First wife of Zairian president Mobutu Sese Seko
Marie-Antoinette Mobutu (Marie-Antoinette Gbiatibwa Gogbe Yetene; c. 1941 in Banzyville – 22 October 1977 Genolier, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland), also known as Mama Mobutu was the first wife of Mobutu Sese Seko and First Lady of Zaire.
Biography
Marie-Antoinette was born in Banzyville (modern-day Mobayi-Mbongo) in Équateur Province in c.1941 while the Congo was still under Belgian colonial rule. She was an ethnic Ngbandi. She met and married Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, a member of the same ethnic group and then a non-commissioned officer in the Force Publique, in 1955 at the age of 14.[1] That same year, she gave birth to their first son, Jean-Paul "Nyiwa". She attended Catholic mission schools and had supported the Roman Catholic Church despite her husband's later struggle with the Catholic clergy.[2][1]
Children
Marie Antoinette bore the most out of all of Mobutu's wives, a total of nine children:
- Jean-Paul "Nyiwa";
- Ngombo;
- Manda;
- Konga;
- Ngawali;
- Yango;
- Yakpwa;
- Kongulu;
- and Ndagbia.
Death
Marie-Antoinette died of heart failure on 22 October 1977 in Genolier, Switzerland, at the age of 36. A vast mausoleum was raised in her honor. She is buried in Gbadolite, just outside the chapel in which she was originally buried by her husband. Her relatives had to relocate her remains from the chapel due to it being destroyed later on.
