Title: SACIM affair: the precious stones scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The SACIM dossier continues to make headlines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Independent analysts have revealed disturbing facts about the case. According to them, President Félix TSHISEKEDI and his government have put an end to the monopolization of the country’s wealth by crooked and selfish personalities, who aspired to bring Congo to its knees.
One of the main actors in this affair is Ngoyi Kasanji, alias “Tonton Ngokas”, former governor of Kasaï-Oriental for 12 years under the regime of Joseph Kabila. He is accused of having given a large part of the mineral wealth of the province to the Kabila family, with the complicity of a privileged few.
When the Sino-Congolese partnership SACIM was created, an equitable sharing of wealth between China and the DRC was planned. However, this distribution was not effective before President TSHISEKEDI came to power. All production was sold outside the country, leaving the DRC in a very precarious situation.
The government of the DRC, under the leadership of President TSHISEKEDI, then created the Tenders to allow any buyer capable of concluding the contract to do so freely, without constraint and in compliance with the rules laid down by the Center of Expertise, evaluation and certification (CEEC). Revenues collected by the public treasury have since greatly increased.
Ngoyi Kasanji, for his part, failed to rid himself of his gluttonous appetites for lucre, at the expense of a population he had martyred for more than a decade. His mandate was marked by numerous repressions, making him an executioner in the eyes of the Kasaians.
The opening of the sale of SACIM diamonds, formerly reserved for 4 national operators, could therefore only anger him because it upset the established order. Today, it is Congolese of all origins who invest locally, in complete transparency and in compliance with the rules.
In short, the SACIM affair reveals the unmentionable underside of the management of mineral wealth in the DRC, but above all the determination of President TSHISEKEDI and his government to put an end to the hoarding of wealth by a handful of privileged people.