This is Pauline Lumumba, the woman who watched them kill her husband and then walked half-naked in protest. You may not have seen the photo, but it shows a Congolese woman, bare-chested, with her hair shaved, walking in the street crying, with a child tied on her back. That woman is Pauline Opangu Lumumba, the wife of Patrice Lumumba, in 1961.
Patrice was only 35 years old and had been Prime Minister of Congo for just 67 days. His crime was that he declared, "Congo is not Belgium's property. Our gold, our copper, and our diamonds will feed our children." Because of those words, Belgium, America, and his own army chief, Mobutu, decided that he must die. On January 17, 1961, they took Patrice, together with Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, to Katanga.
Pauline recounts what happened to him in harrowing detail. She said they beat him for hours, pulled out his teeth, and forced him to eat his own speech papers. Then a Belgian officer, Gerard Soete, shot him. After that, they cut his body into pieces with a saw and poured acid over it to dissolve him, so that no grave would ever exist. There was no body, no grave, only acid.
When they told Pauline, she did not scream. In Congolese tradition, she shaved her hair to mourn her husband. She removed her top to show the world, "You have stripped me of my husband. I have nothing left." Then she walked barefoot from Leopoldville to the place where they killed him, a journey of 1,000 km, with her baby on her back, singing his name all the way.
Mobutu, who took part in killing her husband, went on to become President for 32 years with US support. Belgium kept Lumumba's gold tooth as a souvenir in a police station until 2020. Patrice Lumumba died because he wanted a united Africa, like Gaddafi. Pauline died in 2014, still waiting for his body to be buried, and she never remarried. That is the price of saying, "Africa for Africans." And you still think Africa's poverty is because we are lazy?
Most people in France can't afford housing.
They didn't blame immigrants, or transgender people, or video games, or avocado toast.
They blame the government. Because that's who's responsible. That's always who's responsible.
BODY IDENTIFIED | 38-year-old missing runner, Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo’s body was positively identified today at the Germiston mortuary by her family.
“She left behind her eight-year-old daughter. When she failed to return home later on that evening, her daughter contacted family members, who subsequently reported her disappearance to the police.”
This breaks my heart everytime I read it 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔
One day, your home will be empty, and someone will have to decide what to do with your things. They'll open your drawers. They'll find the watch you treasured so much, the car you spent three years paying off, and the clothes you saved for special occasions because you didn't want to wear them out. And they'll make three piles: what to sell, what to give away, and what to throw away. None of it goes with you. Not a single thing. The only thing that goes with you is that afternoon you stayed talking for hours and didn't even realize where the time went. The look on your mom's face when you showed up to visit her without telling her you were coming. Don't collect things... Collect moments with the people you love
Guys this man pocketed R745 million from Eskom and got a suspended sentence (no prison time) but we had to endure constant stage 6 loadshedding, the cost of living went up because of loadshedding. The cost of electricity right now is insane, but yet a suspended sentence.