Zaire The Society and Its Environment
Traditional mask made of rope
ZAIRE'S ETHNIC DIVERSITY has frequently been stressed
in
discussions of its society and culture; as many as 250
different
languages can be identified within its borders. But
overemphasis on
ethnicity would be misplaced in discussing the social
realities of
the 1980s and early 1990s. Zairians have shared a
prolonged
experience of state pauperization and oppression; the
social
polarization and strategies of survival that have evolved
out of
that experience shape them regardless of their individual
ethnic
identities.
Zairians have been increasingly divided into an elite
class,
most of whom are politically attached to the government of
Mobutu
Sese Seko (president, 1965- ), and the mass of peasants,
workers,
and low-ranking civil servants. The former have used the
state to
advance their economic interests, although their
dependence on
political favor has left them insecure. The latter have
seen their
standard of living drop year after year, watching while as
much as
half their income is taken in fees, fines, and taxes to
support the
state and its elite.
Zairians' response to such deprivations has been
differentiated
not only by class but also by factors such as rural or
urban
status, gender, regionalism, and ethnicity. Villagers, for
example,
seeing road networks and educational and medical services
collapse,
have responded in part by fleeing to cities, increasing
the
country's rate of urbanization. Women have formed new
alliances in
both rural and urban areas to promote their interests and
resist
state exactions.
Most striking has been the creativity of ordinary
Zairians in
constructing an economic life outside the deteriorating
formal
economy. A major factor in the continuing survival and
political
quiescence of the population in the face of their
pauperization has
been the growth of the informal economy, whose size,
according to
most analysts, exceeds that of the formal national
economy.
Notable, too, is the strength of institutions outside
of or on
the periphery of state control. Churches have continued to
grow in
membership, and their extensive networks of hospitals and
schools
have increased in importance since the collapse of
state-run
medical and education institutions.
Zaire is a land of superlative natural endowments--a
vast
territory encompassing enormous mineral deposits, immense
forests,
mighty rivers, and abundant fertile soils. It is said to
have
sufficient arable land and hydroelectric potential to feed
and
power the entire African continent. This situation, in
combination
with its legendary mineral wealth, should have made Zaire
one of
sub-Saharan Africa's most developed and wealthiest states.
Instead,
it is a poor nation in a rich land. Its economy and
society are in
disarray in the early 1990s, and most of its citizens (80
percent
by some accounts) live in absolute poverty.
Zaire's public health and welfare system has collapsed.
Most
state-run hospitals and schools have closed. Medical
equipment and
medicine are scarce. Blood banks have closed, blood
screenings are
rare, and the rate of immunization among infants and
children has
declined drastically. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
(AIDS),
tuberculosis, leprosy, trypanosomiasis, and malaria are
widespread
problems. Malnutrition has also become increasingly
prevalent,
particularly among children, as the price of food exceeds
the
financial resources of more and more Zairians. The
availability of
safe drinking water also has become problematic.
The impoverishment of Zairians can be attributed in
large part
to the monumental corruption and institutionalized theft
characterizing the Mobutu regime. Nevertheless, the
country's large
population (39.1 million in 1992) and chronically high
population
growth rate (3.3 percent in 1992) have also played a role
in the
deterioration of economic and social conditions, in that
population
growth has consistently outpaced official economic growth.
Ethnic
and social tensions are also on the rise, as Zairians
compete for
increasingly scarce resources. One serious result of this
ethnic
conflict is that thousands of Zairians have been displaced
by
ethnic violence, creating a mass of internal refugees
whose needs
the state will not and can not address.
Data as of December 1993
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