AS THE fans around him sing and sway, dance and celebrate, as vibrant in movement as they are in attire, one supporter of the DR Congo national team remains perfectly still in a single pose for 90 minutes.

Dressed colourfully and sharply, Michel Kuka Mboladinga stands tall, stock-still with one arm raised for the whole game. 

He caught the eye of onlookers during DR Congo’s 3-0 win against Botswana in their final Afcon 2025 group game on Tuesday, as the camera panned to the statuesque supporter standing out amid celebrating fans, and the commentators pointed him out.

The moment went viral, but what didn’t was the reason behind it and the inspiration that compels Kuka Mboladinga to take such a stance for such a prolonged period, in stark contrast to those celebrating around him.

The pose replicates that of Patrice Lumumba, the African revolutionary who played a key role in DR Congo’s independence from its Belgian colonisers. In particular, it is based on the statue of Lumumba in the nation’s capital, Kinshasa, and has gained Mboladinga the nickname Lumumba Vea.

Although Lumumba defined himself primarily as an African nationalist revolutionary, refusing to be tied to other political or even religious labels, his actions saw him become a standout example and a key figure in support of Marxist revolutionary theory and an example of it in practice.

His life and, indeed, his assassination in 1961 at the hands of Congolese political opponents, with Belgian and US involvement, and support, or at least not opposition, from Britain, is significant in the history and lessons of revolution, independence, and anti-imperialism. 

It was not through his writing or self-declarations that Lumumba’s politics were defined, but through his anti-imperialist and anti-colonial actions and desire for Congo and other African nations to achieve independence.

“The colonialists have campaigned against me throughout the country because I am a revolutionary and demand the abolition of the colonial regime, which ignored our human dignity,” he said in July 1960, shortly after becoming the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister.

“They look upon me as a communist because I refused to be bribed by the imperialists.”

It is these principles that Mboladinga stands for, and stands for quite literally for 90 minutes or more at each game. 

It’s something he has been espousing long before the game against Botswana, where the cameras and commentary team spotted him and introduced him to a wider audience.

And it is not the only important message being sent by DR Congo during this Afcon.

Just as they did in 2024, the players representing the country have used this high-profile tournament to highlight ongoing conflict back home.

Striker Cedric Bakambu has led the line for DR Congo and has also led the charge to raise awareness of the plight and long-time suffering of Congolese people in the eastern part of the country on the border with Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.

His goal “celebration” involves pointing a finger at his head to represent the gun pointed at those caught up in conflict, and putting his hand over his mouth to represent the relative global silence and ignorance of this situation.

“Everyone sees the massacres in eastern Congo, but everyone is silent,” Bakambu wrote during the 2024 Afcon.

“Put the same energy you use when talking about the Africa Cup of Nations into highlighting what is happening with us.”

The same applies now, as shown by the reluctance of influential social media figures and media outlets in some cases even to mention Patrice Lumumba — and in most cases refusing to speak about the symbolism behind the viral moment on which they were otherwise so eager to capitalise.

It’s the safe, non-political, but also useless stance taken by an increasingly popular strand of media reporting, which fears losing sponsorship or followers if it dares venture beyond viral face value into the natural relationship between sport, geopolitics, and social issues.

It often falls on independent media and reporters to dig even slightly below the surface and make sure the important context and meaning of these moments are included.

Luckily, Afcon has its fair share of such dedicated reporters and outlets, including the English-language outlet Africa is a Country, which covered the Congolese people Bakambu looks to remind us of, and the commentators on the tournament’s international feed who name-checked Lumumba during the game to a large audience.

DR Congo face Algeria on Tuesday in Rabat as the last 16 of the 2025 Afcon begins this weekend. 

It follows an entertaining group stage in which Mboladinga’s striking pose caught the eye, as did plenty of the football in this often intriguing and always important international football tournament.