Victor Nendaka Bika (7 August 1923 – 22 August 2002) was a Congolese politician from 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 ...

. He was the second Director of the Congo's national security police and intelligence agency, the '' Sûreté Nationale''. Nendaka died on 22 August 2002 while in exile in Brussels.

Early life and family

Victor Nendaka was born on 7 August 1923 in Kumu,

Buta Territory Buta Territory is a territory in Bas-Uele District, Orientale Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kins ...

Bas-Uele District Bas-Uele District (french: District du Bas-Uele, nl, District Beneden-Uele) was a district of the Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was formed from part of Uele District in 1912. Later it was merged back into Uele Distr ...

Orientale Province Orientale Province ( French: ''Province orientale'', "Eastern province") is one of the former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its predecessors the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo. It went through a series of boundary ...

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

. He was the only child to his mother Tabapaya Elisabeth and father Angada Gabriel. However, he had stepsisters and stepbrothers, among whom were Goningame Josephine and Pae Pierre. Victor went to the Frères Maristes School in Buta. He married Astrid Mbooto in 1943. They had six children: Gabrielle, Andre, Monique, Claude, Victorine and Astrid. He died in exile on 22 August 2002 in Brussels.

Career

Congolese and Katangese army officers with Kasa-Vubu

Nendaka left the MNC-L ostensibly because Lumumba accepted a significant amount of money from communists, but he never presented any substantial evidence to support his allegation. In October 1960 Nendaka was appointed Director of the Sûreté Nationale (national security police) by temporary commission. He swiftly reorganised the agency and transformed it into an effective intelligence-gathering service. Soon a ginger group formed in the Congolese government in support of eventual Prime Minister

Cyrille Adoula Cyrille Adoula (13 September 1921 – 24 May 1978) was a Congolese trade unionist and politician. He was the prime minister of the Republic of the Congo, from 2 August 1961 until 30 June 1964. Early life and career Cyrille Adoula was born t ...

known as the

Binza group The Binza group (French: ''groupe de Binza'') was a ginger group active within the government of the Republic of the Congo (presently Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the early 1960s. Led by General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, the clique played a ma ...

. Nendaka, in his capacity as Sûreté Director, was a key member. On 13 December 1961, Minister of Interior

Christophe Gbenye Christophe Gbenye ( 1927 – 3 February 2015) was a Congolese politician, trade unionist, and rebel who, along with Gaston Soumialot, led the Simba rebellion, an anti-government insurrection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Con ...

attempted to assert his control over the Sûreté; his cabinet released a communique stating that, effective 12 December, Nendaka no longer worked for the service and was open to reassignment in the government. Nendaka appealed to General

Joseph-Désiré Mobutu Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

for support, who immediately responded by sending troops to guard the Sûreté offices and threaten Gbenye with arrest if he interfered. Five days later an ordinance signed 15 July appeared in the official government gazette, ''Moniteur Congolais'', declaring the nomination of Nendaka by the President of the Congo as Director of the Sûreté, effective 1 July. Nendaka thereafter reported directly to Prime Minister Adoula. Nendaka was nearly assassinated by members of the anti-Adoula Comité National de Libération in November 1963. He was

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from August 1968 to August 1969.

Citations

References

* *

External links

Lumumba's commission
"Nendaka contre-attaque: L'ex-chef de la sécurité congolaise en 1961, n'a pas apprécié le huis clos qui lui a été imposé par la commission Lumumba", DH.be, 4 July 2001.

* ttp://www.stanleyville.be/documents/Document%20Surete%20Nationale%20no3%20%20Nendaka.pdf Message Flash adressé par Victor Nendaka en Décembre 1964*
Nendaka Victor: Présentation du témoin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nendaka, Victor 1923 births 2002 deaths People from Bas-Uélé Finance ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Government ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Popular Movement of the Revolution politicians Ambassadors of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to West Germany People of the Congo Crisis