286/04 Communication 286 /2004 - Dino Noca vs
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Summary of the Facts
1. The complaint was brought before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (the
Commission) on 6 December, 2004 against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the DRC) or the
Respondent State 1 by Mr. Dino Noca represented by Mr. NYABIRUNGU Mwene Songa, a Lawyer at the
Bar of Kinshasa (the Complainant); then by Mr. FAKATI wa LUHINDI Défi Augustin, a Lawyer at the same
Bar who later continued with the proceedings.
2. The Complainant presents a dispute concerning a building located in the District of Ibanda and
registered in the cadastral plan of the city of Bukavu, South Kivu Province, under number 17 R/2 2 , which
dispute was ruled on by Judgment No. RCR/C019, on 28 November 2003 by the Supreme Court of Justice
of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
3. The Complainant alleges that the building is the property of the late Lucio NOCA, of Italian nationality,
deceased on 27 May 1992, at Sordevolo, a demise which occurred in the course of the hearing.
4. He further emphasizes the fact that the complainants' rights to the building were covered by the
Registration Certificate vol. F.XXX, folio 23, which constituted a title deed under the legislation of the
Republic of Zaire, now the DRC.
5. The Complainant alleges that later on the State adopted Ordinance No. 74-152 of 2 July 1974 relating to
abandoned or undeveloped properties and other assets acquired by the State under the law. Properties
covered by this law were ceded to Congolese nationals and the relevant title deeds were nullified without
intervention by any court.
6. The Complainant alleges that to circumvent the application of the said law, the late Lucio NOCA
entrusted the management of his building to the State-owned National Insurance Company (SONAS) which
had the competence to manage real estates belonging to non-resident expatriates.
7. The Complainant alleges that in spite of this state of affairs, the building was declared abandoned and
allocated in turn to persons by name Matakina and Kafwa Kasongo respectively. As Mr. Matakina had not
satisfied the required conditions for the aforementioned property to be allocated to him, it was instead
allocated to Mr. Kafwa Kasongo, the then State Prosecutor at the Bukavu High Court, whose claim was
deemed to be valid.
8. The Complainant further submits that the withdrawal of the building from the estate of Noca also followed
Order No. 1440/000152/80 of 3 September 1980, which had wrongly classified the building as abandoned
property. 3
9. The Complainant alleges that following an appeal made by SONAS to the competent authority against
this ruling declaring it abandoned property, the latter won the case by Order No. 1440/000207/82 of 20
September 1982, ceding back the building in question.4
10. The Complainant claims that the appeal filed by SONAS was initially ignored by the Head of Lands
Department in Bukavu City who requested that the document in his possession be authenticated. This was
done by a telephone message No. 00027/84 dated 5th July 1984. The same message was confirmed by
letter No. 1.440/000748 of the same date from the Minister of Lands, who was then State Commissioner, to
repeal Order no 1.440/000152/80.
11. The Complainant points out that without waiting for the authentication of the document, the Head of the
Lands Department issued a registration certificate to Mr. Kafwa Kasongo on 9 June 1984 in defiance of the
order; whereas the Judgement on the declaration of buildings as abandoned property of 3 September 1980
and Order no.74-152/74 of 2 Jul 1974 had been repealed one after the other on 20 September 1982 and 2
February 1984 by Judgement No. 1440/000207/82 and Order No. 84-026/84 respectively.
12. The Complainant further alleges that copies of the aforementioned documents were produced and
copied at the same time to the Head of the Regional Department of Lands, the Curator of Title Deeds and
the Governor's Office in Kivu Province.
13. The Complainant therefore concludes that the Head of the Regional Department of Lands had acted
knowingly and intentionally refused to wait for the reaction of his superior.
14. The Complainant asserts that following the issuance of the registration certificate to Mr. Kafwa, the
State Counsel for South Kivu was invited by the Ministries of Justice and Lands to file for an annulment of
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