DRC's hero: Lumumba's look-alike steals the show at AFCON 2025
Football fan Kuka Mboladinga poses as Lumumba, who is remembered as a hero of African freedom and self-determination.
While thousands of football fans chant, wave flags, and surge in constant motion across stadium stands at the ongoing AFCON 2025 tournament, one man has captured global attention by doing the exact opposite—standing perfectly still.
Meet Michel Kuka Mboladinga, a 53-year-old Congolese football supporter famously known as “Lumumba Vea.” At the ongoing African football competition, Mboladinga has gone viral for performing as a human statue, maintaining a silent, motionless presence throughout DR Congo’s matches.
Lumumba Vea's selling point is his uncanny resemblance to Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first prime minister and a central figure in the country’s fight for independence. Lumumba Vea says he pays tribute to his country’s national football team by mimicking Lumumba's iconic statue posture in Kinshasa.
Cast in bronze, the statue depicts Lumumba in a formal suit, emphasizing his identity as a statesman rather than a military figure. His posture is firm and forward-facing, with one arm raised. His serious, determined expression reinforces his legacy as a principled and unyielding leader.
During DR Congo’s Group D clash against Botswana in Rabat on Tuesday, December 30—a match the Leopards won convincingly 3–0—Lumumba Vea stood frozen in place for the entire game, reportedly holding his pose for an astonishing 90 minutes.
The tribute by Mboladinga has grown so popular that members of the Congolese Supporters Club now form a protective shield around him as he enters and exits stadiums, as fans rush to catch a glimpse or take selfies.
For Lumumba Vea, football is more than a sport—it is also a remembrance, he says. In a tournament defined by noise and spectacle, his silence has become one of AFCON 2025’s most striking and long-lasting expressions.