Current topics
2024
50 years after Zaireanisation :
What did it mean?
What consequences ?
Introduction
In his annual address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 1973, General Mobutu, the Zairean head of state, declared that he wanted to recover economic assets held by foreigners.
On his return to the country, the head of state addressed the Congolese people and made two important speeches (on 30 November and 26 December 1973) to explain what “Zaireanisation” would entail. Two years later, he retraced his steps in his 25 November 1975 speech on the restitution of Zairean property.
The various stages of Zaireanisation can be summarized as follows:
- The acquisition of foreign commercial companies by Zairians;
- The takeover of Belgian companies by Congolese affiliates;
- Control over the marketing of raw materials and nationalisation of companies distributing petroleum products;
- The allocation of Zairean properties.
- And later the return of properties to their former owners (speech of 25 November 1975).
Conference-debate on June 18, 2024 on Zairianization – 50 years later
June 18 marked the first public event for our association-coupole.
The conference-debate organized on the subject of the Zairianization of foreign assets in 1973 provided an opportunity to shed light on this event fifty years on. The aim was not only to provide a historical overview of a measure that had an immediate and considerable impact on economic life, but also to shed light on the realities experienced by the players: investors affected, hundreds of thousands of workers’ jobs affected, whole swathes of production and export sectors ruined, structural losses of export revenues and foreign currency outflows on imports, lasting damage to the country’s brand image, effects to this day. And all of this with a view to ensuring the resilience of Belgo-Congolese ties of friendship.
For the occasion, a panel particularly chosen for its knowledge of the subject had been put together:
- Jean Paul Rousseau, agronomist, consultant and president of the Cercle Royal Namurois des Amis de l’Afrique, who was himself affected by Zairianization and then hired by the purchasers to manage the Zairianized property, presented an overview of the events of Zairianization and its effects.
pdf presentation On Zairianization - Deogratias Bugandwa, a Belgian-Congolese economics professor at the University of Bukavu and consultant, has analyzed the immediate economic consequences and the remedies applied.
Presentation pdf Remedies - Olivier Ali Ngindu, a Belgian-Congolese consultant and President of the Léopards Club in Brussels, detailed the outlook for current and future economic and trade relations.
Presentation pdf - Pierre Bois d’Enghien, an agricultural engineer and consultant, and Dr Jérémie Mukumu, a Belgian-Congolese professor and pastor, spoke of the resilience of Belgian-Congolese ties of friendship.
Our invitation, particularly addressed to members of the Congolese diaspora, was very well received: almost 70 people registered for face-to-face participation at the Forum Saint Michel in Brussels, and a number of participants took part remotely. In this category, we noted participants from UNIKIN and Lubumbashi, among others.
A lively Q&A session demonstrated the interest aroused by the presentations.
The meeting ended with a convivial drink to make new acquaintances.