Kabila by return post

For the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, plus ca change..... nothwithstanding the Arab Spring leading to sweeping change across the top of the African continent, the latest elections in DRC resulted in another win for Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001. DRC has a long history of flawed elections and this was no exception. Kabila gets another 5-year term having apparently won  49% of the vote. Independent observers gave this election a report card of 40% with wide-scale corruption alleged. Hundreds of polling station results in the capital, Kinshasa, a stronghold of opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi, were 'lost' while at some Kabila bases voter turnout was close to 100%. This is a poor ending for elections on the continent in 2011 and a possible harbinger of disappointment in the year ahead, with many African countries due to hold polls, including: Angola, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal. My link with DRC is Charlie the parking attendant at Muizenberg corner, my favourite surfing spot in Cape Town. He's a friendly chap and I always get a chance to practice my rudimentary French with him while zipping up my wetsuit and taking the ski and paddle out of the car. The QSL is from the Office Congolais des Postes in Kinshasa. This was a voice mirror utility transmission heard in Cape Town on 23 mHz back in 1972. It was broadcasting towards Athens. In those days you could write to 'Office Congolais des Postes, Kinshasa' and get a full pre-printed card like this one, if you were lucky!