DRC: Second Republic: 1965 - 1990

Updated June 2005

Following the takeover Mobutu abolished the office of prime minister in 1966 and took all executive power into his own hands. He centralised state control by reorganising the provinces, reducing their number and transforming them into purely administrative structures. The provincial governors were appointed by and answerable directly to him (Library of Congress 1993a, Answers.com 2005).

In 1966 Mobutu founded the Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution (MPR) as a vehicle of his rule; all other parties were banned and legislative power was consolidated in his hands. Mobutuism was proclaimed as the official ideology of state, which mixed nationalism with economic pragmatism and downplayed ethnic identity in favour of a striving for authenticity of Africanism. This ideology provided the justification for the replacement of European place and personal names with African ones, as well as for the suppression of all ethnic organisations (Library of Congress 1993b).

Mobutu used a combination of cooption through patronage and ruthless suppression to neutralise and eliminate opposition, using the courts to execute judicial murders. Nevertheless resistance to his rule continued. In July 1966 Katangan troops who had been instrumental in suppressing the rebellion of 1964, and who occupied Kisangani on behalf of the government, themselves rebelled. It was two moths before the rebellion was repressed with the help of foreign mercenaries (Institute for Security Studies 2005).

On a more concrete level the MPR was shaped to penetrate not only all levels and organs of state, but all civil society structures as well. Student and youth groups, trade unions and women's organisations were subordinated to MPR structures. The quasi-religious expression of Mobutuist ideology and its practical efforts at penetrating and subordinating religious organisations and institutions brought the MPR into conflict with the churches, and especially the Catholic Church. After some wrangling with the Vatican government rhetoric was toned down and some schools returned to the Church (Library of Congress 1993c).

In July 1967 a second mutiny erupted in Kisangani that was quickly and efficiently suppressed. In 1970 the MPR was declared the sole legitimate party, and the following year Mobutu was elected President unopposed. Candidates for legislative elections were exclusively selected from the structures of MPR (Answers.com 2005, Library of Congress 1993c).

In 1973 far reaching expropriations of foreign businesses were made and they were transferred to Congolese nationals. Thus nationalism was used as a means to create new opportunities for distributing patronage and cementing the loyalties of key functionaries to Mobutu. This redistribution of wealth provoked protest and unrest amongst the population at large. To mute criticism it was announced that all these enterprises would revert to the state, and that they would be sold off to worthy buyers with the state pocketing the proceeds (Library of Congress 1993c).

The economic consequences of "Zaïrianization" (as these property transfers were called) were disastrous. Operations of most business ground to a halt due to lack of expertise and many workers lost their jobs. Entire commercial networks collapsed and critical shortages emerged in many markets for goods and services and prices soared. Assets were stripped and machinery and equipment sold off (Library of Congress 1993c).

To cope with the inflation created by this looting spree price controls were instituted which in turn led to hoarding and the emergence of a substantial black market. State reprimands of the "sons of the soil" who had profited from the transfers were equally ineffectual. Regardless of all this the government moved to target the large Belgian concerns for nationalisation (Library of Congress 1993c).

References

ANSWERS.COM 2005 "Democratic Republic of the Congo", [www] http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=16o66sa9kiwtz?tname=congo-country- zaire&curtab=2222_1&hl=congo&hl=country&hl=zaire&sbid=lc02a [opens new window] (accessed 22 Oct 2007).

INSTITUTE FOR SECURITY STUDIES 2005 "Democratic Republic of Congo: History and Politics", [www] http://www.iss.co.za/AF/profiles/DRCongo/Politics.html [opens new window] (accessed 22 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1993a "Toward political reconstruction" IN Country Studies, [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+zr0041) [opens new window] (accessed 22 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1993b "The quest for legitimacy" IN Country Studies, [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+zr0042) [opens new window] (accessed 22 Oct 2007).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1993c "The expansion of state authority" IN Country Studies, [www] http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+zr0043) [opens new window] (accessed 22 Oct 2007).