Jaynet Désirée Kabila Kyungu (born 4 June 1971) is the daughter of

Laurent-Désiré Kabila Laurent-Désiré Kabila () (27 November 1939 – 18 January 2001) or simply Laurent Kabila ( US: ), was a Congolese revolutionary and politician who was the third President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1997 until his assassinatio ...

, the former president of the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

and twin sister of

Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Presi ...

, the former President. Kabila was elected as a member of the

Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo consists of two chambers: *The Senate (Upper Chamber) *The National Assembly ( Lower Chamber) The most recent Parliament was inaugurated on January 28, 2019. History By 28 May 2021, 32 ...

in 2011, the same year as her other brother Zoé Kabila. Document leaks in 2016 revealed that she is a part-owner of a major Congolese telecom company through offshore subsidiaries.

Early life

Jaynet Kabila and her twin brother,

were born on 4 June 1971 to Sifa Mahanya and

. Although her father would eventually become president of the country, at the time of Jaynet Kabila's birth, Laurent Kabila was a struggling rebel leader at the nadir of his power. For this reason, little is known about Kabila's early years, but her brother has claimed that he was born in the village of in the

Fizi Fizi is a territory in the south of Sud-Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, bordering the South Kivu territories of Uvira, Mwenga and Shabunda to the north, Lake Tanganyika or Tanzania in the east, and the provinces Katanga in the s ...

region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but it has also been alleged that the twins were actually born in Tanzania.

Career

Jaynet Kabila first became publicly prominent in 2011 when she was elected as a deputy to the Congolese

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

, representing

Kalemie Kalemie, formerly Albertville or Albertstad, is a town on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town is next to the outflow of the Lukuga River from Lake Tanganyika to the Lualaba River. History From 18 ...

as an independent. Despite her generally low profile, Kabila is a powerful figure in Congolese politics, as the owner of Congolese media conglomerate . and as of 2015 has been described as the most influential member of her brother's entourage.

Offshore holdings

On 3 April 2016, the Panama Papers investigative reporting project revealed that Kyungu hired Panamanian law firm

Mossack Fonseca Mossack Fonseca & Co. () was a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider.Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

on 19 June 2001, just a few months after her brother became president. According to the documents released, Kyungu was a co-director of Keratsu Holding Limited with Congolese businessman Kalume Nyembwe Feruzi, the son of a close ally of Kyungu's father,

. Keratsu Holding Limited owns a 19 percent stake in Congolese Wireless Network SPRL, which in turn has a 49 percent stake in Vodacom Congo SPRL.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabila, Jaynet 1971 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Daughters of national leaders Democratic Republic of the Congo twins Democratic Republic of the Congo Anglicans People from South Kivu People named in the Panama Papers 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people