The soul, spirit and vision of the late African leader Patrice Lumumba, whose birthday was on July 2, received the best and worst gifts during the Fifa World Cup that is under way.
Lumumba, who was prime minister of Congo for 83 days, regained prominence in the US when Congo's Michel Kuka Mboladinga, better known as Lumumba Vea, gathered global attention when he stood in the stands for 90 minutes emulating the statue of Lumumba in Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo.
Patrice Lumumba. Wikipedia picture
Here’s what a Moroccan website wrote about Mboladinga in December 2025: "With his arm raised and his gaze fixed on the pitch, he embodies, in his own way, the historical figure of the father of Congolese independence. Perched on an improvised pedestal, he maintains this position without moving until the final whistle. It is only at the end of the match that the ritual is broken. His face, until then impassive, lights up, giving way to smiles, applause, and exchanges with the other supporters, many of whom have come to salute this extraordinary performance.”
Mboladinga’s statue-act was the best gift the spirit of Lumumba, a man who fought for Africa’s freedom and economic independence from colonialism, could have received.
But then Mboladinga endorsed Rexona, allowing an American multinational company to cash in on his – and Lumumba’s – popularity.
Rexona, owned by Unilever, and one of the sponsors of the Fifa world cup 2026 has a history of exploitation in Congo. When the demand for soap grew in Europe, Unilever sought a steady supply of palm oil, a key ingredient, and turned to the Belgian Congo, then under colonial rule.
In 1911, Lever Brothers secured vast land concessions from the Belgian administration and established Huileries du Congo Belge (HCB) to produce palm oil.
Palm oil from Congo became central to the Lever Brothers' global soap business. When Lever Brothers merged with Margarine Unie in 1929 to form Unilever, the new company inherited its Congolese plantation empire.
Recent historical research has concluded that Unilever's early growth benefited significantly from these colonial structures of exploitation.
A study, titled ‘Report on Lever Brothers’ Plantations in the Solomon Islands and Belgian Congo c.1900-1930s’, conducted by the University of Liverpool and funded by Unilever – strange as it may sound – found that workers were recruited through coercion, often could not freely leave employment and that many labourers were compelled to work under contracts they barely understood, in addition to inadequate housing, poor sanitation, insufficient food and widespread disease.
The report argued that the profitability of these plantations depended in part on exploitative labour arrangements that reduced production costs. Company managers were aware of coercive recruitment practices, high mortality and poor conditions on plantations.
Rexona products usually, or most likely, still use palm oil extracts.
Lumumba fought for the liberation of colonial territories. He rejected any imported ideology, including that of the Soviet Union.
American sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein, who engaged with Lumumba and documented the Congo crisis, viewed him as a quintessential figure of African anti-imperialist liberation and a central voice calling for immediate and unconditional continental decolonisation.
Lumumba was assassinated in January 1961 at the age of 35. He was executed by a firing squad under Belgian command. According to reports, his body was later dug up, hacked into pieces, and dissolved in acid or burned.
His soul was dissolved when Lumumba Vea endorsed Rexona.