“I’ve spent my whole life in information”

4 mins

The phone rings in Kinshasa and on the other end of the line, there is Kamanda Wa Kamanda Muzembebut he doesn’t have time to answer us: his last newspaper is not yet finished, work above all, the interview will wait. A few minutes later, we call back and he is available to look back on more than 40 years of career.

RFI: Kamanda, was journalism a vocation?

Kamanda: No, I wanted to become a doctor, but there was student repression during the Mobutu regime in the early 1970s. Young people were even conscripted, several universities were closed. I escaped conscription, but I could not enroll in the medical course, so I went to a French and linguistics course. Then came journalism, and when I finished my studies, I joined the largest evening daily in Kinshasa: ElimaI stayed there for five or six years before presenting the Voice of Zaire competition on Congolese National Radio and Television.

And it was at the Voice of Zaire that you learned to do radio?

Exactly, that’s where I started on the radio. I have very good memories of it, they were good times, especially when with Kasongo Mwema Yamba Yamba, Kasangana Mbengu, we presented the morning edition of the news, “Zaïre matin week-end”. We were called the 3K. I would have stayed at the Voice of Zaïre for a very long time, but when the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) of Laurent-Désiré Kabila came to power, I was pushed aside. With several other journalists, we were even arrested, whipped, before being sidelined.

At the same time, had you already started your collaboration with the pan-African radio station Africa N°1?

Yes, I started in 1991, I worked with this radio for about ten years. For me, it was the beginning of reporting. Until I was approached by RFI, by Jean-Karim Fall, Christophe Boisbouvier and Ghislaine Dupont. It was the beginning of July 2001 and I started working for RFI. It was a consecration for me. From then on, I could no longer work for another competing media and so it was the beginning of more than two decades of collaboration.

What memories do you have of this period?

Whether it’s the 10 years at Africa N°1 or my many years at RFI, it’s mostly a lot of reporting. I’ve been everywhere in the country, I’ve even been to other African countries, but also to Europe, to Asia. I’ve also covered all the regimes in place since Mobutu and conflicts. Several times, I’ve gone to war zones, combat zones. And I’ve met great men. I’ve known all the leaders of the country, even those of today. These two media allowed me to leave the straitjacket of Congo to be followed all over the world.

Your most memorable report?

It was in Kisangani during the advance of the AFDL at the end of the 1990s. Laurent-Désiré Kabila’s army was at the gates of the city, we were told that they were already in the surrounding banana plantations. Soldiers asked us, with another journalist, to go to the airport quickly to take the plane and not return until the next day. Finally, the AFDL took the city very quickly and we never returned to Kisangani. I also remember the Rwandan refugee camps near Goma in 1994, I had visited them with Prime Minister Léon Kengo. These are things that still mark me today.

Are you going to remain an RFI listener?

Yes, I am not going to cut myself off from information. I have spent my whole life in information, why would I cut myself off from information when I am retiring? On the contrary, I must continue to inform myself. Especially since I am writing a book about my career!