Amid the noise and color of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), one Congolese supporter has chosen silence, stillness and symbolism to stand out.
Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, a Congo fan now widely known as “Lumumba Vea,” has become an unlikely tournament icon by transforming himself into a living replica of Patrice Lumumba, the country’s assassinated independence hero.
Dressed sharply and elevated on a small pedestal, Nkuka Mboladinga raises his right arm and freezes, perfectly mirroring Lumumba’s memorial statue in Kinshasa and holds the pose for the entirety of Congo’s matches.
“I remain still to give strength to the team, to give energy to the players,” Nkuka Mboladinga told The Associated Press (AP) this week from his hotel in Casablanca, shortly before Congo’s clash with Algeria in Rabat.
The attention has been relentless. After Congo’s first three games, Nkuka Mboladinga admitted he was exhausted by the media spotlight and irritated that his name was repeatedly misspelled. Still, he says the recognition is worth it if it brings Lumumba’s spirit into the stadium.
“He’s the one who gave us the freedom to express ourselves,” he said. “He sacrificed his life for us. Lumumba is a hero for us. He’s a spirit, a model.”
Lumumba looms large in Congolese history.
A nationalist leader who helped end Belgium’s colonial rule in 1960, he became the newly independent nation’s first prime minister and was widely viewed as one of Africa’s brightest postcolonial hopes.
Within a year, he was dead, killed amid a violent power struggle tied to a Belgian-backed secession in the mineral-rich Katanga region.
His death has never stopped raising questions.
A Belgian parliamentary inquiry later concluded the government bore “moral responsibility,” while a U.S. Senate investigation in 1975 revealed the CIA had pursued a separate, unsuccessful plot to assassinate him.
For many Congolese, Lumumba symbolizes not only independence but also the promise of what might have been, before decades of dictatorship and exploitation drained the country’s vast resources.
“He’s like family,” Nkuka Mboladinga said.
The performance itself is no small feat. Before each match, he rehearses by standing motionless for 45 to 50 minutes at a time.
With Congo advancing to the AFCON knockout stage, the challenge could intensify, extra time and penalty shootouts mean even longer stretches of enforced stillness while the crowd around him dances, sings and erupts.
“It’s difficult,” he admitted. “Everyone plays their part. They play their role and I play mine.”
Nkuka Mboladinga hasn’t yet met the players, but he says word has reached him that they’ve noticed and appreciate, the gesture.
“They know me,” he said with a smile. “They’re very happy with what I’m doing.”
