Kinshasa, 18th of December of 2022.

“Hello, we’re here live at the RTNC headquarters to talk about the attempted assassination of famous anti-corruption activist, entrepreneur and politician, Moïse Katumbi. According to eyewitnesses, the politician had left one of his lectures at the University of Kinshasa, which was incredibly well-received, a-and and he then reached his home, where apparently a gunman surprised him and his security detail; further details are at the scene with Bibuwa Nkulu."

The cameras then switch to the news reporter at the scene, whose eyes indicate a slightly shaken behavior, and his general demeanor present a state of surprise at the scene; it seemed to be raining, with a tarp covering what appears to be a couple of bodies at different places.

“That’s right, the gunman apparently fired off his gun, which the police officers assume to be s-some kind of, of, uh, revolver, of some high caliber revolver, evidenced from the lack of cartridges and from the strength of which it pierced the window of his SUV; Katumbi himself escaped unscathed but unfortunately, both Kashala Ilunga, a police officer who was escorting Mr. Katumbi, and Tshilongo Ntumba, one of the members of his security detail, were killed in the firefight, with Mr. Mtumba unfortunately getting hit right beside uh, beside Mr. Katumbi, who is reportedly very shaken.”

The news anchor nods with attention at every word escaping Bibuwa’s mouth, and at the same time, writes in a small notepad right beside him; his keen attention is a prelude to another barrage of questions that the anchor throws at the man right at the scene of the crime, but the most important one is “Is the shooter alive?”.

“It appears that the shooter is not alive, and was killed seconds after he opened fire and killed both Ntumba and Ilunga; the shooter has been identified as Kantu wa Disanka Mwilambwe, aged thirty-four; the police have correctly identified his residence and are currently sending police officers at the scene.”

The Apartment

A knock, previously followed by a dozen more, give way to a harsh kick at the door; the patrol officers at the scene grasped their pistols with a nervous tightness, and they scanned each room meticulously; announcing their entry again, and again, to a suspect that was never going to appear. “Police! Get out with your hands up!” they warned, until they reached the last room in the apartment. Room by room, there was evidence and support of Joseph Kabila; whether it was a leaflet, or even a half-burnt membership card of the PPRD, it was there, just barely hanging by; in the bedroom, there was a small bed, whose wooden structure felt like it was going to collapse at any given moment.

Just above the wooden frame, but right below the paper-thin mattress, there it was, spread all over the couch, thereabout US$10,000 in cash, mixed between Congolese Francs and American Dollars; but then, there it was, the most interesting part of the entire composition of this apartment, the wooden desk, the worn-out keyboard, whose missing letter stickers just blatantly told you how old it was, and a dusty, early 2000s monitor; yet, in this decrepit technological mess, the PC itself was probably one of the best pieces of hardware that the officers had seen; they went back out, and called for the Crime Scene Investigators to come in; the lack of funding, and the sheer amount of crimes that they have to do meant that they were unable to come in for the day.

By nightfall, the relief guards were supposed to guard the crime scene, but a flash of a couple of US$100 dollar bills meant that, by early morning, the investigators came in, walked to the scene and noticed that one thing was missing, the PC; they were puzzled, and noticed that it was missing from the large spot on the ground, whose soft frame was covered in dust.

The Conference

After Katumbi was known to be well, albeit shaken, after the assassination attempt, he was as angry as ever at the Kabilists, whose affiliation to the murder was starting to be suspected by both police and the public, but no evidence that corroborates it was being found, and the big missing puzzle piece was nowhere to be found, no one had even any idea where that PC was – that is, if it wasn’t at the bottom of Lake Kivu – and no one was willing to talk about it either.

The PPRD was questioned about the membership of Mwilambwe, as they found a half-burnt membership card inside his apartment; the PPRD said that, unfortunately, one of the newer members of their party had hastily processed his membership, but in a later moment, one of the more experienced members caught on that Mwilambwe had never suffered a background check nor a psychological examination, so his membership was terminated as soon as they caught wind of it.

They claimed that the PPRD has no affiliation at all to Mwilambwe, regardless of his pro-Kabila letters, his leaflets, and his membership card; according to them, he is a “lone wolf extremist” whose “motives are still unknown”. The police aren’t as keen to this as most Kabilist are, although their numbers have been steadily dwindling, especially after Katumbi’s heartfelt interview with RTNC; in it, Katumbi widely expressed that he was “lucky beyond any words” and that “only God himself could have protected me like that day”.