For those largely unfamiliar with Congolese history, a list of people who have shaped the country’s past might include no more than two or three names. Patrice Lumumba and Mobutu Sese Seko would certainly feature; perhaps Laurent Kabila as well.
In years to come, however, the names of three Congolese women might become equally well known.
Beatrice Ndona Kimpavita, Marie-Clementine Anuarite Nangapeta and Sophie Lihau-Kanza were recently inducted into the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Pantheon of National History — a group of people who have made significant contributions to the country. They are the first women to be accorded this honour.
A bust of each women is to be displayed in the Gallery of Memory in the capital Kinshasa.
Kimpavita, who lived from 1684 to 1706, has yet to achieve renown in the DRC. She has been admitted to the pantheon for her contribution to the fight against the slave trade during pre-colonial times. For her efforts, she was burned alive at the stake by Portuguese slave traders.
Nangapeta was a nun from Isiro, in the north-east of the country. In 1964 she chose death at the point of a bayonet rather than be raped by followers of Pierre Mulele, a rebel leader active at that time. Born in 1939, she was made a saint of the Catholic Church in 1985 by Pope John Paul II — this during the pontiff’s visit to Kinshasa.
The most well-known member of the group, Lihau-Kanza, was an ardent campaigner for the rights of the handicapped. Injuries incurred during a car accident in Paris had resulted in Lihau-Kanza herself becoming a paraplegic. After the accident, she left her job at Unesco in Paris where she had represented her country, and travelled the world to champion the disabled.
She also served as a minister on several occasions in the Mobuto government. She died five years ago, after suffering a heart attack at the age of 60.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for Congolese women to be recognised as heroes of our national history. Today, that wish has been fulfilled. We hope that this is just the first of many occasions, because it isn’t just men who deserve this honour,” Philippine Batudianga, a producer at the state radio and television service, said at a ceremony held to mark the induction of the women into the pantheon.
It’s not only the Gallery of Memory that has been the exclusive preserve of men until now. Cast an eye at statues elsewhere in the country, and the chances are these will also be of male leaders. There are statues of Lumumba and Kabila in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, in southern DRC. There are also statues of Mobutu, the infamously corrupt president who renamed the Congo as Zaire.
At the unveiling of the busts of the women, the DRC’s Culture Minister Pierrette Gene said they had at last challenged male supremacy in the DRC. “These were simple women who challenged the cultural limits that confined them, and showed that they could make their mark in the privileged world of men,” she noted. — Inter Press Service