Hwange town is extremely hot. Our truck is loaded with coal and our destination is Gecamines, Likasi,south of Democratic Republic of Congo, which is two thousand three hundred and eighty six kilometres to and from Hwange. Democratic Republic of Congo is a vast, poor and rich country, where they gauge their time on ‘rubber time’. Congolese people take their time in doing business.
We were only two of us in the coal loaded truck, my friend Taurai Sithole Chagota, was in control of the truck as we headed for Zambia’s boarder town of Livingstone. We traveled through Zambian towns up to Kitwe, until we reached the boarder town of Chilabongwe.
“This is the last Zambian town as we cross into DRC. There are marauding thieves who steal food and diesel from trucks, last week two alleged Congolese thieves were beaten to death by Tanzanian truck drivers for trying to steal food from the Tanzanians”, explained Taurai Zimbabwean and Zambian commercial sex workers can be seen milling around trucks, waiting to be cleared by Zambian and Congolese custom officials. Drivers from Tanzania can easily be identified by their large baskets containing live chickens for their relish.It is rumored that Tanzanian drivers love their chickens.
We had our travel documents processed on the Zambian boarder post without any fuss the next morning, but on the Congolese boarder post it was a different song altogether. Congolese custom officials are very corrupt, they can even ask for money in order to have your passport processed.
“At the Congolese boarder post you have to pay money to customs officials to have your travel documents processed, we spent three or four days at the Congolese boarder post”, explained one of the drivers from Zambia.
After spending two days at the boarder, we then crossed into DRC town of Kambulesa. In DRC you drive on the right and traffic in that country demand bribes from foreign drivers.
“Leta Makuta (give us money) give us US$50 for driving without putting on a safety belt, ” barks a police officer in broken English mixed with Swahili. Traffic officers in DRC are not formally employed, so the money they collect from drivers for different traffic offender is shared among police officers.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it rains almost on daily basis and there is very tall grass making it impossible to venture into the bush from the verges of the road. Women and children can be seen milling around trucks begging for food from truck drivers, who usually prepare their food on the verges of the road using braziers In DRC there are no livestock like cattle in sight. There is a critical shortage of beef, chicken and mealie meal and they have to import these products from neighbouring Zambia. Some Congolese roads are in deplorable state but people drive fancy cars like the latest Pajeros, evidence that they have got access to the US$. Communication is difficult with the Congolese as they speak their local languages and French, so we used sign language. We then crossed to Lumbumbashi, the second largest capital city of DRC. The city roads are clogged with the latest models of vehicles, but the Congolese are reckless drivers. In Lumbumbashi we came across a funeral procession. I was surprised to see a bicycle being used as a hearse, carrying a coffin.
“I wonder why the Congolese government does not repair that are a lifeline of their economy, they generate a lot of revenue from toll gates. There is a very big gap between the rich and the poor”, observed Taurai.
Most young Congolese women were seen strapping babies on their backs. It seemed like Congolese people’s only business is making babies as evidenced by the number of children in the streets, showing the total lack of planning methods. The Congolese are a very different people, living a different life from the rest of the world. They eat snakes they also eat oranges sprinkled with salt, and they also eat sugar beans mixed with sugar. Recently villages came across a baboon, and they had to sing for the baboon for the whole day. The Congolese abhor working, they love their beer and kwasakwasa music. After off loading, we returned to Zambia via Kitwe to Lusaka then Livingstone, back to Hwange.
