This vibrant city has doubled in size every five years since 1950, to recently become
the most populous in all of Africa.
It has some of the most bountiful and sought-after natural resources on the planet, many of which
remain untapped by its enterprising and industrious workforce.
Half of its people are under 22 years old–too young to remember the long history of corruption,
war, and foreign exploitation that has left their country broken and lacking basic services.
Yet, despite being faced with some of the most challenging conditions in the history
of civilization, it remains a land of enormous potential.
This is Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The largest French-speaking megacity in the world is located 515 km from the Atlantic
coast along a lake-like widening of the Congo, the river with the second highest flow rate
on Earth.
If its hydrological power were fully harnessed, it could electrify the entire continent.
That’s the inspiration behind the Grand Inga Dam expansion, a nearly $100 billion
proposed Megaproject to create the largest power station in the world capable of generating
more electricity than the two largest hydropower plants currently in operation.
The same potential exists from the solar energy that consistently bathes this equatorial country.
The fresh water supply provided by the Congo also ensures that, unlike more arid regions
of Africa, the DRC has millions of acres of arable farmland, although only 10% of it is
under cultivation.
If it was used to its potential, it could feed the entire continent.
The first to exploit these natural riches was the brutal British explorer, Henry Stanley,
who arrived in 1881.
The establishment of a navigable port - which Stanley named Leopoldville after the Belgian
king who sponsored his expedition - provided a key access point into and out of the interior
jungle.
Under Stanley, colonialists massacred and maimed millions in a maniacal attempt to extract
ivory and rubber.
It was under these conditions that Leopoldville grew for 80 years until 1960, when the locals
overthrew their Belgian rulers, created the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and renamed
this capital city ‘Kinshasa’.
But the tumultuous times have only continued.
Prolonged civil wars in the DRC and neighboring countries have left tens of millions dead
and displaced.
In the 1960s, the Belgian and US-backed politician, Mobutu Sese Seko, seized control of the government,
stole 4 billion Euros from the Congolese people, and committed numerous human rights violations
over the course of three decades in power.
When rebel militia groups finally ousted him in 1996, the violence and corruption only
continued with the rise of Joseph Kabila.
Meanwhile, most of the DRC’s 108 million citizens were left to scrape by in abject
poverty.
Relegated to the status of a failed state, today the DRC is one of the 20 most corrupt
countries in the world, the second most food-insecure, is patrolled by thousands of UN peacekeepers
in its war-torn east, and many areas are so dangerous that the US State Department recommends
against all but the most-essential travel.
Much of this corruption and conflict can be traced to mining interests along Congo’s
Eastern borders with Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia.
The seismically active rift valley funnels tropical rainfall into the mighty Congo, the
deepest river in the world with sections measuring over 219 meters.
Through millions of years, a vast mineral wealth has accumulated in these hills and
canyons, including the largest known reserves of cobalt–a rare, vital material in the
lithium ion batteries that power our mobile electronics and - increasingly - our cars.
This has attracted the Chinese, who have invested heavily in projects throughout Africa over
the last decade.
According to a New York Times investigation, “Chinese-backed companies owned or had a
financial stake in 15 of Congo’s 19 cobalt-producing mines.”
90% of the Cobalt that is extracted here in the DRC is exported to China.
It’s either extracted by Chinese companies directly or bought, as you’ll see, in rather
opaque circumstances.”
Many such mines have a history of exploiting children, subjecting employees to unsafe working
conditions, and engaging in corrupt business practices, with an estimated 25% of the cobalt
sold on the black market.
“It’s the ‘GR,’ our Congo’s presidential guard.
They are the ones who protect the Chinese over at the warehouse, where we sell our stuff.
They are working together?
Yes, they’re working together.
The Chinese make the rules because our country is so messed up.
They rip us off and if you try to negotiate, the soldiers will hit you.
Nothing can be done.”
“The state authorities are very weak in the face of Chinese economic and political
interest.
The Chinese companies have ministers and MPs in on their deals.
This makes them very powerful and uncontrollable.”
As a way to buy off Congolese politicians - and win over the hearts and minds of the
locals - Chinese developers are building many infrastructure projects.
New hospitals, tollroads, apartment blocks, a Chinese-styled parliament building, and
bridges are going up all over Kinshasa and the mining areas of the DRC.
Investigative reporters have revealed how significant cuts of the revenue from these
projects is depleted by off-the-books transactions that line the pockets of corrupt Congolese
politicians, and that the Chinese are fully aware this is going on.
At the same time, a common stipulation of these contracts is that Chinese workers–not
locals–do the construction.
This is why, within just the last five years, thousands of Chinese families have settled
in Kinshasa.
For China, offering these loans is a small price to pay for the right to ramp up their
extraction of millions of tons of precious metals worth billions of dollars a year.
Still, for the average Kinois, as the residents of Kinshasa are known, a literal roadblock
to economic development remains the fundamental lack of the basic infrastructure and public
services needed to support everyday life and commerce.
Even in this huge metropolis, home to numerous businesses and three Universities, many roads
remain unpaved and power is notoriously unreliable–even for the 20% of residents with access to electricity.
There is no functioning municipal waste collection and indoor plumbing is still considered a
luxury.
Clean drinking water can be impossible to come by, and public transit - for workers
to ride to and from the expansive sprawl of outlying neighborhoods - is nearly nonexistent.
Much of the country’s financial resources are concentrated in the hands of a very small
subset of millionaire entrepreneurs, financiers, celebrities, and politicians, who reside - along
wi th International residents - within insular gated communities, securely walled off from
the rest of the impoverished city.
A densely populated area of 150 square km is home to most of the Kinshasa’s 15.6 million
residents, 70% of whom work off the books in the “informal” economy.
“Many people take on multiple jobs to get by.
Among them are couriers, street sweepers, maggot sellers, bread sellers, and jewelers.
Each day they count their earnings, dreaming of becoming one of Congo’s super rich.”
The hustle is even harder for those in small villages in the countryside.
Mobile merchants, known as “traffickers,” may be their only source of basic necessities,
like cooking oil.
“We don’t want our children to do this kind of work…it’s much too hard and destroys
the body.
We’ve had to push the bikes so hard sometimes that our lungs run out of air and we get sick.
When I was in school, I never imagined I’d end up like this.
I thought my studies would mean I could change my life.
I never once thought I’d be doing this sort of thing.
I wanted to continue my education and study law.
But I had to stop.
If God had helped me I would have become a magistrate.
I had hope for a better life.”
These traveling salesmen trek for hundreds of kilometers on foot, over treacherous dirt
roads, in order to reach some of the most remote and destitute parts of the world–areas
that would otherwise be completely isolated.
Others illegally board trains traveling along unmaintained tracks, like this one: the only
method of public transit between Kinshasa and the undeveloped jungle to the South.
Its service is so unreliable that interruptions can last up to 5 months.
“We’re fine here.
In 8 or 9 hours we should be arriving.
7 hours and 50 minutes if the going is good.
In the old days we used to do it in 4 hours, but the tracks become very bad and there’s
no proper maintenance these days.
Mr. Molongo is the master onboard and supplements his income by allowing 10 or so passengers
to travel in the driver’s cabin.
It’s as close to first class as it gets on the train.”
[woman singing] Kinshasa is now home to 14% of the DRC’s
population yet it accounts for 85% of its GDP.
Five times larger than the DRC’s 2nd and 3rd most populous cities, Kinois have an outsize
influence on the future of their country.
Despite a deeply dysfunctional system created by more than a century of violence, foreign
meddling, and corruption, there is still plenty to be hopeful about.
The Kinois are known for their national pride, individualism, optimism and resilience in
the face of unimaginable trauma–and their distinct sense of cultural identity has inspired
a range of creative movements that influence all of Africa.
If the youthful energy of the DRC can be focused on effectively harnessing its bountiful resources,
the country could become an economic powerhouse.
Make sure to subscribe for next week’s video, a look at Jakarta, Indonesia.
Last week we told the story of Los Angeles, California’s megacity.