[8] Following the discovery, a mining camp designed to house miners and company officials of the Societé minière de Bakwanga (MIBA) was developed in the area.

[9] The young city, known at the time as Bakwanga, grew quickly but around strict planning by MIBA, which divided the community into labor camps, mining areas and living quarters.

Every person in the region needed a permit allowing them to be there, and registration at a command post that monitored the population, which made indefinite residence in the area almost impossible to establish.

Shortly after independence, Albert Kalonji, a Luba tribal chief, declared himself ruler of the secessionist Mining State of South Kasai on Aug. 8, 1960 and established the city, then still known as Bakwanga, as his capital.

In April 1961, Kalonji declared himself as emperor of the region in a traditional tribal ceremony and then returned to Bakwanga, where he was "carried through crowds of chanting, singing and cheering Balubas," and dancing continued outside his royal palace there for four days.

[citation needed] Soon after the end of the secession, Bakwanga was renamed Mbuji-Mayi after the local river in an attempt to signify a Luba intra-ethnicity reconciliation.

In the place of the federal government, MIBA invested heavily in the region by repairing roads, paying soldiers and supplying water and electricity to the city from its own power station.

[16] The investments and its position as largest employer made Jonas Mukamba Kadiata Nzemba the chief executive officer of MIBA one of the most powerful men in the region, and the de facto governor of Mbuji-Mayi.

[17] Nzemba is credited with creating the Conference pour le Developpement Economique de Kasai Oriental (CDEKO), a regional economic development group in the early 1990s.

The new organization spearheaded economic growth in Mbuji-Mayi, helped support the development of new agricultural and beer industry expansion around the city and launched Wetrafa, a locally owned airline.

[8] Although Nzemba and MIBA's largesse helped Mbuji-Mayi maintain some semblance of infrastructure and social services, at least by the standards of Zaïre, the city still struggled.

[20] Nzemba was also summoned to Goma to speak with Kabila, who held him for several days, prompting his family to purchase advertising in newspapers publicising their concerns for his safety.

[20] In October 1998, Mbuji-Mayi was occupied by both Zimbabwean and Chadian troops as they poured into the country to back up Kabila as the First Congo War began to grow.

The Pan China company doing the work will rehabilitate the city's pumping station, extend the distribution network, construct water towers, and add metering and administrative buildings.

Amnesty International published a report in 2002 about dozens of people being shot dead in the diamond fields of Mbuji-Mayi, with most victims suspected of illegal mining.