KAPEND TSHOMB, JOSEPH

Joseph Kapend Tshomb (1889-1950), an entrepreneur, rose from poverty and servanthood to become one of the most prosperous and widely traveled Congolese of his day.

Kapend Tshomb was a member of the Lunda ethnic group living in southwest Shaba, northeast Angola, and northwest Zambia. In spite of the great prestige of the Lunda state, when Kapend was born the Lunda were dominated by Cokwe (Chokwe) traders and warriors who had entered the region after 1850. Mwant Yav (ruler) Mushid a Nambing, his brother Kawel, and the Kaninchin chief Kabey a Mwanb, began a counter-offensive against the Cokwe in the 1890s, but they did not win an important battle until 1898.

Kapend’s father Nambing Kambol Maur, a hunter and blacksmith, was a slave of a Cokwe man. While this did not mean that he was treated cruelly, it did mean that he could not keep all of his income, that he could not marry without his master’s consent, that he was not free to move or travel, and that he could be sold to coastal plantation owners should he misbehave. After Kapend’s mother died in 1902, Kambol Maur repeatedly tried to escape. When he finally succeeded in getting free, he was executed by the Lunda Mwant Yav because someone accused him of being a troublemaker. His assassins mutilated his body and threw it into the Mwen River, a small stream near the Lunda capital of Musumba, 260 km (170 mi) north of Dilolo.

From about 1904 until 1907 the orphan Kapend and his brother Mawaw were clients of the Lunda dignitary Chot Kabamb. When Kabamb died in 1907, the 18-year-old Kapend entered the Force Publique (the colonial army). The Belgian administrator Buylaert, known as Longo-Longo, discharged him, however, along with many other recruits, for being too young.

Once out of the army, Kapend was the client of Mwant Yav Muteb a Kasang, who ruled from 1907 until 1920. In 1910, when the administrator at Kapanga, the state post near Musumba, was looking for a domestic servant who spoke some Lingala, the Mwant Yav Muteb recommended Kapend. Later, Kapend was sent to the Compagnie du Kasai (“Kasai Company”) to learn cooking. He returned to Kapanga as the servant of the local representative of the company. Kapend traveled with his Belgian employer throughout Kasai from Lusambo to Kafukumba, 200 km (120 mi) northeast of Dilolo.

In 1913, the Belgian, known as Jebula Mukut, was fired, and Kapend returned to the Lunda capital, Musumba. Because of his association with Jebula Mukut, Kapend became the first African in the region able to talk with the whites in French. This skill won him a job as the Mwant Yav’s interpreter, which meant that he, along with Mbaku, the future Mwant Yav Ditend Yavu a Nawej III, (ruled 1951-63), acted as the Mwant Yav’s special emissary.

In 1915, he took a position as interpreter for the territorial administrator Vande-welde. When Vande-welde was transferred from Kapanga to Kabinda, 200 km (120 mi) east of what is now Mbuji-Mayi, and then to Kabongo, 250 km (150 mi) southeast of Mbuji-Mayi, Kapend accompanied him. In March 1917, at Kabongo, Joseph Kapend, while still an interpreter, launched his career in commerce. With his savings, he bought small quantities of salt and cloth at Kabinda, or Lusambo, 125 km (75 mi) north of Mbuji-Mayi on the Sankuru River, to be resold by his brothers, Paul Mawaw and Jacques Mulaj, in the area between Kabinda and Kabongo. Against the wishes of Vande-welde, Kapend returned to the Kapanga-Musumba area, again to act as the Mwant Yav’s interpreter and counsellor.

On November 19, 1919, his wife Kat, the granddaughter of an earlier Mwant Yav, had a son they named Kapend Moise, later known as Moise Tshombe. On August 31, 1920, the Mwant Yav died and was succeeded by Kaumb (ruled 1920-51), for whom Kapend continued to work. But in November 1924, Joseph Kapend quit his job as interpreter, established himself in Sandoa, 130 km (80 mi) northeast of Dilolo, and began to devote himself entirely to business. By that time, he had three children, Moise Kapend, Jacques Mulaj and David Yav. Kapend also built himself a European-style house at Sandoa. Kapend traveled continuously, expanding his business as a merchant and carrier. It was not unusual for him to bicycle or walk as much as 1,000 km (600 mi) from Sandoa north to Lusambo, southeast to Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi), or east to Bukama, 135 km (105 mi) north of Kolwezi.

When the State forbade portage in 1928, Joseph Kapend bought pushcarts which he and his workers used to transport merchandise. By 1930, he had saved enough money to buy the car of an American doctor, Arthur L. Piper. The Depression did not affect his business and, in 1937, he bought a Ford truck. Kapend saw his business as a family enterprise. Thus, in 1935, Moise Kapend Tshomb (Tshombe) had entered into commerce after his studies at Kanene, a Methodist school 80 km (50 mi) south of Kamina. Yav also became a merchant when he had completed his studies at Kanene in 1940.

Altogether, Joseph Kapend Tshomb and his wife, Kat, had seven children, four boys and three girls. One son, Jacques Mulaj became a nurse and went on to continue his medical studies at Kisantu, the predecessor of Lovanium University Medical School, 100 km (60 mi) south of Léopoldville (now Kinshasa). Kapend and his family were staunch Methodists and good friends of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Springer, pioneer missionaries in Katanga (now Shaba).

In 1949, Joseph Kapend became the first Congolese to travel outside of Africa at his own expense. Journeying by plane to Belgium, he wanted to see Europe and to find a medical school for his son, Mulaj. When Joseph died in 1950, he was the richest African in the Congo. By his energy and initiative, he had risen from slavery to become an immensely successful Congolese entrepreneur.

TSHIBANGU KABET MUSAS