10 Makuta

The Makuta was introduced as a subunit of the Zaïre following Mobutu Sese Seko's 1967 monetary reform, part of his broader "authenticity" campaign — Authenticité — which systematically purged colonial nomenclature from Congolese public life. The country's name, currency, and eventually Mobutu's own name were all subject to Africanization under this program. By the mid-1970s, however, copper-nickel coinage was already losing ground to inflation driven by the collapse of world copper prices and the disastrous nationalization of Union Minière's former assets.