Congo’s smugglers keep hustling through the coronavirus lockdown

The EconomistThe Economist TodaBY 10AM MOST of Mama Kavira’s customers are already drunk. Some are slumped on low wooden chairs in her garden; others hover over them. They knock back glasses of banana wine and kanyanga—a potent homebrew made from fermented maize. Mama Kavira circulates with plastic bottles of each, pouring refills for 500 Congolese francs ($0.30) a go. Business at her speakeasy has never been better, she says. Since coronavirus forced all the registered bars in Goma to close, her clients have doubled in number. Many of them believe that moonshine kills the disease.