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In what country do men have to make an effort to woo their wives?
Why do televised debates in the Democratic Republic of Congo finish with fighting
And why in Kinshasa do viewers prefer horrific news items?
Next up: Congolese television.
Television from around the world
[Television from the Democratic Republic of the Congo]
Didn't Frantz Fanon say
that Africa was in the shape of a revolver
with Zaire as the trigger.
When dirt accumulates, all sorts of illnesses appear.
If you channel surf in Kinshasa, capital of the DRC,
you could end up watching this street jumper.
In reality, he's a pastor participating in a Catholic exorcism.
An event shown more and more on Congolese television.
There's no treasure at the bottom of the hole.
Instead there's a coffin that closes as part of an evil spell.
While cameras roll,
the pastor will deliver this poor grandmother
from the bad thoughts others put on her.
And, extract the evil spirit within her
into this terrifying shell.
Before I didn't know, but now I see that Satan exists.
The pastor never came to our house.
He said a coffin was buried near the house and it was true.
He was right.
I know that Satan is really here and he manifests himself on Earth.
There are about 50 TV channels in Kinshasa.
All or nearly all diffuse shows about witchcraft, exorcism, or spell breaking.
As if Satan lived on Congolese television.
"And the spirit will decrease in you."
"The more you repent, the eye, the eagle will go."
You said that Satan seduced you.
You said that Satan tricked you.
Lord, have mercy on me.
I have sinned.
Lord, I was born in trouble and my mother conceived me in sin.
And I bless God because death will divert itself from you.
I bless the world of Jesus Christ because of his name we speak of today
death is now moving away from your home.
Every Sunday morning, there's a live show at 7am
where Reverend Vincent Makela invites people who were delivered from evil
to relive their experience.
The show is called The Living Witness
and today's witness is Pastor Winner.
He recounts his deliverance from being a former tool of the devil.
I chase the spirit of Balthazar!
Leave evil spirit!
Leave! Get out of this body!
I chase the spirit of Balthazar!
That was an exorcism that I performed in 1995.
He's been crying.
It's moving. We've come a long way, a very long way.
God was there with me.
I say to everyone who watched this,
if this applies to you, come here as you are.
I was a difficult child, my mother can attest to that.
But today I'm example for others.
Back then I was mean.
The Masamba family lives in the popular Kalamu neighborhood.
Cyril, the father, is a government worker at the Ministry of Energy.
Alfie, the mother, is a nutrionist.
They have four children and are part of an Evangelical church.
- Hello! - Hello!
It allows us to understand many things.
There are certain realities only the Africans know.
It's difficult to make Europeans understand what those are.
Witchcraft is a reality here.
I don't believe in it, but I know it exists.
Back then, we ignored stories about witchcraft.
There are two worlds: the visible and invisible.
It's important to know this
because you don't know if someone will harm you.
Everyone, even your child.
Even if you ignore it, they can cast a spell on you.
Even to your father.
If they want to hurt you, they will do it.
Witchcraft has become a real problem here since 90% of people are Christian.
A phenomenon that hasn't escaped Thembo Kash,
a well-known caricaturist who has long observed Congolese society.
Thembo publishes his cartoons in several Congolese newspapers,
but also in Belgium, the former colonial power.
People know we're going through hard times right now.
Sometimes they want to see it, they want to see...
They want us to talk about it, to take stock of it.
These sorts of messages are connected by the pastors,
who say that we're nearing the 'end-times'.
That society is coming to an end...
They need to see this.
It's like a show. They want to see something happen.
What you see on television is like a stepmother in flames.
The child of her rival.
It's not even a show, it's like a movie.
It's stuff we see with what's offered to us.
It's what they lived. It's like reality TV.
Daily tragedies are the main themes of Congolese soap operas.
There are about a dozen of them shown daily.
They all have one thing in common.
The scene always ends with a heightened family argument.
It's my older brother.
He came to crash.
The 'it' show at the moment is Carapace.
On air since 2009,
It's a soap opera about a rich businessman
torn between his wife's curves and the voracious appetite of his children.
So, you're against me, huh?
So, can I know the reason behind this conspiracy?
Dad, Kiramu here has just confirmed
seeing stepmother talking to the one with my telephone.
Listen. If you had said Satan had dethroned Jesus, I would believe you.
But accusing my wife of being a thief,
that's the biggest lie that I've ever heard.
After all, after having nine children with nine different women,
each of these children are... - Stop, stop!!
You're going too far!
What's all this about?!
Whether I have 18 children with 18 different women, what's your problem?
Roch Bodo is a producer, scriptwriter, and actor.
He's has the lead role, and in the Congo, the lead is always the boss.
A boss is not a little man, he's a big man.
Everything is big.
There are certain ticks that I call 'Kinroiserie'.
You see someone with nothing, but they make an effort to be well-dressed.
To show he has charisma, he'll gesture this way.
He holds his stomach.
From time to time, he'll look at his watch.
Even in places where he shouldn't do it.
You'll see someone and he'll be trying to show off.
But deep down, he has nothing.
Maybe at home, he left nothing.
He eats at home.
His family eats properly, what we call 'delestage'.
Some eat on Monday, some the next day, some on Wednesday.
But you'll see him each night out and about making noise.
Our love, because I know you believe in our love.
And it's because of this love that I
want to see you, I beg you,
all while sipping this champagne
and that everything is working well between us, at least on my side.
The character I play is
someone who wants to be in charge, but he isn't.
He talks too much, he yells too much,
to his wife, but he's not in charge.
There's an expression that Kinshasans say:
They say 'loba, loba'; meaning 'it's empty'.
You talk too much and do nothing.
That's the Congolese man.
But how life is hard for the Congolese male.
They show off their money and beautiful cars.
Puff up their chests and show off to their admirers.
In the Congo, it's the women who make the rules.
You only have to watch Aisha's risque talk show,
shown at midnight when the children are in bed.
Where distressed men call in.
I want to know, when making love,
how many times should we do it each week?
My wife is tired and when we do it once, she doesn't want to after that.
She always says, we'll see tomorrow.
I want to know if you have to do it two or four times.
*** activity isn't about the number of times.
Papa George, stop! I don't believe you!
The number of times counts.
Even you, Papa George, you can't say to do it only once.
You need to do it two or three times for the women to enjoy it.
Despite doubts about Congolese men,
and because of a lack of Congolese series,
viewers base their knowledge on shows from Nigeria,
and on their masculine hero, So Virile.
I'm here to tell you not to see my daughter again.
This looks like it will be giving more problems.
This will end badly.
To secure an audience,
the TV channels show two or three Nigerian films daily
translated into Lingala, the most widely- spoken language in western DRC.
Rules stipulate that translated voiceovers are done by one person only.
The most well-known in the country is that of Evariste Patience.
In addition to voicing all the characters,
Evariste also enhances scenes by including cultural sayings.
We have our own sayings in Africa.
When someone uses a saying, we say they have wisdom.
We know that in a saying there is a reality, knowledge, and lesson.
For example, a child who climbs a tree can't see far because someone is in front of him.
Meaning, an older person has more experience than a child.
It doesn't mean that a growing child is more than an adult.
Because adults know more than children.
***, I'm going to break it!
Mamma mia...
This child is a savage beast.
He's stuck in the past
where we have to eat raw goats.
It's a wild animal.
You have to spice it up! That's what we do.
We want to make it interesting for the Congolese public.
The Kinshasans like conflict.
A Kinshasan enjoys conflict, he finds it to be good.
That's why we say 'bring the devils', so that there's conflict and problems.
That's a Kinshasan.
A Kinshasan is one who likes it when you say we hurt this girl
That is what they like.
And for those who don't want to be at the scene of the crime,
you only need to watch Moliere Tele.
These aren't films, but real-life crime dramas.
The show is called Kin-Makambo, or the goings-on in Kinshasa.
It shows the many news items that happen in Kinshasa.
Arriving at the scene of the crime the same time as the police,
Moliere TV reporters film every detail of the crime scene.
The corpse, the gun, and the family's tears.
It's one of the country's most popular shows.
There are rumors that the president, Joseph Kabila, is an avid viewer.
The Rivera family lives in the Moulay neighborhood.
Jean and Blandine are civil servants.
They have two children and Jean's brother-in-law, Landry, lives there also.
It's impossible with what's going on.
We need to shed light on this.
The criminal in prison!
I like to watch this show
to see and understand what's happening in our country.
But the one thing I don't like
is when they show a corpse or a decapitated body.
That makes violence commonplace.
It's as if death is normal, like a performance.
This man is Congolese TV's new hero.
Leon Nembalemba.
Known under the name Papa Leon.
He owns Moliere TV.
He doesn't hesitate going to the scene of the crime himself.
Papa Leon is welcomed in all of Kinshasa's police stations.
Today he's in the Kowate neighborhood where police have stopped two Kulunas.
It's a name for a youth gang.
The two kulunas attached this manioc merchant.
Papa Leon handles the interrogation himself.
Hello, so you guys are rebels?
I'm not a rebel, I'm innocent.
Those who stole have run away.
I was just there and the police officer stopped me.
It's always the innocent that are stopped.
- So you're innocent? - I'm really innocent.
- You really didn't do anything? - I didn't do anything.
God is my witness.
We're happy to work with Moliere TV because sometimes
the images shown on TV shock people into
not doing certain things that they shouldn't be doing.
It's like a commercial
and it's even a commercial for the police because
it shows the police are doing their jobs
and working despite the difficulties we sometimes face.
We've been asking for electricity for months!
We pay taxes in this country!
They need to find a solution to turn the electricity back on.
We came because there was a kuluna problem,
and now it's an electricity problem.
If you can pass the message along to the manager that there's no electricity.
It's been two years since we've had electricity, there's no water.
Maybe with Moliere, people will think of us.
They know that the president, his wife, administrators
watch Moliere TV, so they put forth their little messages
of all the problems they're facing.
People like that. They know they'll be looked after.
That their message will be shown on Moliere TV.
I think that people are interested in news events
because it's a consequence of the economic crisis.
Most people have nothing to do
and they're interested in what's happening and things that distract them.
I think that this crisis which affects all sectors,
all sectors, everything has lost its value.
Look at the quality of what's distracting us.
It's a recent thing.
Congo is rich in iron ore, diamonds, and minerals.
But 80% of the population lives on less than $1 a day.
The DRC is four times larger than France,
but it's one of the world's most poorest countries.
Ever since the fall of the country's founder, Mobutu, in 1997,
and the ascension to power of Laurent Desire Kabila,
then the ascension of his son Joseph upon his death,
the country was the scene of two conflicts.
which resulted in the deaths of three million victims.
Today, in the eastern part of the country,
on the border with Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda,
the country is engulfed in a civil war.
And despite the return to democracy,
political divisions are still present on television.
Each political party and each influential politician
makes sure it has it's own channel and its own news show.
There is the official news of the RTNC,
the only public channel of the country.
The very pro-government news of Digital Congo,
a channel controlled by those close to Kabila.
A province which greeted the president warmly.
The president benefitted from an aquatic ovation.
But to hear a more harsh point of view,
you need to watch CCTV, owned by Jean-Pierre Bemba,
a vociferous opponent.
He's on trial for crimes of war at the ICC in The Hague.
Not easy for the viewer to forge an opinion
in this partisan environment.
For the news, there's a channel affiliated with the government.
I know I'll always learn something new.
Maybe the Council of Ministers had a meeting,
where decisions were taken.
I'm here, I found myself here.
On the other hand...
There's also a channel that supports the opposition.
It talks about what's going on...
like floods,
and the government isn't doing anything.
But maybe the people are suffering.
I find myself here, waiting,
When we understand the system,
we watch the two news shows.
The goal is to inform oneself.
I want to know the news.
It's very difficult to be well-informed.
Here the information is politicized.
Each one supports his own point of view.
We can't listen to just one source,
especially here.
Information is a high-stakes political game that
some even physically attack other channels.
It was the case for CCTV, which was vandalized in 2006.
Elysee Wamara is Information Director and CCTV's news anchor.
I'll say here that I'm not scared.
As journalists we observe how the opposition thinks.
If there's a piece of information that the opposition knows,
we can treat it... how do you say...not in-depth.
Digital Congo TV will go in-depth.
Why? Because it's profitable.
Because they're in power. Not Digital Congo themselves.
They slightly part of the establishment.
If there's news that we talk about,
where there's confusion amongst the majority,
here at CCTV, we take advantage of it and we take it seriously.
It was forbidden, but I went anyway. But the man didn't respect me.
But if each channel has its own political agenda,
that doesn't stop heated debates.
The regime's critics are numerous.
Politicians often confront each other on television.
Shown on Mirador TV,
a channel seen as pro-government,
is a show considered to be one of the country's popular debate shows.
It constantly pits government officials and their opponents.
Jules Iwana is the producer of Sous l'Arbre Doree.
After awhile, he has managed to decrypt Congolese politics.
I assure you that the Congolese political class is full of hypocrites.
They don't really criticize the president.
They often criticize the president's entourage.
They say, this man shouldn't have the position he has.
This man doesn't work well.
For what reason? I think they want to find,
as they say, they want to eat from the same trough.
Once elected, he'll do the same thing
the same mistakes he criticized the other of doing.
You're a very dangerous person! Listen!
These guys here, these are guys who killed a lot of Congolese!
In January 2010, a debate quickly turned heated
between the opposition, Gabriel Mokia, on the left,
and Benoit Yolama, on the right, supporting the president's party.
The anchor, the two producers, and the two fighting politicians
were arrested and sentenced.
Only Gabriel Mokia, the opposition, is still behind bars.
I don't think Congolese society is violent.
I would say it's a passionate society.
They're inhibited from freedom,
and they want to participate in debates.
Speak out and take have control of their fate.
For years, we've prevented them from being themselves,
in determining their future.
We need progress, there's more that needs to be done.
But freedom of expression,
it was acquired through blood and enormous sacrifice.
There are many Congolese who died for that.
People aren't ready for it.
Congolese television is a reflection of this stuttering democracy.
It lives off of its excesses and shortcomings,
but it's also representative of a population thirsty for freedom.
The challenge for Congolese TV is to break away from government control
and from all control.