco. By 1962, the number of ships constructed had declined to 18 from 34, output of the foundry had dropped by half, with similar declines in the oxygen and acetylene units. Consequently, the number of Congolese employees was reduced to 500 and European workers declined to 16. A 1963 mission by the European Economic Commission recommended privatizing Otraco’s naval yard at Ndolo, noting Chanic had appropriate experience. Chanic rented space in the Basoko complex to the United Nations Tunisian and Malay peace-keeping troops and some of its residences along Ave. de l’Avenir to the newly-established American School of Leopoldville, which at that time was located on the American Baptist Mission next to the shipyards (Jan. 13, 2011).

Chanic shipyards in 1961 (Ph. University of Wisconsin Milwaukee)

After Mobutu’s coup in 1965, the economy recovered somewhat, and with it, Chanic’s fortunes. Ahead of the Organization of African Unity meetings in September 1967, the shipyards refurbished Otraco’s “General Olsen” as the Presidential “yacht”, renamed the “Kamanyola”, equipped with a helicopter pad on the stern. Chanimetal built 27 ships in 1968, an almost three-fold increase over 1964. In 1972 Chanic launched a new subsidiary, Chanitec, to supply, install and maintain systems in high rise buildings, including Westinghouse air conditioners and elevators.

Barges under construction for Otraco - 1967 (Ph. Eliot Elisofon Archives, Smithsonian Institution)

The "Kamanyola" (Ph. gettyimages, downloaded from twitter)

The “Zairianisation” of the economy announced in late 1973, made all foreign-owned subject to take over by nationals, in practice Mobutu’s cronies and other well-connected individuals. In 1967, Chanic had restructured its capital to give the Congolese state a 29% share in the company, based on the Unatra holdings which were the property of the colonial government. But this did not exempt it from the ”Zairianisation” measures. An “aquereur” sought to hive of the Westinghouse account, even though they had no experience in air conditioning. A Zairian General Director was named to the Administrative Council. As the economy cratered due to the negative effects of “Zairianization”, the Government “radicalized” the nationalization and reached an agreement with Chanic in May 1976 in which all Chanic subsidiaries in Zaire were folded into Groupe Chanimetal, with the GOZ holding 60% of the shares and 3 of 5 seats on the Conseil. The 1980s did see a reduced, though fairly stable output of 15 ships built per year and 65-75 repaired, mostly linked to investments by Onatra to upgrade its fleet.

Chanimetal in the 1970s (Ph. author coll.)

Chanimetal 1974 - newly constructed ships and barges (Ph. Chanimetal in author coll.)

The “pillage” of September 1991 dealt a severe blow to the Zairian economy. Although Chanimetal itself was not looted, the impact on its clients had nearly the same effect on the firm’s balance sheet. Orders dropped by 90%, and the company released 1000 of its 1500 employees, claiming “force majeur”. The prospects for improvement did not appear promising in the war that followed Laurent Kabila’s takeover in 1997. In 1999, Groupe Suez, which had taken over SGB, sent a young financial manager with no experience in Congo to liquidate the company. Vincent Bribosia, however, was charmed by the installations along the banks of the Congo River and believed there remained potential in the property and a future in river transport. In 2000, he bought the company. By the time he hosted a visit by King Albert II of Belgium during the 50th Anniversary of Independence celebrations in June 2010, the company was slowly gaining orders.

King Albert (white cap) visits the Chanimetal yards, June 2010 (Ph. chanic.com)

Chanimetal in 2011 (Ph. author coll.)

In 2013, government signed a contract to rehabilitate the Otraco towboat “MB Gungu”, first built by Chanimetal in 1976 and out of commission since 2001 and its service during the war with Rwanda and Uganda. Other orders were received from SEP Congo for towboats and barges to carry fuel upriver and with Majestic River to rehabilitate two of its river boats as cruise ships.

A worker in the Chanimetal yards - 2020 (Ph. chanic.com)

Chanimetal yards - 2020 (Ph. chanic.com)

An item of curiosity for Kinois was the fate and whereabouts of Chanimetal’s emblematic elephant which stood outside its vacated headquarters building at the Basoko site on Ave. Mondjiba and disappeared after completion of the reconstruction of Ave. Mondjiba in the 2010s. Mwana Mboka located it on the grounds of the Director General’s residence on Ave. de l’Avenir in October 2016.

(Ph. author coll.)

(Ph. author coll.)

Sources: 

• Revue Coloniale Belge, Brussels, 1945-59. (multiple years) 
• Stalins, Louis, 2020. Le Chantier Naval et Industriel du Congo. Étude de la société Chanic en tant qu’acteur et témoins de l’histoire du capitalisme belge au Congo, Mémoire, U. C. Louvain. 
• VanderLinden, Jacques, 1983. “Une Société Coloniale et un Enfant d’Afrique Face a la Guerre”, in Le Congo Belge Durant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, Recueil d’études, Academie Royale des Sciences d’Outremer. 
• VanderLinden, R. 1953. Le Chantier Naval de Léopoldville, Institut Royal Colonial Belge. 
• “Vincent au Congo”, La Libre Belgique, Sep. 9, 2010.

Leopoldville 1957 –Fish at the Zoo

April 1, 2022, 3:07 pm

≫ Next: Elisabethville 1910 – The Cape to Cairo railroad arrives

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1928 - Chanic founded on Ngaliema Bay

$

0

0

 One day in March 1957, my dad showed me an advertisement from the Zoo (Feb. 6, 2011) in the “Courrier d’Afrique” newspaper in Leopoldville announcing it had completed construction of some new animal enclosures and invited the public to come out the following Monday to see the animals in their new surroundings. When we arrived, there were indeed new, more animal-friendly habitats than the cages that were norm in the original development of the Zoo. But the animals were plush toys with signs proclaiming “Poisson d’Avril” (April Fools) next to them.

The lion enclosure circa 1957 with actual animals (photo author coll.)

A leopard in one of the older cages in 1945 (photo author coll.)

An elephant chained in its space (photo author coll.)

I visited the Zoo in April 2017. Management is trying to keep the Zoo going, promoting family visits on Sundays and rides on the horses it inherited from Mobutu’s cavalry detail.

The entrance to the Zoo (photo author coll.)

A school group visiting the Zoo (photo author coll.)

Horses grazing near the monkey cages (photo author coll.)

One of the older animal enclosures at the Kinshasa Zoo (photo author coll.)

Elisabethville 1910 – The Cape to Cairo railroad arrives

August 10, 2022, 1:33 pm

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1942 – US Army establishes Camp Presnell

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1957 –Fish at the Zoo

$

0

0

The photos below don’t have much to do with Kinshasa, but I’ve had them for a while and think they are too interesting not to share. They show the arrival of the railway from South Africa at the Etoile Mine in southern Katanga on October 1, 1910. The rails had reached Sakania, on the border with Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and a Belgian company, the Chemin de Fer du Katanga (CFK) created in 1902 to link the Katangan copper mines to the Cape to Cairo line, completed the work. CFK was further charged to extend the railway to the Lualaba River at Bukama, which would connect Katanga to Leopoldville by a series of rail and river links operated by the Chemin de fer des Grands Lacs Africains (CFL), opening up much of the entire colony to mechanized transportation.

The rail bed (Photos, author coll.)

Workers begin delivering rail road ties. The work is all manual.

Flat cars bring up the ties.

The ties are laid under supervision of European foremen.

The train comes up the new line and the process continues.

The arrival of the rail line at Etoile prompted the Belgian authorities to create Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi) as the capital of Katanga. Construction of the line to Bukama continued, reaching Likasi in June 1913, and Tenke, 255 kilometers northwest of Elisabethville in July 1914. Shortages of materials delayed construction during World War I. Tracks and ties were seized by Belgian forces from the railway in German East Africa (Tanzania) (Aug. 3, 2014), and the line finally reached Bukama in May 1918. Ironically, the new transportation line helped spread the Influenza pandemic into eastern Congo from southern Africa later that year (July 13, 2020).

The RN "Mimi" at Fungurume, 20 kilometers from Tenke in late 1915. The Royal Navy shipped two patrol boats to Katanga via South Africa to support the Belgian campaign against the Germans on Lake Tanganika.  From Fungurume, the boats were hauled overland to Bukama, then under their own power down the Lualaba.  At Kabalo, the boats were once again loaded on rail cars and shipped to Albertville (National Geographic, Oct. 1922).

Fungurume railway station in 2012.  The rail was manufactured for CFK by the Ougree steel mill 100 years previously (Ph. author coll.)

Another company created in 1906 was intended to extend the rail line from Bukama to Port Francqui (Ilebo) on the Kasai River, to provide a more direct route to Leopoldville with fewer transshipments. The grandiose-sounding Compagnie du chemin de fer du Bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK) began work on a bridge spanning the Lualaba at Bukama in 1923 and the railway reached Port Francqui in 1928. King Albert and Queen Elisabeth inaugurated the line during their visit to the colony (Aug. 22, 2018).

The BCK rail bridge at Bukama nearing completion (Ph. author coll.)

The port at Port Francqui (Ph. author coll.)

During World War Two, with Congo cut off from Belgium, many colonials took their holidays in South Africa. The shipping line, Otraco, added a second steamer to the bi-monthly trip to Port Francqui to accommodate the increased demand. On their return, Leopoldville was supplied with butter, cheese, cold cuts and fresh fruit from Katanga and South Africa, which were no longer available from Europe. These fresh items were marketed to retailers by Profrigo and the Maurice Michaux grocery on Ave. du Port. In January 1942, failure to load the contents of a refrigerated wagon on the SS “Luxembourg” at Port Francqui precipitated a butter crisis in Leopoldville.

The "Luxembourg", possibly at Port Francqui (Ph. author coll.)

The "Luxembourg", possibly at Banningville (Bandundu) en route to Port Francqui (Ph. author coll.)

In 1956, a BCK branch line north from Kamina connected with the CFL rail line at Kabalo, circumventing the river section from Bukama. After Independence, some consideration was given to extending the line Ilebo or Kananga to Kinshasa or Matadi, providing an all rail route from the copperbelt to Congo’s Atlantic port. However, conflict between Mobutu and a British-Japanese consortium led by Lonrho and Nissho Iwai halted the proposed feasibility study. The nationalization of all Zairian rail lines under the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer du Zaire (SNCZ) in 1974 put paid to any further consideration of a unified railway system.

---

Leopoldville 1942 – US Army establishes Camp Presnell

September 8, 2022, 5:10 pm

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1943 - Two franc elephant

≪ Previous: Elisabethville 1910 – The Cape to Cairo railroad arrives

$

0

0

In a previous post (May 23, 2011), I described the arrival of the U.S. Army in Leopoldville at the end of August 1942, with an assignment to upgrade Ndolo airport to handle heavy bombers in transit to the Middle East and the China-Burma-India Theater in Asia. Among the troops was a segregated African American unit, Company C of the 27th Quartermaster Truck Regiment. The Belgians were outraged. The Colonial administration had long sought to subvert claims by millenarian sects that black American soldiers would come to liberate the Congolese from colonial tutelage, a sentiment which the demands of the war effort helped to accentuate. On September 1, the Assistant Belgian Military Attaché in Washington delivered a formal complaint from Minister of the Colonies de Vleeschauwer.

US Army troops on arrival in Leopoldville (Ph. News from Belgium, Nov. 14, 1942)

In Leopoldville, the Black soldiers were aware they were not welcome and, if they were not, didn’t understand why they were there. They had the same pass privileges as the white troops, but as their commander wrote, were disinclined to exercise this right because, 

“There are no places where our troops may go to be served food, or drink, in contrast to the freedom which is enjoyed by our white troops. … they state that a general outward and bold exhibition on the part of the populace showing Colored soldiers' presence and services are not wanted makes their status very obvious.” 

The unit did not want to return to the US and ultimately it was transferred to Liberia, without its white officers. On Armistice Day, the unit paraded through Leopoldville and crossed over to Brazzaville for onward transport to Liberia.

The 27th Quartermaster Truck unit marching through Leopoldville (Ph. author coll.)

US Army troops boarding the ferry to Brazzaville (Ph. author coll.)

The US troops initially arrived with minimal equipment and were housed under tents near the Leopold II Force Publique camp (now Camp Kokolo). Initially named Camp Roosevelt, it became Camp Presnell, named for a soldier missing in action in the Philippines. By the end of September, there were 1500 soldiers in Leopoldville. The Force Publique loaned them 20 Chevrolet trucks and an ambulance. The soldiers eventually erected over 50 plywood buildings for dormitories, dining halls and bathing facilities during their stay. At the same time, the 23rd Station Hospital was established to provide care if flight crews were injured. The nurses were initially lodged in the Hotel ABC (Mar. 27, 2011) until barracks were built.

Barracks at Camp Presnell (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA)

The barracks (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA)

Camp Presnell barracks (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA)

The U.S. engineers completed the upgrading of Ndolo airport in record time. Earlier in the year, the Belgians had extended the landing strip to a length of 2,300 meters and 30 meters wide. The Americans laid down a concrete runway, enabling Army Air Corps B-17 and B-24 bombers to land without damage to the surface. The engineers also erected and installed all the buildings and facilities necessary for the operation of the ferrying base. By the end of the year, they were ready to move on to their next assignment in Dakar, where the French Vichy government had capitulated after the Allied landings in North Africa in November.

Ndolo airport in the 1940s (Ph. author coll.)

In January, the last of the engineers left Congo for Dakar. In March, the medical staff of the 23rd Army Station Hospital was airlifted to Morocco. Except for a small Air Transport Command liaison unit commanded by an Army Air Corps lieutenant, the US Army was gone. A notice in the Courrier d’Afrique in June advised all creditors to present any claims at the US Army HQ at “Villa Roseraie” on Avenue Olsen (Kabasele Tshamala) before June 15. This was the complex of buildings into which the US Consulate and other war agencies moved in May (Aug. 2, 2018).

A member of the 38th Engineers with Congolese (Ph. author coll.)

The "Roseraie" building, which later became the US Consulate (Ph. Northwestern University, digital collections)

The adjacent "Villa Tropica", which also housed US War Agency offices (Ph. Northwestern University, digital collections)

Camp Presnell remained unoccupied –military visitors were lodged at the Avenue Olsen complex– until August 1944, when Mullins and Jack, a Rhodesian company based in Elisabethville, contacted the Central African Division of the Air Transport Command in Miami about purchasing the structures. Advised to contact the ATC liaison officer in Leopoldville, Mullins and Jack submitted a bid on November 15 for 50 buildings at Camp Presnell and 28 hospital buildings, offering Fr. 475,000 ($204,250.00). A minor turf battle ensued between the Foreign Economic Agency (FEA), which had the authority to dispose of surplus property and the US Army, which had the authority to declare the property surplus, but which took no action. The FEA noted that the buildings were deteriorating and the Army did not have the capacity to salvage them. The situation remained unresolved during 1945 and not until November were the two properties declared “excess”, with the camp structures estimated to have cost $778,470 and the hospital $64,900. The cost differential with the Mullins and Jack bid likely includes the cost of shipping the materials to Congo versus its salvage value.

Camp Presnell barracks (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA)

Congolese Force Publique guard at Camp Presnell (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA)

Camp Presnell barracks, note thatch added to the metal roof of the building on the right (Ph. author coll, courtesy of NARA)

By this time, however, it appears there were no buyers, as six months later an influx of Belgians returning to the colony from Europe so overwhelmed local hotel capacity that the arrivals were lodged in the barracks. Similarly, attendees at Protestant meetings in June and July 1946 stayed in the hospital and Camp Presnell. I have not yet found any record of final disposal of the buildings. 

There are still vestiges of Camp Presnell in Kinshasa, though no physical trace remains. An area west of Camp Kokolo in Commune Ngaliema’s Quartier Basoko is called Camp Américain. A street that parallels Avenue de l’Union Africaine behind GB/Shoprite is called Avenue Kalikaki, a reference to Kalikak International, established by American investor Harold Kalikak, who tried to break into the Kinshasa construction market in the 1970s and built a residential compound there.

Ave Kalikaki 2022 (Ph. R&N)

Ave Kalikaki 2022 (Ph. R&N)

Side street off Ave. Kalikaki 2022 (Ph. R&N)

Sources: 

Lee, Ulysses, 1963. The Employment of Negro Troops, Center of Military History, United States Army.

National Archives and Records Administration, multiple years 1939-1945.

Leopoldville 1943 - Two franc elephant

June 12, 2023, 3:41 pm

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1944 - Gunther Baby Grand for Sale

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1942 – US Army establishes Camp Presnell

$

0

0

 

In 1942, with the economy picking up and more Congolese participating in the cash economy, the Belgian Government in Exile in London placed an order with the Philadelphia Mint for 25 million 2 franc coins (worth about a nickel). A hexagonal brass piece with a striding elephant on one side and Banque du Congo Belge in French and Flemish on the obverse, it was the first coin that did not feature an image of the monarch, given the sensitivities around Leopold III's surrender in June 1940. The coins were likely cast from expended brass artillery shell casings. The Flemish text lacked a “c” in Belgisch, but with 25 million pieces produced, the error was too expensive to correct and the coins were shipped to Congo and placed in circulation. In 1946, a smaller, round 2 franc coin was produced by the Pretoria mint and the hexagonal one taken out of circulation (coins.www.colectors-society.com, Sep. 22, 2021).

Leopoldville 1944 - Gunther Baby Grand for Sale

August 12, 2023, 1:58 pm

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1945 - President Roosevelt's Memorial Service

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1943 - Two franc elephant

$

0

0

If you’ve followed this blog for a while you may have concluded that one of my favorite buildings in Kinshasa is the former Sedec Motors showroom at the corner of Avenues Aviateurs and Isiro opposite Ste. Anne Cathedral (Oct. 8, 2017).

Sedec Motors looking down Ave. Aviateurs in the 1950s (Author coll.)

This art deco gem is now dwarfed by the Sozacom building and the security around the Electoral Commission (CENI) offices on Blvd. du 30 Juin, but in the 1930s this was prime real estate.

The Sedec store (R), CENI and Sozacom (L)

Sedec (Société des Entreprises Commerciales au Congo Belge), was the retail arm of Lever Brothers’ Huileries du Congo Belge. In the 1950s the building became one of the first self-service grocery stores in Leopoldville.

The check-out registers in 1959 (Ph. author coll.)

Sprucing up the entrance for King Baudouin's visit in 1955 (Ph. liberas.eu)

After Independence in 1960, foreign currency shortages affected the economy, and grocery shelves were often lined along the edge with a single item, like small cans of sweetened condensed milk or boxes of matches. In the mid-1970s, President Mobutu’s Zairanization program drove Lever Brothers to disinvest and sell off certain assets. When I visited Kinshasa in October 1992, the store was called “Select”, with similarly sparse shelves. It closed in 2003.

Blvd. du 30 Juin 1972, Sedec (R), Sozacom building under construction (Ph. author coll.)

In July 2005, Hasson Freres opened “Espace Hasson”. A firm established in Congo since 1936, their “Au Chic” store on Place Braconnier in 1946 was the first in the city to serve both Congolese and European customers. Living in Kinshasa in the mid 2000s, I was thrilled to shop at “Sedec” again and enjoy the many tenants on the upper mezzanine, which created the feeling of a shopping mall. But success in Congo often breeds excess and, complaining of a plethora of 38 separate tax regimes, Hasson Africa closed the store at the end of December 2017 (Jan. 2, 2018).

Mezzanine walkway to the coffee shop (Ph. author coll.)

The Cosmopolitain restaurant (Ph. author coll.)

Espace Hasson shortly before closure in December 2017 (Ph. author coll.)

A new iteration of the retail store was revealed in 2018 when it became GG Mart Select, with advertising careful to emphasize its Sedec and Select roots. The other tenant was UAC, which sells furniture, appliances and office equipment. The two firms are managed by South Asian brothers and in Solomonic compromise, two separate entrances in the lobby provided access to lengthy corridors of merchandise.

GG Mart "Select" (Ph. author coll.)

GG Mart and UAC entrances (Ph. author coll.)

GG Mart lobby (Ph. author coll.)

Which brings us to the Gunther Baby Grand. On our first visit to check out the new store, we found this piano on the mostly vacant mezzanine. We asked Congolese staff about it, who introduced us to a South Asian manager. Neither French, Lingala, nor English provided any clarification other than the piano was found during the remodeling of the new store.

The Gunther piano on the GG Mart mezzanine (Ph. author coll.)

So, I will hypothesize. Jean deMiddeleer, a Belgian pianist, settled in Leopoldville after an African concert tour was interrupted by the outbreak of war in Europe. During his stay he played for Governor General Ryckmans, gave charity performances for the war effort and in 1943-44 toured South Africa, Katanga and Angola. In December 1944, he offered a Belgian-made Gunther grand piano for sale, “specially constructed for Congo”. In April 1945 he left for Eastern Congo, giving concerts in the mining regions and in 1946, moved to Kenya to direct the Nairobi Symphony.

Was this his piano? It was repainted white and the cigarette burns on the keys suggest Rick’s Café in Casablanca more than the refined atmosphere of the College Albert theater (now College Boboto). It seems even the owners don’t know how it ended up in the Sedec building.

Play it again Sam (Ph. author coll.)

Sources: 

• Courrier d’Afrique, Dec. 21, 1944. 
•  « La société Hasson & frères aurait décidé de fermer ses portes «, mbote.cd, Dec. 9, 2017.

Leopoldville 1945 - President Roosevelt's Memorial Service

January 8, 2024, 9:15 am

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1949 – Speakerine Pauline Lisanga

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1944 - Gunther Baby Grand for Sale

$

0

0

Just before midnight on Thursday April 12, 1945, US Consul General Buell received a visit from George Housiaux, the Director of Radio Congo Belge, who informed him that President Roosevelt had died in Warm Springs, Georgia a few hours earlier. Housiaux’s radio received news bulletins from the US and regularly rebroadcast US Office of War Information programming, but the station had already gone off the air for the day.

Radio Congo Belge in Leopoldville - 1943 (Ph. "News from Belgium and Belgian Congo" 1943

The next morning, Buell ordered the Consulate flag raised at half-mast and informed all official Americans. Shortly afterwards, George Carpenter, an American Baptist missionary who was acting General Secretary of the Congo Protestant Council (CPC, now Eglise du Christ au Congo), called offering to organize a memorial service at the British Baptist (BMS) chapel, which served the Protestant community of Leopoldville. Buell accepted and prepared press releases in French and English for the local papers, advising of the Sunday service. Senior Belgian officials came to the Consulate to express condolences, as did members of the Consular Corps. That evening, Vice Governor General Ermens, acting Governor General in Ryckmans’ absence, broadcast a tribute to FDR on the radio. US and Belgian flags hung at half-mast in front of government buildings, public squares and many private residences. US petroleum suppliers Socony Vacuum and Texaco closed their offices on Saturday. Official and individual letters of condolence flooded in, occupying the staff with drafting responses despite the closure of the Consulate.

The BMS Chapel in the 1940s (Ph. author coll.)

Sunday, the BMS Chapel was overflowing. With seating for only 300, senior officials were seated at the front, while many junior officials and civilians found seats in the back or gathered outside. Rev. Carpenter read his English remarks slowly to facilitate comprehension for non-English speakers. For his part, Buell drew upon the recent broadcast of President Truman’s remarks to frame his tribute. This emotional moment reflected a high-point in American-Belgian Congo relations during the war, which had seen an expansion of US military and commercial presence (May 23, 2011).

Rev. Carpenter leading the services (Ph. author coll., courtesy NARA)

Consul Buell conferring with VG Ermens after the service (Ph. author coll,, courtesy of NARA)

At the time, George Carpenter was working on a major project. Since 1938, the American Baptists seconded him to CPC as Educational Advisor. Trained as an engineer before attending divinity school and entering missionary service in 1926, at his last assignment at Nsona Mpangu, near Matadi, he installed a micro-hydro system to provide electricity to the mission. Now he wanted to expand the availability of otherwise imported educational materials for mission schools with a full-service print shop. In August 1945, the Leopoldville Comité Urbain authorized construction of a two-story, 25,000 SF (2322M2) building near the BMS chapel on Ave Banning (Ave Kalemie) to house a book store, production facilities and a printing press. The new facility would replace the old bookstore of the Librairie Evangelique du Congo (LECO), established in 1935, which operated out of a room in the adjacent Union Mission Hostel (UMH) (Mar. 27, 2011). Fourteen mission groups and two Bible societies subscribed to the capital requirements. Construction began in 1946 and the facility opened in July 1948.

The LECO building in 1949 (Ph. flickr)

When Mobutu renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo the Republic of Zaire in 1972, LECO was renamed the Centre d’Editions et Diffusion (CEDI). The print shop was still producing documents in the 2000s, but a visit to the bookstore in 2004 only offered a few Bibles for sale and some school materials. Recent years have not been kind to the facility, but the building got a face-lift in 2016.

CEDI in 2011 (Ph. author coll.)

CEDI in 2017 (Ph. author coll.)

Leopoldville 1949 – Speakerine Pauline Lisanga

March 8, 2024, 12:02 pm

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1943 – Leisure on the River at Kinsuka

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1945 - President Roosevelt's Memorial Service

$

0

0

This International Women’s Day we remember Congolese women who pushed the boundaries of traditional roles in the years before Independence in 1960. 

At twenty-three, Pauline Lisanga in 1949 became the first female announcer for Radio Congo Belge’s (RCB) new service for Africans. Born in Leopoldville of a family from Lisala, she attended primary school and two years of Ecole Menagère, then taught primary school in the city. Along with Marie-Louise Mombila and Marie-Josee Angebi, who joined RCB in 1951 and 1955 respectively, they were “top of the charts”. At Independence in 1960, Pauline was Vice President of the Mouvement des Femmes du Congo and in 1961 named Director of Radio Services in the Ministry of Information. Mamas Mombila and Angebi remained with RTNC and in 1966 created and co-hosted an oldies request show called “Tango ya ba Wendo”.

Pauline at the microphones

Other women contributed the female voice to RCB’s programming. Here Anne Kitambala, Anne Marie Matasu and Marguerite Elanga plan a radio sketch in the 1950s with Albert Mongita, who also joined the radio in 1949.

Planning the radio sketch in the studio

Victorine Ndjoli Elonga was the first woman in Kinshasa to obtain a driver’s license in 1955. Also a graduate of the Franciscan Sisters Ecole Menagère, she tired of making baby clothes and hats at the foyer social and did some modeling for advertisements – bicycles and powdered milk among others. At 21, against the wishes of the male members of her family, she enrolled in the driver’s education school. She told David Van Reybrouck in 2008 that afterwards, he father was proud of her. After Independence, “Mama Vicky” went into politics and remained a figure in women’s empowerment until her death in 2015.

Victorine at the wheel the day of her driver test

The dents in the car body were made by her male predecessors

Other women may be anonymous in the photographic record but their ambition and accomplishments merit recognition.

Nursing students at the Ecole des Assistants Medicaux in the 1950s

Sales clerks in a Leopoldville store

Shoe sellers at Bata

Women marching in support of political candidate Albert Kalonji in June 1960

Congolese nuns on Blvd. Albert opposite Hotel Regina in 1961

Red Cross volunteers prepare for a smallpox vaccination campaign in February 1962

Educate a woman and you educate a nation. Parents enroll their daughters in school in Matete Commune.

Students at the Ecole Professionnelle des Filles in 1957

Into the future. School girls parade on Independence Day, June 30, 1960

Leopoldville 1943 – Leisure on the River at Kinsuka

May 15, 2024, 12:28 pm

≫ Next: Leopoldville 1945 – Plan de la Ville de Léopoldville

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1949 – Speakerine Pauline Lisanga

$

0

0

Kinsuka is a Quartier in Ngaliema Commune, situated on the rapids four kilometers downstream from the Chanic shipyards. Tradition holds that Kinsuka means, “end of town”, the furthest extension of colonial Leopoldville. Opposite the site, a narrow rocky channel runs between the bank and Ile Mimosa. The land around Mont Ngaliema, along the river and into Binza was part of a 300 hectare concession granted to Joseph Rhodius, founder of the Texaf textile mill in 1936 (Feb. 27, 2020).

The rapids at Kinsuka (Ph. author coll.)

Leopoldville’s Hygiene Service began clearing weeds along the river at Kinsuka in March 1943 to reduce the prevalence of mosquitos. Four hundred Congolese were employed in the work. Force Publique Engineers erected a 135-meter footbridge of rattan and lianas to provide access to Mimosa Island. Paths were laid out on the island, which was covered with all kinds of vegetation including wild Mimosa. At the downstream end of Mimosa, the current between the channel and main river deposited sand to create a beach which, noted the Courrier d’Afrique newspaper, “should attract Kinois”. In July, enthusiastic patrons appealed to the Public Works Department to resurface the gravel road leading to Kinsuka.

Ile Mimosa 1946 (Ph. author coll.)

Bridge to Ile Mimosa (Ph. author coll.)

When entrepreneur Trenteseaux began building the Forescom building in 1944 (May 28, 2011), he built a narrow bridge to the island and opened a quarry to mine the purplish red sandstone. The elevated bridge on stone pillars had only two tracks for the vehicle wheels and no guard rails. In 1950 a company affiliated with the Texaf textile interests opened an industrial quarry called Carrigrès on the mainland in the Rhodius concession. At the same time, an industrial brick-making factory called Bricongo acquired land from Imafor (Rhodius group). In 1954, the Chemin de Fer Matadi-Leopoldville laid 6 kilometers of track from Kintambo gare to Kinsuka to improve speed of delivery and reduce the cost of handling output from the quarries. The riverside area remained a major vector of mosquito borne malaria and yellow fever for the growing European suburbs of Ngaliema and Binza and a program of spraying by helicopter began in 1951.

The bridge to the Ile Mimosa rock quarry - 1946 (Ph. author coll)

Mimosa island continued to be an attraction for some residents of Leopoldville Ouest. Mwana Mboka and neighbors would either walk or ride bikes to the island. Guards on the mainland side usually did not prevent expatriate visitors crossing the bridge to the island if they stayed away from the quarry operations.

The bridge to Mimosa Quarry - 1961 (Ph. flickr)

In 1970 President Mobutu asked Doctor Bill Close, his personal physician, to upgrade services at the main hospital in Kinshasa, named for the President’s mother, Mama Yemo (Nov. 26, 2012). Close envisioned a state-of-the-art medical facility with international specialists to complement the Congolese personnel. The President ordered construction of an expansive residential complex for expatriate medical personnel, called “Mimosa”, on the slopes of Mont Ngaliema opposite the island. Prefabricated units imported from Belgium were installed on concrete foundations.

The housing at Camp Mimosa (Ph. facebook)

The Camp Mimosa compound (Ph. facebook)

After the demise of Mobutu, in 1999 the new Ministry of Tourism sought to promote Mimosa Island as a tourist site. In addition to recreation seekers, however, the river front attracted residential settlers, as Kinois sought new land to build homes on. The Ministry of Transport opened a transit line to Mimosa on the old line from Kintambo Magasins that originally served the quarry. However, this service was terminated in 2002. 

 

One problem for the riverain community was seasonal flooding and erosion from the former Presidential compound and Camp Tshatshi on Mont Ngaliema. There were only two paved roads serving Kinsuka, the river road from Chanic along the base of Mont Ngaliema called Avenue du Rive, and Avenue de l’Ecole from the Matadi road above TASOK and the Cercle Hippique. A major storm in March 1998 washed away a one kilometer section of Ave. Ecole cutting off 100,000 residents. In March 2004, the Kuweit Fund provided funds to repair the critical roadway. 

Another landslide at the end of 2005 cut off the river road to Kinsuka. In 2009, a project to reopen Ave du Rive, now renamed Ave du Tourisme, was awarded to CREC-8, the Chinese company which rebuilt Boulevard du 30 Juin (Jan. 23, 2011). Related construction work included the Binza River bridge, which was featured on the 500 Franc bill celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Independence.

Ave Tourisme during reconstruction - 2009 (Ph. author coll.)

Avenue du Tourisme after repairs (Ph. actualite.cd)

The Binza River Bridge at Kinsuka

In the 2010s, the tourism potential of the Kinsuka riverfront began to be developed by property owners along the riverside. Among the first was “Chez Tintin” a beer garden and restaurant decorated with cement sculptures of “Tintin” characters. Another entrepreneur opened “Libaya”, a venue with a view of Mimosa Island, whose signature menu offered a kilo of one’s choice of grilled meat on a plank (libaya) with four Congolese side dishes. Today one can enjoy the river from a simple “nganda” of a few huts to massive hotel complexes with swimming pools and conference facilities.

Chez Tintin (Ph. author coll.)

Libaya restaurant (Ph. author coll.)

Villa Bahari opposite Mimosa Island (Ph. author coll.)

The river experience at Kinsuka is always different depending on the season. At the height of the rainy season, the stream churns by with undulating waves topped with whitecaps, and some riverside venues are flooded. In the dry season, the water recedes and artisanal rock breakers take over, crushing the boulders and river bed by hand to supply Kinshasa’s construction industry. Many of the workers are children and women. Patrons may observe huge dump trucks navigating the channel between Mimosa and the river bank to load crushed stone. The quarry on Mimosa Island was acquired by the Ledya Group in 2005; it and Carrigrés continue to supply stone and rock on industrial scale.

Truck loading sand off Villa Bahari - 2019 (Ph. Author coll.)

Hand broken stone at Chez Tintin - 2016 (Ph. author coll.)

When both arteries were open to traffic, the intersection of Avenues Tourisme and Ecole at Kinsuka Pompage created such massive traffic jams that the site was selected for one of the first “saute de mouton” overpasses in 2019 (Apr. 20, 2019). A major project begun in 2016 was the construction of a nine kilometer road (Ave Nzolana) linking Quartier Pompage with the Université Pédagogique Nationale (UPN) on the Matadi road. Completed in November 2023, the project also included over a kilometer of reinforced concrete roadway to mitigate erosion from the Binza hills.

The Saute de Mouton overpass at Kinsuka (Ph. mediacongo)

Ave. Nzolana leading to UPN - 2023 (Ph. Agence Congolaise des Grands Travaux)

Leopoldville 1945 – Plan de la Ville de Léopoldville

January 10, 2025, 4:38 am

≫ Next: Kinshasa 2025 – International Women’s Day

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1943 – Leisure on the River at Kinsuka

$

0

0

Interpreting Kinshasa “then and now” depends on good archival material. Informed analysis also requires a bit of conjecture. Newspapers and telephone or postal directories are useful, but detailed maps of the city from different time periods can reveal a lot. A recent find is this map produced by Delacre et Soeur of Brussels, ostensibly in 1945. Delacre et Soeur published a tourist brochure, “Les parcs nationaux du Congo Belge”, in 1938, but I have yet to conclusively date this map. 

Click here to view full-size map in new tab

To view map in full size, click on the image and save to a temporary location such as your desktop. Open that image and enlarge to the level of detail desired.

All the landmarks are there: the Gare (14), Ndolo airport (3), Hotel ABC (17), Hotel Sica (46) and other hostelries, the BMS Chapel (78), Parc De Bock, the Governor General’s Residence (101), UtexLeo (112), the Velodrome in Kintambo (115), Chanic shipyards (118), the American Baptist mission at Leo Ouest (117). But there are discrepancies which suggest that this is an update of an earlier map in which some, but not all, of the developments during World War Two were captured in the new edition. 

For instance, the map shows Ave. De Gaulle in the commercial district (now Ave. du Commerce, See Jan. 2, 2018), which was renamed from Ave. Travailleurs August 28, 1943, the third anniversary of the Gaullist coup in Brazzaville that brought French Equatorial Africa into the Allied fold. District Commissioner le Bussy and Dr. Staub, Honorary French Consul presided over the ceremony.

Ave. de Gaulle in the 1940s (Ph. author coll.)

However, the Information Service (80) on Ave. des Jardins off Ave. Vangele, does not use the new name of De Meulemeester (now Ave. Kolwezi), which the Comité Urbain changed in September 1944.

The Ministry of Information facing Ave. Vangele in the 1960s (Ph. author coll.)

Even more intriguing is the location of the Coupole (56), the former municipal market on Square du Marche (Aug. 5, 2011), which was relocated to Aves. Plateau and Van Eetvelde and inaugurated at the end of 1943. But no market or any structure is identified in that location. The original market reopened as a night club called “La Coupole” in March 1945. Celebrated local artist, Guilherme d’Oliveira Marques, decorated the interior with murals (May 17, 2017).

The rear of the market from Ave. Cambier (Ph. author coll.)

The Market by Guilherme Marques (Ph. author coll.)

La Coupole advertisement March 1945 (Ph. Le Courrier d'Afrique)

Similarly, Hotel Regina (40) is shown on Place Braconnier, although it actually opened across Blvd. Albert in 1943. Hotel Regina was an initiative of Paul Storey-Day (Mar. 29, 2011), whose mother, Paula Colman, operated the Pension Paula in the former Portuguese Banco Ultramarino (Nov. 1, 2014) on the Place Braconnier location. Interestingly, the Sabena Guest House near Ndolo Prison (4) on Ave Olsen (Apr. 15, 2021) is not identified, although the other main hotels were.

The new Hotel Regina on Blvd. Albert (Ph. author coll.)

Pension Paula on Place Braconnier during WWII (Ph. facebook.com)

The Banco Nacional Ultramarino (Ph. author coll.)

Another anomaly is the US Consulate, which the map locates on Ave Bousin (39) (now Ave. Isiro). At the beginning of the War in 1940, the Consulate was located in a rented villa on Ave Renkin. There is a locator number (35) on this site, but nothing to identify it in the Legende. The Consulate moved to Ave Olsen in May 1943 (Aug. 2, 2018). Intriguingly, No. 39 on Ave. Bousin is where the US Office of War Information opened an office in March 1944.

The U.S Consulate on Ave. Renkin (American Foreign Service Journal, Nov. 1936)

On the other hand, there is no listing for the Italian Consulate on Ave Costermans (now Ave Mongala), opposite the District Commissioner’s residence (68). After Italy joined Germany in the War in June 1940, the Italian Consul was expelled from the Colony, so its absence from the map would seem to suggest an updating of the 1945 edition.

The Italian Consulate, Ave. Costermans (Ph. author coll.)

Over half of the map covers the southern districts -- the African cité -- of which there are less than half a dozen cites. There is the St.Pierre Catholic Mission (136), the adjacent Stade Reine Astrid (135) and the Scheut Mission pool for Congolese downstream from the Funa Club (2). Governmental institutions include the Territorial Administration for the Population Noire (134), Aves. Comfina & Luvua. But the map also identifies a site at the southern end of Ave. Prince Baudouin for a Bureaux d’Administration de la Population Noire, which was designed and built in 1951. 

To the south of this is the “Nouvelle Cité”, developed by Territorial Administrator Dendale, who in August 1943 platted lots to accommodate the influx of Congolese residents drawn by the opportunity for war work (Sep. 30, 2011). Many of the streets were named to commemorate Congolese contribution to the war -- the victories of the Force Publique in Ethiopia in 1941 (Aves. Force Publique, Assosa, Gambela, Saio), the FP field hospital in Burma (Ave. Birmanie) and Avenue de la Victoire. In 1957 the Nouvelle Cité was renamed Commune Dendale and after Independence became Commune Kasa Vubu.

Just north of this, across the Tranchee Cabu, is a site reserved for a swimming pool for Congolese. The original Scheut Mission site downstream from the Funa Club (as shown on the map) was filled in by the US Army in September 1942 to upgrade Ndolo airport to accommodate heavy bombers en route to the Middle East and Asia. In January 1944, the Congo Protestant Council proposed the municipality build a swimming pool for Congolese – within two or three years. Ultimately, the pool, part of Parc Sports Ermens, was built on Ave Ermens in 1946 (May 30, 2021).

Notwithstanding a few discrepancies, the map generally provides specific locations for many rapidly-disappearing colonial-era structures one might find in Kinshasa and wonder what their stories were. 

Sources: 

• American Foreign Service Journal 
• L’Avenir Colonial Belge, 1942-45. 
• Le Courrier d’Afrique, 1942-45.

---

Kinshasa 2025 – International Women’s Day

March 8, 2025, 3:32 am

≪ Previous: Leopoldville 1945 – Plan de la Ville de Léopoldville

$

0

0

Kinshasa could not function without the small vendors, mostly women and girls, who are the face of daily markets throughout the city. Notwithstanding the spread of western-style supermarkets from Gombe into most Communes of the megalopolis, most Kinois purchase their daily household requirements from these small-scale sellers who provide an important, convenient service. With the exception of those renting stalls in a few formal markets, they often operate on the margins of legality -- anywhere they can find a patch of space along a public right of way -- and are consequently susceptible to extortion or expulsion by local authorities. On this International Women's Day, let us remember and recognize their contribution.

A vegetable seller on the road to Kimwenza, just off RN1 to Matadi (photo author coll.)

The first formal market in Kinshasa (Gombe) was located on the rail line to Leopoldville (Kintambo) approximately opposite the Grande Poste on Blvd. du 30 Juin. (photo author coll.)

A group of women at the Kinshasa market (photo author coll.)

In 1925 the Crédit Foncier Africain built the Mughal-inspired "covered market" two blocks south (photo author coll.)

Vegetable sellers outside the Marché Couvert (photo author coll.)

Painter Guilherme Marques d'Oliveira's depiction of the market in 1942 (photo author coll.)

The Leopoldville municipality built a new public market in 1943, four blocks further south, east of Parc De Bock along Ave. Ruakadingi (photo author coll.)

Selling dried fish at the public market (photo author coll.)

Shopping at the public market in the 1950s (photo author coll.)

Outside the market near the end of the day (photo author coll.)

In 1968, President Mobutu demolished the public market, replacing it with a larger facility on the same site (photo Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, Smithsonian Institution)

Sellers at the Marché Central in the 1970s (photo author coll.)

The meat section of the Marché Central 2010 (photo Beeckmans, 2010) As Kinshasa continued to grow, shopping at the central market became a challenging logistical endeavor and road side sellers became more ubiquitous. Off to find a place to set up shop (photo author coll.) Young street vendors (photo author coll.) Sellers at Matadi Kibala on RN1 to Matadi (photo mediacongo.net) Workers bringing produce to the DAIPN market at Place des Evolués in 2018 (photo author coll.) The Marché Central was demolished in March 2021 after having been closed for a year as a Covid-19 prevention measure. (photo 7sur7.cd) A new Marché Central, now commonly called "Zando" in Lingala, is nearing completion on the same downtown site. Let's hope sellers and customers will enjoy as nice an experience as the architect's rendering suggests. (photo thinktank-architecture.fr) Sources: Beeckmans, Luce. 2009. "Agency in an African City: The various trajectories through time and space of the public market in Kinshasa".