Kimwenza is a neighborhood in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Mont Ngafula commune in the south of the capital, Kinshasa.

[2] It is a station on the Matadi–Kinshasa Railway, built between 1890 and 1898 to connect Matadi with Kinshasa, bypassing the unnavigable Livingstone Falls.

[2] The Saint Mary's mission, founded in July 1893, included a school to train African boys destined for the army or the priesthood.

[10] While the Jesuits aimed to educate an African elite, the Belgian colonial administration was hostile to this goal, and it was only in 1956 that they recognized the university.

Since 2002, the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary, founded by Claudine André, has been located just south of Kimwenza at the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya.

The bushmeat trade in Congo sees hundreds of bonobos killed each year for meat and the infants are sold as pets.