Patrice Lumumba
By Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja
Published Jacana Media (2014)
ISBN 978-1-4-4314-2113-8
THE burden of history is that it carries with it events and stories that will always remain in existence as long as there are people to embrace it.
There are names of Africans that will always be mentioned when the subject of ‘liberation’ is broached.
The African story is incomplete without these gallant men and women who sacrificed their lives for the cause of Africa.
History books are full of praises and narrations of these important men and women who defined the future of Africa.
Their undying efforts led to the independence of African states.
Among the illustrious sons and daughters of Africa is the great Patrice Lumumba.
The book under review this week is a biography of Lumumba which highlights his journey and contribution towards the emancipation of people of the Congo.
Written by George Nzongola-Ntalaja, the biography is an account of the struggle of people of the Congo led by Lumumba in the quest to dislodge colonial rule.
According to Nzongola-Ntalaja, Lumumba was a principled and dedicated man who soon discovered that in order to fight the colonial system, he had to acquire the whiteman’s education and use it against him.
“Despite being a school dropout, he read many books on history and contemporary affairs and took several correspondence and evening courses to enrich his knowledge of the world around him,” writes Nzongola-Ntalaja.
“He was able to acquire a university level education by learning from home, through reading and correspondence courses.”
The biography of Lumumba does not only give details of the story of Lumumba, but the plight of his people.
“Whites held the best jobs and nearly all supervisory positions and had higher wages and better working conditions than blacks, even those who were better qualified,” says Nzongola-Ntalaja describing the plight of the Congolese then.
Lumumba, who became Prime Minister for only a year (1960-61), and Congo’s first democratically elected head of Government, is celebrated for his uncompromising efforts in defending the Congolese identity, power and interests.
Although he was in power for only a year, his contribution remains untarnished in the history of Africa, with relevance worthy celebrating to date.
Nzongola-Ntalaja says, even decades after Lumumba’s death, his personal integrity and unyielding dedication to the ideals of self-determination, self-reliance and pan-African solidarity assure him a prominent place among the heroes of the 20th Century African independence movements and the worldwide African Diaspora.
Lumumba did remain faithful to his principles and the cause of black people.
Even when tortured after being arrested, he never renounced his Africaness, but remained true to his ideals.
Since the slave trade, people of the Congo have not been given a break whatsoever because of the immense natural and mineral wealth their country possesses.
Due to unfair practices and exploitation, Lumumba stood up and became a loud voice which denounced the ‘rape’ of his country by colonialists.
Not only were the Congolese exploited, but they were, in the process, brutally murdered.
Some of the worst atrocities in the world were committed in the Congo.
Despite having many tribes, Lumumba was a national leader who represented all the peoples of his country.
“Lumumba on the other hand, died for attempting to uphold constitutional order, national unity and territorial integrity,” writes Nzongola-Ntalaja.
Sadly, Lumumba’s government was deposed in a CIA masterminded coup in 1961.
He was imprisoned and assassinated by firing squad on January 17 1961 in Katanga at the behest of Western powers – which included the US, Belgium, France and England.
“It is clear that for Timberlake and the US government, the presence of United Nations (UN) troops was the best way of protecting Western interests in the Congo and the ambassador also hoped that the unilateral Belgian intervention could be legalised by placing it under UN umbrella,” Ntalaja writes.
Patrice Lumumba is a biography that displays the hypocrisy, not only of the US and the West, but betrayal of the worst kind which came in the face of Mobutu Sese Seko.
Lumumba never imagined that a fellow African brother could betray him.
Nzongola-Ntalaja writes how Lumumba’s kindness and trust led to his downfall.
“He refused to listen to apparently well-founded rumours about Mobutu’s ties to the Belgian and American intelligence services,” he says.
“In appointing Mobutu to this sensitive position (Chief of Staff of the Congolese National Army), he had unwittingly chosen his own Judas.”
After Lumumba’s assassination on January 17 1961, Congo’s young democracy was also decapitated and since then the country continues to fight the imperial hand which is bent on keeping on exploiting the mineral-rich country through sponsoring wars.
Lumumba was only 35 years old when he was assassinated, but his ideals and legacy live on.
Perhaps Lumumba’s last letter to his wife Pauline summarises his endless faith in the future of his country and Africa.
“History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history taught in Brussels, Washington, Paris or at the United Nations, but the one taught in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets,” said Lumumba.
“Africa will write its own history and it will be from north to south of the Sahara, a history of glory and dignity.”