DESPITE its challenges, the Zambian political landscape has inspired supporters of Congolese opposition politician Moise Katumbi in the bustling border town of Kasumbalesa.
Katumbi’s supporters on either side of the vast border town believe that the ruling party under Felix Tshisekedi should accord Katumbi the same privileges ‘enjoyed’ by opposition leaders in Zambia.
Zambia goes to the poll on August 12 this year.
In September 2015, Katumbi resigned as governor of Katanga Province and formed a political party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy.
On June 22, 2016, he was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 36 months in jail, which was widely seen as part of then president Joseph Kabila’s attempts to hold on to power.
After declaring his presidential candidature for the 2018 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) general election, several accusations were thrown at him by the Kabila regime which he denied.
In August 2018, Katumbi was blocked from entering the DRC before the presidential nomination deadline on 10 August.
He is generally loved in Kasumbalesa, a border town in the mineral-rich Katanga Province and nationally for his development of the Katanga region when he served as governor from 2007 to 2015 and as president of TP Mazembe Football Club.
Katumbi is known for being generous by investing his own funds in social causes such as health and education for underprivileged communities.
“Moise twamutemwa sana (we love Moise very much), problem ni Kabila (Kabila is the problem). This time he (Katumbi) could have been president. But we are now happy he is back in the
country and working freely. We must take a leaf from the Zambian government nangu tabaleumfwana sana [even if they don’t relate well] but they allow the opposition to operate,” said Eli Kabondo, pastor at a local church and trader on the Congo side of Kasumbalesa. “Not what Kabila did to Moise; he knows Moise is our saviour but he refused to allow him to come and participate in elections. It is wrong mwamona! That’s why we enjoy life in Zambia. In this country people don’t go to extremes, they find common ground no matter the differences. That’s why muli (there’s) peace mu (in) Zambia.”
Another Congolese national, Jean Pierre Iboma added: “Our hope is that the same way opposition there in Zambia is going for elections, is the same way we want Katumbi to participate freely. And we hope Tshisekedi will give him an opportunity to mobilise freely because we want to have our own choices in 2023.”
After being prevented from running in the 30th December 2018 elections by the Kabila regime, Katumbi who was a frontrunner and his party joined the Lamuka coalition that fielded a single candidate, Martin Fayulu.
Fayulu narrowly lost to Tshisekedi, an election which observers that included the powerful Catholic Church disputed.
Asked about similarities in the conduct of elections under multiparty politics between the two countries, most Congolese residing on both sides of Kasumbalesa border and crisscross the border for businesses preferred the Zambian system, saying it was generally peaceful.