Sexual abuse in Congolese football: victims break their silence

"My boy, your case is really complicated. You know full well we can't sign you unless you're prepared to bring a sacrifice and get f….*. It's a 50-50 kind of deal. You give us what we're looking for, and we give you what you want. We know you're too good at football […] But you need to understand that the club can't sign you until you give us what we're looking for." In a calm voice, without raising his tone, the man speaking to a Congolese top-flight player sets out the conditions for signing a contract.

Read more on the same subject: Decades of blackmail, sexual abuse of minors and paedophilia in the DRC

In a WhatsApp voice message lasting more than two minutes, he spells out the reality of football in the DRC with unsettling calm. "We're in Congo, my boy. Football isn't played the way you think. There are plenty of players right now who agreed to sign the contract at clubs like V Club, Lupopo and so on. They agreed, you hear! They agreed to get f….*. If you don't want to, that's your problem. It all depends on you, on how available you are. We're here, boy. So once you're OK with that, let me know. I'll flag it to two or three people at the team. It's 50-50. You give blood, we give you what you want. You give your arse, we give you what you want. The ball is in your court."

DCMP 🇨🇩 players have sent a message against sexual abuse in Congolese football.

Well done to them for their courage and for qualifying for the CAF Confederation Cup against Flambeau du Centre, a club from Burundi 🇧🇮 pic.twitter.com/oyw7lcgO0X

— Romain Molina (@Romain_Molina) November 10, 2022

Most top-flight (D1) clubs caught up in the system

The content of the audio may seem surreal, but the remarks were confirmed to Sport News Africa by some twenty players and around ten coaches working in Congolese football. "MK Étanchéité president Max Mokey had seen me play and I got a trial at his club," says one young player. "I started training and everything was going well. One Tuesday, coach Vea (real name Mbenza Fiston, editor's note) told me to come round to his place to discuss a few things. I went and he started explaining what I had to do to sign. I had to sleep with him, sleep with them. He even told me the president knew about it."

Two other adult victims of coach Vea back up that account: "He showed me lubricant so that we could have sex. He would say: 'I'll go and see the president afterwards to talk to him about you.'"

While the sexual abuse mostly begins with underage players, for many coaches and officials, it very often continues after they come of age, at the country's top clubs. MK Étanchéité now play in the second division, but they have, for example, had the likes of Chancel Mbemba and Junior Kabananga wear their shirt.

The same goes for JSK (Jeunesse Sportive de Kinshasa, first division), where a secretary engages in the same practices. It is the same story at Rangers in the days of coach Guy-Roger Limolo ("he wanted to sodomise me, it was the condition for playing. He told me I'd have to put on ointment and that everything would be fine"), at Étoile du Kivu and Renaissance under coach Miezi Tifo ("he even sent me porn pictures to push me into sleeping with him"), at Lupopo with Bertin Maku and even at AS Vita Club, one of the best sides in the country. "We knew it existed, but we didn't realise the extent of the practice," sighs Hérita Ilunga, president of the Union des footballeurs du Congo. "People are starting to speak out. We must keep going to clean up our football."

Other convicted paedophiles returning to the game

Since the publication of the first part, Sport News Africa has received some twenty testimonies. Screenshots of sexual propositions from coaches, audio messages from officials demanding "sacrifices" and to "give up your backside" in return for a contract or playing time, police complaints, video testimonies: the wall of silence is cracking. "We encourage victims to speak out," confirms Junior Mulop of the LCPSBJ, the Congolese League for the Promotion of Youth Welfare. "We are aware of the realities and of the scale of the phenomenon. Action is needed."

After authentication, investigation and fact-checking, Sport News Africa can confirm the extent of the practice involves some fifteen other people, in addition to the six coaches already named in the first article, who have been suspended by FECOFA for the duration of the inquiry. "I'm speaking with emotion. I have to hold back a lot of things, it's not easy," says a former player, his voice trembling. Fifteen years ago, when he was 13, his Bleu-Ciel coach sexually assaulted him in the Barumbu district of Kinshasa after drugging him. "It destroyed me. But I want to speak today so that my younger brothers don't suffer what we went through."

This man, coach Izé, targeted youngsters, sometimes aged 7 or 8. He was arrested and held at Makala, Kinshasa's central prison, but on his release he went straight back into the football scene. The same goes for Enock Mangala, president and coach of FC Mangala, whose file had been passed to the authorities, and the president of Cercle sportif Bandal, who was (at last) taken in two months ago following a complaint from a victim's family. "We must come down hard on the guilty and stop letting this go," thunders Barthélémy Okito Oleka, secretary general at the Ministry of Sports.

Below is a list of coaches and officials implicated in these practices:

- Enock Mangala, president and coach of FC Mangala
- Blaise Ntumba Balay, president and coach of AS Balayi

- Glody Tusevo Magoda, better known as Coach Magoda. Has been at the club Fly and another team, Salvator (in the Lemba district of Kinshasa, in the Livulu neighbourhood)

- Coach Fueto, coach at Lokola Mutu.
- Coach Bibey, real name Charles Kahumba, now coach at Ceforbel and formerly at Belor, from where he was dismissed over these acts. A former Bel'or coach who was known for putting on lipstick when he was about to carry out the act.

- Coach Izé, former Bleu-Ciel coach in the Barumbu district
- Coach Sokola, a coach implicated since the early 2000s in the Barumbu district.

- Coach Lama, coach of Jama Sport.

- Coach Miple, coach of FC Makila in Bandundu province.

- Coach Grady Matondo, assistant coach at OC Jupiter.

- Coach Tibet, in the Kintambo district (Kinshasa).

- Coach Makoso, in the Kintambo district (Kinshasa).

- Coach Vea of MK Étanchéité, real name Mbanza Fiston.

- Coach Glody Kabongo, coach at FC Salvador. Previously coach at Jeune Talent, before his recent change of club.

- Coach Guy Mbole.

Very good article by @jeune_afrique, while we wait for our second part on @snewsafrica !https://t.co/5fZrhnM9jf

— Romain Molina (@Romain_Molina) November 9, 2022

FECOFA's smokescreen of an inquiry

Faced with the scale of the problem, the Congolese authorities have reacted. "It's an open secret," says Barthélémy Okito Oleka, secretary general at the Ministry of Sports, who dodges no question. On Radio Okapi last Sunday, and to Sport News Africa, he declares what the whole Congolese sporting world already knew. "It's not just football. This is a practice that must be eradicated and we will do everything we can to achieve that," he promises.

His words have been followed by concrete action, as Sports Minister Serge Nkonde has referred the matter to his Justice counterpart, Rose Mutombo, who herself is due to write to the prosecutor general to request that a judicial inquiry be opened. "We will not leave these crimes unpunished," says a ministerial source. "The guilty, and those who covered up the acts, must pay." A reaction in stark contrast with the attitude of FECOFA.

The day after the investigation was published, FECOFA secretary general Belge Situatala Matuluakila spoke of "destabilisation". The remarks shocked many victims and observers of Congolese football. Floundering, the federation held several emergency meetings before changing its tone a few hours later, both in private and in public, even issuing a statement announcing the opening of an independent commission of inquiry with a dedicated phone number.

Read more on the same subject Sexual abuse of underage players: between outrage and shock in the DR Congo

On Monday 7 November, FECOFA went further by suspending, for the duration of the inquiry, the six coaches implicated by the investigation of Sport News Africa. A commendable move on paper, but a misleading one. In reality, several FECOFA officials have tried to intimidate or threaten witnesses; former international Papy Kimoto has even had to move part of his family away from the capital.

Calling around in all directions, officials in Congolese football are trying to clear their own names by pointing the finger at other officials instead. A battle of egos and smokescreens, in keeping with the much-vaunted inquiry announced by the federation. Despite several calls, the number given by FECOFA to handle the investigation went unanswered, and officials did not call back a victim who wanted to testify.

FECOFA 🇨🇩 provisionally suspend the six coaches accused of paedophilia in my investigation.

Things are also moving at the Ministry of Justice.

The fight goes on!

Keep the faith pic.twitter.com/8ISvxbc9Rx

— Romain Molina (@Romain_Molina) November 7, 2022

Girls affected too

While the revelations of sexual abuse concern (for now) boys, several female players have also contacted Sport News Africa to report sexual blackmail by various coaches and presidents. "At my club, you had to sleep with someone to play, otherwise you had to go home," says one of them. As in Gabonese football, which is riddled with paedophilia, fear prevails among most of the girls, who still refuse to name their abusers.

FECOFA have yet to respond to requests, but Sport News Africa can state that several of its members are implicated in cases of sexual abuse and blackmail, going back to the 1990s. Three people operating across the girls' and boys' national teams have been identified. "The problem is that we are afraid, very afraid," whispers a female international. "If people knew what we went through..."

A situation confirmed by Hérita Ilunga, president of the Union des footballeurs du Congo. He says: "That barrier of fear is still there. I had spoken with several girls, but suddenly it all stopped. It's very hard, but we are continuing to work on this issue. Our players must be protected so they feel confident enough to speak."

Romain MOLINA

NB: anyone who is a victim or witness of sexual abuse in African sport can contact the author of the investigation at this email: romainmolina@protonmail.com