Lumumba's 1960 execution, burial of his tooth in 2022

Patrice Lumumba, the first Congo Prime Minister. [File, Standard]

Although the internment of a solitary tooth placed in a huge coffin was supposed to bring closure to a horrific execution committed 60 years ago, it opened wounds of the rape, killing and plunder and international conspiracy. 

Yesterday, the gold tooth that had been stolen by Belgium Police Commissioner Gerald Soete after he sliced up Patrice Lumumba, the first Congo Prime Minister and dissolved his body in sulphuric acid was given a “decent burial”.

The gory killing of Lumumba took place on November 25, 1960 after he was secretly flown into an airport in Katanga where he was tortured, executed and his body immersed in a drum of acid.