In DR Congo, civil servants end up working until they are 80 or even 100

Dyuba, 84 has been a teacher since 1968 and who is awaiting retirement. Photos: AFP

They are past 70 and sometimes even 100 years old. Many civil servants in the Democratic Republic of Congo work until their last days, hoping for a pension and recognition that never comes.

“I would like the state to close my career with honour,” says Bayard Kumwimba Dyuba, 84, a primary school teacher in Lubumbashi, the main town in the south-east of the vast central African country.