What is the main issue driving these elections? What will influence the vote this time? Almost always, the answer to our question was: Vote sensibly. What does that mean exactly, here in Katanga, the wealthiest province in the Congo and home to the outgoing president?

In the town of Likasi, the second most important in the province and a major mining centre, Development and Peace local partners organized sevenTribunes d'expression populaire  (Popular Forums), which were held in and around the city. Election candidates were invited to meet with their constituents. The general public participated massively, but politicians, less so. In Kambove, only 5 out of 48 candidates showed up, while in Kapolo, only three came. However, in Likasi, 28 out of 101 contenders were present.

The well-attended forums were rich in learnings: as is rarely the case here, candidates were able to hear directly about their constituents’ concerns. Participants talked about the everyday worries that hamper the province’s development, as well as the country’s, such as  being hassled by the police for numerous and unpredictable taxes. They also mentioned the poor supply of water and electricity, hard to understand in this industrial region which funds an important part of the national budget. Finally, parents must still pay for their children’s primary school, despite 2006 electoral promises.

Set up by local civil society organizations, the popular forums provided a fairly accurate picture of the Congolese population’s state of mind. This explains, at least in part, the high voter turnout in spite of many challenges. Across the country, if one could vote properly, things went rather well. However, when this fundamental right to self-expression was threatened, people conveyed impatience, discontent and anger in a forceful, and at times, violent way. 

After having been deprived of the right to vote for over forty years, the Congolese population once more took this duty very seriously.

Sunday morning in Lubumbashi, on the eve of the elections. All is calm. Last night, an arms bunker in a nearby military camp was raided, but we heard nothing. We are staying at the Archdiocese Mother House, right next to the St. Paul and St. Peter Cathedral, where scores of praying faithful gather for every mass. We can hear the religious hymns of the magnificent Congolese choirs.

Lubumbashi, a city of two million inhabitants, is the capital of Katanga, the southernmost province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The southern part of Katanga is rich with minerals and holds some of the most important copper reserves, as well as the greatest store of cobalt in the world. Uranium can also be found here; in fact, the uranium used to make the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs came from Katanga.

Katanga’s wealth is mined in one of two ways:

- Artisanal mining: Due to 25 years of instability and extreme poverty, of economic ruin and failed statehood, of conflicts and increased trafficking, hundreds of youth have taken up artisanal mining of copper and cobalt. Without any safety measures, young people aged 12 to 30 use their bare hands, as well as picks and shovels, to dig mine shafts and roadways. The minerals they extract are then sold to buyers who hold monopolies on given quarries. Past the age of 30, the miners have to abandon this demanding trade. They earn 3, 5 or 7 dollars a day, depending on their luck and the buyers’ rapacity. Through this work, the miners support their families, at least one million people in total. Artisanal mining is an important part of the local economy.

- Industrial mining: Over the past few years, foreign companies have won mining claims in the region, and some have already begun extraction work. Having driven the artisanal miners away, they imported modern equipment that enables them to extract much bigger quantities of minerals. The companies employ foreign engineers, some heavy equipment operators and local staff, who handle maintenance and site guarding work. Salaries are higher, but jobs are scarcer. Expatriate workers pay their income tax abroad. Companies, for their part, must remit taxes and royalties to the Congolese State, but only after amortizing their investment expenses, namely the cost of the heavy machinery that is manufactured elsewhere.

What does the future hold?

Day by day, hundreds of thousands of people depend on artisanal mining for their survival. But the medieval conditions under which it is practiced endanger both the health and lives of young miners. Artisanal mining also leads to corruption, while contributing nothing to the state.

Industrial mining, for its part, benefits little to local communities. The way in which the claims are awarded breeds corruption. Taxes and royalties, when paid, go to Kinshasa, the country’s capital, and are rarely invested into services for the population.

Meanwhile, Katanga, where fertile land abounds, is reduced to importing basic food necessities to feed its larger cities.

When the Development and Peace delegation landed in Lubumbashi, the atmosphere was charged with excitement over the elections. Hundreds of people filled the airport, waiting for the arrival of presidential candidate Vital Kamerhe, of the Union pour la nation congolaise (UNC). Flags, songs and slogans made for an impressive welcoming committee!

Already at work: reporters from Radio communautaire du Katanga (RCK), a group we support. The journalists were covering our delegation's arrival, as well the candidate’s, who was scheduled to address the population later that day.

As we waited for our luggage, Godi Ngosa, RCK station director in Lubumbashi, briefed us on the situation in Katanga and on the community radio’s work with the population, ahead of the upcoming elections. "We are hoping there will be no violence, but tempers are hot in the region, more so than in 2006."

 We were warmly greeted by Bishop Fulgence Muteba, of the Kilwa-Kasanga Diocese, Fidèle Banza Mutombo, Program Consultant for Development and Peace in Katanga, Judith Kisimba, Program Assistant, and Godie Ngosa. Over the next few days, we will have the opportunity to visit RCK’s various stations in Katanga.