On May 20, 2019, Moïse Katumbi returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo after roughly three years in exile.
His plane landed in Lubumbashi, a city where his political, economic and symbolic weight remained significant.
A former governor of Katanga, businessman and president of TP Mazembe, Katumbi was not an ordinary political actor.
His departure from the country, amid tensions with Joseph Kabila’s government and judicial cases disputed by his supporters, turned his absence into a permanent political issue.
During his exile, his name continued to circulate within the Congolese opposition.
He became an influential absentee, a blocked candidate and a figure around whom alliances were reshaped.
His return, a few months after Félix Tshisekedi’s inauguration, came amid a period of relative political easing.
For supporters, it was a form of political repair.
For opponents, it reopened competition and calculations of influence.
In political exile, return is never only physical.
It is also an act of public reappearance and a way of reclaiming a place in national history.