“There’s a lot of excitement and anticipation here; there’s a buzz,” electoral observer Ilona Tip tells me on her cellphone from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) capital, Kinshasa. “It reminds me of South Africa in 1994. The stakes are also fairly high and in the conflict since 1998, 3,5-million people have died.”
Tip is one of the 500 international electoral observers in the DRC who will monitor the country’s elections, along with 5 000 national observers.
South Africa has sent 118 people to observe the elections at 24 of the 64 designated result centres from July 19 to August 4. During these two weeks the observers will watch the election campaigns, voting process and the counting of the votes.
“It was quite nice as a South African to see South African observers with their khaki caps and their flags. I got very excited,” said Tip, who is one of 30 observers aligned to the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa.
The institute is a 10-year-old NGO whose mission is to strengthen electoral processes, good governance, human rights and democratic values. It is based in South Africa, but has had an office in the DRC since 1998.
Gearing up to be an election observer, Tip packed a pair of good shoes that would be comfortable for long periods of standing and lots of light clothing to endure what the weather forecast predicted would be highs of around 30°C.
She took along her laptop and some books, including her most current read, Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières, but said that she packed “a million other books that I haven’t even begun”.
This is not her first trip to Kinshasa and Tip said that she had noticed changes in the city since her first visit in 1998. The airport is in much better condition and several new buildings have been built.
Despite some development, she said straying off the main road would plunge you into a series of little alleys and shacks that were “impossible” to navigate.
“There are lots of street vendors and the Congolese women wear the most beautifully coloured outfits and have the most amazing hairdos,” she said, “Even when the buildings are dilapidated, in a state of disrepair, they are brightened up by the amazing fabric and cloths. It’s like a peacock with its tail fanned out.”
The streets have been made even more colourful by vigorous election campaigning by the 33 candidates vying for the presidency and the 9 707 candidates contesting 500 seats in Parliament.
“Every single tree is covered with a poster. There are banners across the streets or across two trees,” she said.
But Tip had not been able to explore Kinshasa’s streets because the institute’s observers have been in and out of briefing sessions since their arrival.
“Last night we were done at 7.30pm, I could barely keep my eyes open,” she said. “One thing that helps is that I have worked in this area, I’m not coming in cold.”
Since her arrival, Tip said that she had spent most of her free time reading about the politics of the DRC and trying to understand the complexities of alliances.