Mbuji-Mayi

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Lore & Background

The region where the city of Mbuji-Mayi now stands was once a cluster of villages on land owned by the Bakwanga clan. Diamonds were first discovered in the area as early as 1907, but the true value of the find was not recognised until 1913. Following the discovery, a mining camp designed to house miners and company officials of the Societé minière de Bakwanga (MIBA) was developed. The young city, known at the time as Bakwanga, grew quickly but around strict planning by MIBA, which divided the community into labor camps, mining areas and living quarters. Fearing theft of its diamond resources, MIBA actively discouraged building in the region and closely monitored who went in and out. Every person needed a permit allowing them to be there, and registration at a command post that monitored the population, which made indefinite residence in the area almost impossible to establish. There was limited economic activity besides the company-run mining, with even limited agriculture, and the city's population remained low, at approximately 39,830 by the late 1950s. While several primary schools were developed for workers, until independence, there was no higher education available for the native population.

Reader's Guide

Mbuji-Mayi's significance stems from its role as the world's leading source of industrial diamonds in the mid-20th century. In the 1950s, it was estimated that the area had the world's most important industrial diamond deposits, containing at least 300 million karats. The city was constructed on top of the diamond deposits, and even the homes of top MIBA executives were sometimes demolished to access the diamonds. As of 1963, Mbuji-Mayi-based MIBA was the source of 80 percent of the world's industrial diamonds and 57 percent of all diamonds. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Zaïre and Mobutu paid little attention to Mbuji-Mayi, offering almost no money to build roads, schools or hospitals. In the political vacuum, MIBA stepped in, repairing roads, paying soldiers and supplying water and electricity from its own power station. The company set up a social fund of $5 to $6 million a year, roughly 8 percent of its annual budget. This made CEO Jonas Mukamba Kadiata Nzemba the de facto governor of Mbuji-Mayi. Nzemba is credited with creating the Conference pour le Developpement Economique de Kasai Oriental (CDEKO) and backing the creation of the University of Kasai, jointly sponsored by MIBA and the local Catholic Church.

Did You Know?

• The name Mbuji-Mayi translates from Tshiluba as 'Goat-Water,' deriving from the great number of goats in the region.
• As of 1963, Mbuji-Mayi-based MIBA was the source of 80 percent of the world's industrial diamonds and 57 percent of all diamonds.
• In April 1961, Albert Kalonji declared himself emperor in a traditional tribal ceremony and was carried through crowds of 'chanting, singing and cheering Balubas.'
• The city was known as Bakwanga until it was renamed Mbuji-Mayi on 1 January 1961.
• In the 1990s, the entire city had only about 19.7 km of paved roads, all in poor condition.

The Diamond Bedrock

Mbuji-Mayi sits atop what was, in the 1950s, regarded as the single most significant industrial diamond deposit on Earth, with reserves estimated at no fewer than three hundred million karats. That recognition triggered the creation of a mining operation by the Société minière de Bakwanga, or MIBA, which would come to dominate the global diamond trade. The deposits were so pervasive that stones could be panned from local streams and waterways, making collection possible for virtually anyone who knew where to look. The city itself was literally built on the ore, and in some cases even the homes of MIBA's senior executives were torn down so that extraction could proceed beneath them. This geological fortune shaped every facet of the city's identity, from its founding to its political turbulence.

A Walled-Off Company Town

From its earliest days, Mbuji-Mayi was not a city that grew organically; it was a settlement engineered by a single corporation. MIBA laid out the community with rigid functional zones—labor camps, extraction areas, and residential quarters—each designed to serve the company's operational needs rather than to foster a broader civic life. The firm actively suppressed any building or settlement beyond what its mining required, and it policed the population with near-military precision. Every individual in the region was required to carry a permit authorizing their presence and to register at a command post that tracked who entered and exited. This system made it nearly impossible to establish a permanent, independent residence. Economic life outside the mine was deliberately starved: agriculture was minimal, and commercial activity was confined to what the company permitted. By the late 1950s the total population hovered around thirty-nine thousand. Educational provision was likewise limited; while a handful of primary schools served workers' children, no institution of higher learning was available to the native population before independence.

Kalonji's Brief Crown

The following April, in a ceremony steeped in traditional Luba ritual, Kalonji declared himself emperor. He was then carried through surging crowds of chanting, singing, and cheering Balubas, and celebrations outside his royal palace ran for four full days of dancing. The euphoria proved fleeting. In the aftermath, the city was renamed Mbuji-Mayi, drawing on the Tshiluba phrase meaning "Goat-Water," in a gesture toward broader Luba unity beyond the single Bakwanga subgroup.

The Company That Governed

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the central government in Kinshasa, under Mobutu's Zaïre, largely abandoned Mbuji-Mayi to its own devices. Roads crumbled, schools went unfunded, and hospitals lacked basic supplies. Into this vacuum of public responsibility, MIBA stepped forward as the de facto authority. The company repaired and maintained the road network, paid the salaries of local soldiers, and generated its own electricity and water supply through a private power station. It also established a social fund of five to six million dollars per year—roughly eight percent of its total annual budget—directed toward infrastructure repair and the founding of a new university. This combination of economic and civic power elevated Jonas Mukamba Kadiata Nzemba, MIBA's chief executive, to a position of extraordinary regional influence. He was regarded as one of the most powerful figures within Mobutu's ruling party, the Popular Movement of the Revolution, and he cultivated a personal bond with Étienne Tshisekedi, a prominent local political leader, referring to him as a "brother."