Jean Bolikango’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth and life story

Jean Bolikango Akpolokaka–Nzube (4 February 1909 – 22 February 1982) was a prominent Congolese educator, social figure, and politician. Bolikango began his career in the Belgian Congo as a teacher in a Catholic school, and became a prominent member of Congolese society as the leader of a cultural association. In the late 1950s he became involved in politics, founded his own political party, and in 1960 unsuccessfully ran to be the first President of the independent Republic of the Congo. He remained a relevant politician the rest of his life, serving twice as deputy prime minister. He retired from the government in 1980 and died two years later.

Early life

Jean Bolikango was born in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo on 4 February 1909 to a family from the Équateur Province. He received his education in Catholic schools run by CICM Missionaries. In 1926 he became a licensed primary school teacher. He taught at St. Joseph’s Institute of the St. Anne’s Catholic mission until 1958, instructing a total of 1,300 students. In 1946 he became the president of the Association des Anciens élèves des pères de Scheut (ADAPÉS, Association of Former Students of the Fathers of Scheut), a position he held until his death.

Bolikango worked closely with missionary Raphaël de la Kethulle de Ryhove (nl) to establish the Union des Interets Sociaux Congolais, (UNISCO), a cultural society for Congolese elites. The organization was viewed favorably by the colonial administration for its attachment to Belgian social ideals, though it would later become a forum for revolutionary politics. Bolikango soon befriended Joseph Kasa-Vubu and sponsored his election as secretary-general of ADAPÉS in order to bring him into UNISCO, thereby furthering the latter’s political standing.

Bolikango first went abroad when he attended Kethulle de Ryhove’s funeral in Belgium in 1956. In 1958 he went to Brussels to represent Catholic education at the Expo 58 event and became the first General Information Commissioner for the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi. The following year he served as an assistant professor of Bantu language speech therapy at the University of Ghent.

Political career

In 1960 Bolikango started his own newspaper, La Nation Congalaise. As the former leader of the Liboka Lya Bangala, a Léopoldville-based Bangala ethnic association, he decided to organize the Interfédérale, a federation between various regional and ethnic groups to be the basis of his new Parti de l’Unité Congolaise. Almost immediately after its creation the party collapsed due to ethnic differences. Bolikango then founded the Front de l’Unite Bangala (FUB), a political party representing the Bangala people of the northeastern Congo. The Bangala were only a cohesive political faction in the capital, so he began to look elsewhere for support.

In order to consolidate his political power in the Équateur Province, Bolikango called a congress to Lisala, lasting from 24 March to 3 April. Like his own party, the other political groups of the Équateur lacked the necessary support to make significant gains in the upcoming independent elections. Bolikango was eager to win a prominent position and aimed to form a broad coalition with the Ngombe, Mongo, and Ngwaka peoples and other minorities in the province. This could be best accomplished, in his view, with an alliance of his own party with the Union des Mongo (UNIMO), FEDUNEC, UNILAC, Association des Ressortisants du Haut-Congo (ASSORECO), and local chiefs who had not already put their support behind the Parti National du Progrès (PNP).

In his opening address at the congress, Bolikango said that while “parties based on ethnic foundations” made the first step toward a unified Congo, the “national interest” of the country rested upon a “unity of will”. He enumerated that this “does not mean that each ethnic group must abandon its own characteristics, but that through these differences one must endeavour to form a harmonious ensemble.” The UNIMO leadership was sceptical of Bolikango’s unified outlook for the Congo and remained independent. However, he did secure the support of the Ngombe, some of the Ngwaka and Bangala, and chiefs from the Lisala, Bongandanga, and Bumba regions. The FUB made an alliance with ASSORECO and FEDUNEC, transforming into the Parti de l’Unité Nationale (PUNA). In spite of its attempts to garner more national appeal, the new party retained its regional bias and failed to amass substantial outside support and cost Bolikango much of his backing in Léopoldville. Still, this reformed political base allowed him to win a position as deputy of the Mongala province in an election by 15,000 votes.

Bolikango ran as PUNA’s nominee to be the first President of the Republic of the Congo in May 1960, facing his former protégé, Joseph Kasa-Vubu of the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO). Patrice Lumumba of the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) originally wrote a pledge of support to Bolikango, in exchange for his backing in the general government election. Once Lumumba realized that the Belgians would only allow him to be prime minister if Kasa-Vubu held office, he switched allegiances and denounced Bolikango as a “pawn of Belgium and a protégé of the Catholics.” Bolikango lost the parliamentary vote 43 to 159. He also made a bid to be president of the National Assembly, but lost the Assembly vote to Joseph Kasongo, 74 to 58.

During the Congo Crisis that followed Congolese independence, Lumumba was dismissed from office by Kasa-Vubu and replaced with Joseph Iléo. During Iléo’s short term, Bolikango served as his deputy prime minister. He then acted as the third deputy to Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula. In that capacity, Bolikango helped to mediate negotiations between Adoula and secessionist figure Moïse Tshombe. Following Joseph Mobutu’s seizure of power in 1965, he became the minister of public works. In 1968 he was appointed to the political bureau of the Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution (MPR). During this time he made frequent trips to Lisala, where he remained a popular figure. Rumors surfaced in the capital that Bolikango was planning to use his political expediency for subversive purposes, so the Mobutu regime closely monitored his activities. Bolikango joined the MPR’s central committee in 1980 and retired from the government. He died from an illness on 22 February 1982.

Legacy

The Fondation Jean Bolikango (Jean Bolikango Foundation) was created by Bolikango’s grandson, Joseph Bolikango Bopolo, in his memory. The foundation focuses on supporting social progress and education.

On 22 February 2007 a ceremony was held in the Équateur Province to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Bolikango’s death.