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Zaire The Expansion of State Authority
Translating the concept of "the nation politically
organized"
into reality implied a major expansion of state control of
civil
society. It meant, to begin with, the incorporation of
youth groups
and worker organizations into the matrix of the MPR. In
July 1967,
the Political Bureau announced the creation of the Youth
of the
Popular Revolutionary Movement (Jeunesse du Mouvement
Populaire de
la Révolution--JMPR), following the launching a month
earlier of
the National Union of Zairian Workers (Union Nationale des
Travailleurs Zaïrois--UNTZA), which brought together into
a single
organizational framework three preexisting trade unions.
Ostensibly, the aim of the merger, in the terms of the
Manifesto of
N'Sele, was to transform the role of trade unions from
"being
merely a force of confrontation" into "an organ of support
for
government policy," thus providing "a communication link
between
the working class and the state." Similarly, the JMPR was
to act as
a major link between the student population and the state.
In
reality, the government was attempting to bring under its
control
those sectors where opposition to the regime might be
centered. By
appointing key labor and youth leaders to the MPR
Political Bureau,
the regime hoped to harness syndical and student forces to
the
machinery of the state. Nevertheless, as has been pointed
out by
numerous observers, there is little evidence that
co-optation
succeeded in mobilizing support for the regime beyond the
most
superficial level
(see Political
Dynamics
, ch. 4).
The trend toward co-optation of key social sectors
continued in
subsequent years. Women's associations were eventually
brought
under the control of the party, as was the press, and in
December
1971 Mobutu proceeded to emasculate the power of the
churches. From
then on, only three churches were recognized: the Church
of Christ
in Zaire, the Kimbanguist Church, and the Roman Catholic
Church
(see Religion
, ch. 2). Nationalization of the universities
of
Kinshasa and Kisangani, coupled with Mobutu's insistence
on banning
all Christian names and establishing JMPR sections in all
seminaries, soon brought the Roman Catholic Church and the
state
into conflict. Not until 1975, and after considerable
pressure from
the Vatican, did the regime agree to tone down its attacks
on the
Roman Catholic Church and return some of its control of
the school
system to the church. Meanwhile, in line with a December
1971 law,
which allowed the state to dissolve "any church or sect
that
compromises or threatens to compromise public order,"
scores of
unrecognized religious sects were dissolved and their
leaders
jailed.
Mobutu was careful also to suppress all institutions
that could
mobilize ethnic loyalties. Avowedly opposed to ethnicity
as a basis
for political alignment, he outlawed such ethnic
associations as
the Association of Lulua Brothers (Association des Lulua
Frères),
which had been organized in Kasai in 1953 in reaction to
the
growing political and economic influence in Kasai of the
rival Luba
people, and Liboke lya Bangala (literally, "a bundle of
Bangala"),
an association formed in the 1950s to represent the
interests of
Lingala speakers in large cities. It helped Mobutu that
his ethnic
affiliation was blurred in the public mind. Nevertheless,
as
dissatisfaction arose, ethnic tensions surfaced again.
Running parallel to the efforts of the state to control
all
autonomous sources of power, important administrative
reforms were
introduced in 1967 and 1973 to strengthen the hand of the
central
authorities in the provinces. The central objective of the
1967
reform was to abolish provincial governments and replace
them with
state functionaries appointed by Kinshasa. The principle
of
centralization was further extended to districts and
territories,
each headed by administrators appointed by the central
government.
The only units of government that still retained a fair
measure of
autonomy--but not for long--were the so-called local
collectivities, i.e., chiefdoms and sectors (the latter
incorporating several chiefdoms). The unitary, centralized
state
system thus legislated into existence bore a striking
resemblance
to its colonial antecedent, except that from July 1972
provinces
were called regions.
With the January 1973 reform, another major step was
taken in
the direction of further centralization. The aim, in
essence, was
to operate a complete fusion of political and
administrative
hierarchies by making the head of each administrative unit
the
president of the local party committee. Furthermore,
another
consequence of the reform was to severely curtail the
power of
traditional authorities at the local level. Hereditary
claims to
authority would no longer be recognized; instead, all
chiefs were
to be appointed and controlled by the state via the
administrative
hierarchy. By then, the process of centralization had
theoretically
eliminated all preexisting centers of local autonomy.
The analogy with the colonial state becomes even more
compelling if we take into account the introduction in
1973 of
"obligatory civic work" (locally known as Salongo after
the Lingala
term for work), in the form of one afternoon a week of
compulsory
labor on agricultural and development projects. Officially
described as a revolutionary attempt to return to the
values of
communalism and solidarity inherent in the traditional
society,
Salongo was intended to mobilize the population into the
performance of collective work "with enthusiasm and
without
constraint." But, in fact Salongo was forced labor. The
conspicuous
lack of popular enthusiasm for Salongo led to widespread
resistance
and foot dragging, causing many local administrators to
look the
other way. Although failure to comply carried penalties of
one
month to six months in jail, by the late 1970s few were
the
Zairians who did not shirk their Salongo obligations. By
resuscitating one of the most bitterly resented features
of the
colonial state, obligatory civic work contributed in no
small way
to the erosion of legitimacy suffered by the Mobutist
state.
Data as of December 1993
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