The Congolese digital sphere was once again stirred this weekend by a heated exchange rooted in regionalism and stigmatization. At the center of the controversy was the wife of the well-known military spokesperson of the M23 movement, Colonel Willy Ngoma, who became the target of hostile comments on social media. Some Kinshasa-based users accused her without evidence of being Rwandan, in a thinly veiled attempt to discredit her.
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But her response came swiftly. Calm yet assertive, she fired back in a widely shared message: “Before questioning my origins, take a look at your own house. Come and see how Goma is now structured, organized, clean, and secure. Then compare it to Kinshasa, that garbage capital where insecurity and chaos are rampant.”
Her message resonated strongly in the eastern regions of the country, where local populations frequently stigmatized denounce a persistent marginalization by the Kinshasa elite. In Goma, some viewed her words as a brave stand against a taboo: the contempt directed at Kivu residents and the North Kivu region in general, despite their dynamism and organizational strength, often overlooked by populist rhetoric from the capital.
Since the rise of the March 23 Movement (M23), Goma has undergone an unprecedented logistical and administrative transformation. Cleared roads, rebuilt schools, reinforced security the city now presents a striking contrast with parts of Kinshasa, where filth, power outages, and crime plague daily life.
For M23 sympathizers, this development is proof that another model is possible one based on discipline, order, and autonomous governance far from the widespread corruption they attribute to Kinshasa.
“It’s not about ethnicity or nationality. It’s about vision and organization,” says a Goma resident. “They call us Rwandans to silence us. But look at the facts. Who’s building, who’s securing, and who’s developing?”
The reaction from Colonel Ngoma’s wife also highlights the deep identity rift that continues to divide the Democratic Republic of Congo. The debate is not new: between the populations of the East, often perceived as foreigners by Kinshasa, and a central government accused of negligence, the gap is widening.
In defending her city and her dignity, the M23 spokesperson’s wife is not merely responding to a personal insult she is challenging a certain Kinshasa arrogance and calling for a re evaluation of what it means to be Congolese clichés, prejudice, and ethnic divides.
