
Marie-Antoinette Mobutu

Marie-Antoinette Mobutu (born Marie-Antoinette Gbiatibwa Gogbe Yetene; c. 1941 in Banzyville), 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 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. 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.
Some claimed Marie-Antoinette was actually younger than fourteen when she was married and that her official age was changed to avoid a scandal although there has not been any proof to defy this. In the mid-1970s, she was tasked with overseeing all ministries relating to social welfare. She also refused to adopt an "authentic" African name, as required by her husband's regime in 1972, preferring instead to keep the name "Marie-Antoinette".
Children.
Marie Antoinette bore the most out of all of Mobutu's wives, a total of nine children:
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 the Gombe commune in Kinshasa, where the president's residence is placed.