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| Congo Zaire currency - 1 Zaire = 100 Makuta banknote, President Mobutu |
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| world paper money - Congo Zaire - 1 Zaire = 100 Makuta note |
1 Zaire = 100 Makuta banknote issued by the National Bank of Congo - Banque Nationale du Congo.
Obverse: Portrait of President Mobutu Sese Seko in military uniform; Kinshasa stadium.
Reverse: Mobutu's "time to work" to gathering of people at left center - A young Joseph Désiré Mobutu rolls up his sleeves during a speech in December 1965 in Leopoldville, Congo.
Watermark: Antelope's head.
Printed by Thomas de la Rue, London, England.
Zairean zaire
The zaïre was the unit of currency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then of the Republic of Zaire from 1967 until 1997.
The zaïre (symbol: "Z", or sometimes "Ƶ") was introduced in 1967, replacing the Congolese franc at an exchange rate of 1 zaïre = 1000 francs. The zaïre was subdivided into 100 makuta (singular: likuta, symbol: "K"), each of 100 sengi (symbol: "s"). However, the sengi was worth very little and the only sengi denominated coin was the 10 sengi coin issued in 1967. Unusually for any currency, it was common practice to write cash amounts with three zeros after the decimal place, even after inflation had greatly devalued the currency. Inflation eventually caused denominations of banknotes up to 5 million zaïres to be issued, after which the new zaïre was introduced.
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga ( born Joseph-Desiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was the President of Democratic Republic of the Congo (which Mobutu renamed Zaire in 1971) from 1965 to 1997.
Installed and supported in office primarily by Belgium and the United States, he formed an authoritarian regime, amassed vast personal wealth, and attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influence while enjoying considerable support by the United States due to his anti-communist stance.
During the Congo Crisis, Belgian and CIA-backed forces aided Mobutu in a coup against the nationalist government of Patrice Lumumba in 1960 to take control of the government. Lumumba was the first leader in the country to be democratically elected and was killed by a Katangese firing squad; Mobutu soon became the army chief of staff. He took power directly in a second coup in 1965. As part of his program of “national authenticity”, Mobutu changed the Congo's name to Zaïre in 1971 and his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko in 1972.
Mobutu established a single-party state in which all power was concentrated in his hands. He also became the object of a pervasive cult of personality. During his reign, Mobutu built a highly centralized state and amassed a large personal fortune through economic exploitation and corruption, leading some to call his rule a “kleptocracy”. The nation suffered from uncontrolled inflation, a large debt, and massive currency devaluations. By 1991, economic deterioration and unrest led him to agree to share power with opposition leaders, but he used the army to thwart change until May 1997, when rebel forces led by Laurent Kabila expelled him from the country. Already suffering from advanced prostate cancer, he died three months later in Morocco.
Mobutu became notorious for corruption, nepotism, and the embezzlement of between from US$4-15 billion during his reign, as well as extravagances such as Concorde-flown shopping trips to Paris. Mobutu presided over the country for over three decades, a period of widespread human rights violations. As such, he has been described as the "archetypal African dictator".