Sometimes dictators can be fun when viewed from afar. President Mobutu wanted his country to be more authentically African. So he picked a Portuguese name to replace the Belgian one. He wanted a whole new style of clothes and found inspiration in China. Some of the changes though could have only come from him. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This was a long running series of stamps. They lasted through the renaming of the country to Zaire. The launch of the new currency also called the Zaire, the renaming of President Mobutu and the devaluations of the new currency. The post offices were still selling you versions of this stamp after this style of dress had been banned by the country. The country got it’s moneys worth from the De la Rue design.
Todays stamp is issue A127, a three Franc stamp issued by the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1969. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused. There is also an imperforate version of the stamp, but the value only rises to 30 cents.
Joseph Mobutu was born in 1930 the son of a hotel maid that had escaped the harem of her home village chief and his father was employed as a cook of a Belgian judge, The judge’s wife took a liking to Joseph and taught him to read and write in French and when his father died secured a place for him at a Catholic Boys Boarding School. Joseph ran away to the capital Léopoldville with a girl but when the priests caught up to him, he was done with the school and joined the colonial Askari army. In the chaos that followed independence Mobutu was made a high officer as was done with many Askari corporals. Mobutu became President in a coup in 1965.
At the start of the 1970s Mobutu got serious about remaking the Congo more legitimately African, a common theme then and now. He was counseled by a Portuguese anthropologist on the importance of the Congo River to the country. He hit upon the anthropologist’s mispronunciation of the Kikongo word nzere. He realized that in many tribal languages Zaire would be understood as the the large river that swallows the lessor ones. Mobutu decided on the the three Zs with Zaire becoming the name of the river, the country, and the new currency. The President also required the Priests in the Catholic country to stop Baptizing with western names.
The renaming got to Mobutu himself. He dropped the Joseph and added Sese Seko. His full name now translated to,” The all powerful warrior, who because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, goes from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake” The evening newscast began with a graphic of Mobutu descending from heaven. During this time the newscast was not allowed to name any other person just the title they held.
The style of clothes also changed. Mobutu was inspired by a 1972 trip to China and their style of dress. He designed a abacost, which translates into “Down with the Suit”. It was often worn with a toque hat and was to replace the coat and tie. Mobutu’s were tailor made for him in Brussels.
Eventually Mobutu’s popularity declined and in 1990 he was forced to allow some opposition figures into the government. For some strange reason they got the enforcement of the new rules suspended. When Mobutu was overthrown and replaced by Joseph Kabilla, the African authenticity program ended and the country reverted to it’s old name. The opposition was sure Mobutu had stole billions but after his death they only found 3 million dollars. I bet he spent it all. Kabilla turned out just as bad a ruler as Mobutu but was even worse as he completely lacked style.
Well my drink is empty. I wonder if Mobutu was still around would he be quarantined in one of his palaces only wearing the top half of his abacost while live streaming. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.