In a dimly lit, crumbling building in Brazzaville, a race against time is unfolding. Stacked from floor to ceiling are thousands of rusty tape reels, the fragile carriers of a nation’s memory. These are the neglected archives of Radio-Télévision Congolaise (Tele Congo), a priceless visual record of Central Africa from the colonial era through independence and into the modern age, now threatened by humidity, decay, and neglect.
A National Treasure in Peril
The story begins in the archives of Congo-Brazzaville’s former national broadcaster. “It’s a treasure trove,” says Hassim Tall Boukambou, a director and documentary filmmaker who has led the rescue effort since 2019. He points to the towering stacks of 16mm and 35mm film reels, along with early videotape formats, that document everything from news broadcasts and political trials to local sports, music concerts, and cultural events.
The collection’s scope is staggering. According to Boukambou, the oldest materials date back to the 1920s, capturing life under French colonial administration. The archives then trace the nation’s journey: the pivotal role of Brazzaville during World War II, the euphoria and challenges of independence in 1960, the Soviet-aligned Marxist–Leninist state from 1968 to the 1990s—documenting its “Stalinist-style” public trials—and the subsequent decades.
The Historical Significance of Tele Congo
To understand the archives’ regional importance, one must understand Tele Congo’s unusual origins. Founded in 1962, just two years after independence, it became the first television service south of the Sahara. This pioneering status was a direct legacy of World War II.
- Brazzaville as a Wartime Capital: When France fell to Germany in 1940, the French government in exile, led by Charles de Gaulle, established its headquarters in Brazzaville.
- The Radio-Brazzaville Transmitter: To broadcast Free France’s messages, a powerful radio transmitter was built. Its signal was strong enough to reach into occupied France and across much of Africa.
- An Inherited Infrastructure: This transmitter and broadcasting infrastructure remained after independence. “And why in Congo specifically? Because we had Radio-Brazzaville,” Boukambou explains. This gave Tele Congo a technological head start, allowing its signal to be received in neighboring Cameroon, Gabon, and the Central African Republic, making it a continental cultural touchstone.
From Decline to Abandonment
Despite its early prominence, Tele Congo suffered from chronic underfunding and later competition from commercial stations. The situation worsened during the devastating civil wars of 1997-1999. When the broadcaster relocated to a modern facility in 2009, the historic archive tapes were left behind in the half-ruined original headquarters.
The building’s decay is now the archives’ greatest enemy. Ceilings are collapsing. There is no electricity, leaving vintage TV sets dark and silent. Most critically, there is no air conditioning. In Brazzaville’s hot, humid equatorial climate, the magnetic tapes and film bases are deteriorating at an accelerated rate. “It’s honestly a miracle that we’ve still got usable material at all,” Boukambou remarks.
The Volunteer Rescue Mission
Since 2019, Boukambou has assembled a small, dedicated team of volunteers who work on Saturdays to salvage what they can. One is Blanbert Banakissa, a painter and electrician by trade. “When I first came here, I thought I was coming to earn something. I had never even heard of an archivist in this country,” he recalls.
Their process is painstaking. Volunteers carefully clean dust and mold from each reel, attempting to decipher faded handwritten labels on the casing to identify its contents. Cleaned reels are then cataloged by theme—news, music, sport—and stored on already overflowing shelves. A separate room holds dozens of reels deemed too far gone, a silent testament to loss.
“On each reel, you have roughly an hour of footage. Just imagine how many hours we have lost!” Boukambou laments, gesturing to the damaged pile. “That’s why we have to get to work urgently.”
Why This Work Matters
For Banakissa, the motivation is deeply personal and national. “There are many people who don’t know where we come from,” he says. “But through these tapes that we’ve neglected, we can pass on this heritage to young people who aren’t aware of what we’ve lost.”
This mission aligns with a continental need. As Boukambou notes, “We have a largely young population under the age of 35 in Africa, who need to delve deep into their history to meet today’s challenges.” The archives offer unfiltered glimpses into
