page_title: Thomas Kanza
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Kanza / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: Patrice Lumumba (left center) poses with his government outside the Palais de la Nation immediately following his swearing-in ceremony. Joseph-Désiré Mobutu is fifth from the right, in sunglasses. Pierre Mulele is third from the right. Marcel Bisukiro is fourth from the left. Thomas Kanza is eighth from the right, in the back, partially obscured
context_page_description: Thomas Rudolphe Kanza or Nsenga Kanza was a Congolese diplomat. He was one of the first Congolese nationals to graduate from a university. From 1960–1962 he served as the Democratic Republic of the Congo's first ambassador to the United Nations and from 1962–1964 was a delegate to the United Kingdom. His opposition to the governments of Moïse Tshombe and Joseph-Désiré Mobutu led him to first rebel and ultimately flee the Congo. He returned in 1983 and resumed politics. From Mobutu's ousting in 1997 until his own death, Kanza served in diplomatic roles for the Congo.
context_section_description: Lumumba's party won a plurality of parliamentary seats in the Congo's first free elections. He weighed his options for the Minister of Foreign Affairs between Kanza, André Mandi, and Justin Bomboko. He mistrusted Bomboko, whom the Belgians supported and with whom he had political differences. Kanza, who was well acquainted with Bomboko, suggested that he himself be made Delegate to the United Nations (UN) with ministerial status, so he could operate with autonomy, while Bomboko should receive charge of Foreign Affairs, because he was an elected deputy and had more political support. Lumumba eventually agreed to this proposal. The Lumumba Government was invested by Parliament on 24 June. Of the members of the ministerial cabinet, only Kanza and Bomboko had university educations. The Congo was formally granted independence on 30 June 1960 as the Republic of the Congo. In mid-September Lumumba was removed from power by Colonel Joseph Mobutu and placed under arrest. Kanza approached Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko for help, but was informed that there was little they could do. He then appealed to United States President-elect John F. Kennedy through Eleanor Roosevelt, asking that he intervene to protect Lumumba. Kennedy responded that the handling of prisoners was a United Nations matter. Lumumba was eventually executed on 17 January 1961.
  Meanwhile, Lumumba's absence had created a dilemma surrounding the authority of his delegation at the United Nations, which was led by Kanza. On 8 November 1960 President Joseph Kasa-Vubu proposed his own delegation, leading to a dispute in the General Assembly. On 22 November 1960 the Assembly voted to recognize Kasa-Vubu's delegation, thereby subverting Kanza. He then served as the representative for Antoine Gizenga's brief rival government based in Stanleyville.
  In 1962 Kanza, having rejoined the central government, was transferred to be chargé d'affaires of the United Kingdom embassy. In 1964, he was recalled to the Congo. He soon entered a dispute with the new prime minister, Moïse Tshombe, and joined Pierre Mulele's rebel group. Following its defeat and Mobutu's definitive seizure of power in 1965, Kanza fled to Europe. He shortly thereafter moved to the United States and in the same year published a largely autobiographical novel, Sans rancune. In 1972 he published a memoir, entitled, The Rise and Fall of Patrice Lumumba: Conflict in the Congo. The book covered his own personal experiences as the Conge became independent and focused on his interactions with Lumumba. He later became a professor of politics at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
  Kanza returned to the Congo following the declaration of a general amnesty by Mobutu on 21 May 1983. In 1992 a "Conference Nationale Souveraine" was convened to formulate a process for democratising the Congo. Kanza took advantage of the liberalisation to reestablish his family's political base in Kongo Central. The Mobutuist factions and the opposing Union Sacrée de l'Opposition got into a dispute as to who had the right to select the next prime minister. In an attempt to undercut the opposition, Mobutu hosted a conclave in March 1993 to nominate a prime minister from among those participating. Kanza, a member of the Union Sacrée, attended the conclave but was ultimately passed over for the appointment. However, more radical members of the Union were furious about his solicitation and immediately expelled him from the organisation. In June 1997, Kanza was appointed Minister of International Cooperation in the new government of Laurent Kabila. By 1998, he was the Minister of Labour and Social Security.
  Kanza died of a heart attack in London on 25 October 2004 while serving as the Congo's ambassador to Sweden.
caption: The first Congolese government. Kanza stands eighth from the right (back row, obscured).
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