Business
Congo: Provincial governor to step down, businesses worried
Harassment
Although few firms will talk about it in public, many believe that in Katumbi, a multi-millionaire who says he sold his mining interests to enter politics, they have someone battling in their corner against central government.
They point to his efforts to fight corruption, particularly in the export part of the sector, and his help in staving off harassment from tax collectors who often turn out to be fake.
Eric Monga, head of mining at the FEC’s arm in Katanga, said Katumbi forced all tax-collecting delegations claiming to represent central government to first pass by his office.
“We eliminated 80 percent of those corrupt officials with this measure,” estimated Monga.
Outside in the streets of the provincial capital Lubumbashi, a similar mood prevails.
A sense of order compared to the chaotic west and often violent east of the country points to improvements that many other provinces in Congo have not seen in the five years since the last elections, despite the official end to war.
“We want him to stay as he has worked hard,” Jules Ngoy, a 37 year-old engineer, said after a weekend march to Katumbi’s office calling on him to stay in power.
A boom in hotels, work on some roads and drainage, and even solar-power traffic lights point to signs of progress. Traffic jams, water shortages, power cuts and chromic rural underdevelopment show how much more needs to be done.
“We don’t mind him going back to business but he needs to finish his work first. He cannot abandon us,” Ngoy added.
Katumbi’s critics accuse him of abusing his position as governor to expand his business interests. But the governor denied any wrongdoing, saying he is leaving power to turn his attention back to his family’s mining and transport firms, and TP Mazembe, one of Africa’s most successful football clubs.
