Morocco fans paid tribute on Friday to the Congolese fan who posed as Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of DR Congo, during the tournament. The fan, Michel Nkuka Mboladena, received a lot of praise during the African Cup of Nations.
Mboladena became famous when he stood in a ‘statue pose’ with his arm raised high in the stands during DR Congo’s group stage matches. The fan thus imitated Lumumba, with whom he has many similarities.
Lumumba played a central role in DR Congo’s struggle for independence and became the country’s first Prime Minister. In January 1961, six months after Belgium’s independence, Lumumba was executed on the orders of the last Belgian minister of colonies.
Lumumba is considered a great figure in Congo and his efforts to liberate that country from Belgium had an effect on the whole of Africa. For example, Algeria became independent from France a year after Lumumba’s assassination.
The same Algeria faced DR Congo in the eighth finals. To the great dismay of Mboladena, among others, Algeria scored the only goal of the match in the last minute of extra time. The Algerian Mohamed Amoura ridiculed Mboladena after the final whistle by gesturing that he should no longer stand, but lie down.
Amoura died a day later. “I want to clarify one thing: at that moment I was not aware of what the person or symbol in the stands represented. I just wanted to tease a little, in a light-hearted, playful way, without malicious intent or the desire to provoke anyone,” he said, among other things.
The Algerian national team invited Mboladena and gave him two shirts, one with the name ‘Lumumba’ and one with the name ‘Amoura’. Mboladena was also offered money from other parties to pose in other matches, but the now world-famous fan turned down that offer and returned home.
And the Moroccan fans also showed their best side during the match against Cameroon, by imitating the famous pose and holding up photos of Mboladena dressed as Lumumba. That gesture earns a lot of praise from the Moroccan fans. It is written on social media that this action contributes to connection in Africa. Moroccan fans have also immortalized ‘Lumumba’ with a mural.
