Marie-Antoinette Mobutu
{{Short description|First wife of Zairian president Mobutu Sese Seko}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Marie-Antoinette Mobutu
| office = First Lady of Zaire
| termstart = 24 November 1965
| termend = 22 October 1977
| president = Mobutu Sese Seko
| image = Marie-Antoinette in Kinshasa.jpg
| width = 200
| caption = Marie-Antoinette in Kinshasa, April 1977
| spouse = {{marriage|Mobutu Sese Seko|1955}}
| succeeded = Bobi Ladawa Mobutu
| birth_date = {{circa|1941}}
| birth_place = Banzyville, Équateur Province, Belgian Congo
| country = Zaire
| children = 9 (including Kongulu Mobutu)
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1977|10|22|1941|}}
| death_place = Genolier, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland
| birth_name = Marie-Antoinette Gbiatibwa Gogbe Yetene
}}
Marie-Antoinette Mobutu (Marie-Antoinette Gbiatibwa Gogbe Yetene; c. 1941 in Banzyville – 22 October 1977 in Genolier, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland), also known as Mama Mobutu, was the first wife of Mobutu Sese Seko and First Lady of Zaire.
Biography
Marie-Antoinette was an ethnic Ngbandi born in Banzyville (modern-day Mobayi-Mbongo) in the Équateur Province in {{circa}}1941, while the Congo was still under Belgian colonial rule. She met and married Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, another Ngbandi, who was later a non-commissioned officer in the Force Publique, during 1955 at the age of 14.{{Cite web|title=Mobutu, Marie-Antoinette|url=https://oxfordaasc.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.001.0001/acref-9780195301731-e-50425|access-date=2021-02-24|website=Oxford African American Studies Center|year=2014|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.50425|last1=Rich|first1=Jeremy|isbn=9780195301731}} That same year, she gave birth to their first son, Jean-Paul "Nyiwa". She attended Catholic mission schools and supported the Catholic Church despite her husband's later struggle with the Catholic clergy.{{Cite web|date=2007-09-10|title=Destins de famille(s) – Jeune Afrique|url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/118918/archives-thematique/destins-de-famille-s/|access-date=2021-02-24|website=JeuneAfrique.com|language=fr-FR}}
= Children =
Marie Antoinette bore the most out of all of Mobutu's wives, a total of nine children:
- Jean-Paul "Nyiwa";
- Ngombo;
- Manda;
- Konga;
- Ngawali;
- Yango;
- Yakpwa;
- Kongulu;
- and Ndagbia.
= Death =
Marie-Antoinette died of heart failure on 22 October 1977 in Genolier, Switzerland, at the age of 36. After she died, a vast mausoleum was raised in her honor. She is buried in Gbadolite, just outside the chapel in which she was originally buried by her husband. Her relatives relocated her remains from the chapel as it was destroyed a few years after Mobutu's burial.
