Joseph- Desire Mobutu, the dictator who ruled over the tiny African nation of Zaire from November 1965 to May 1997. He thought of himself as a demi-god and forced the evening news to begin with a scene of him descending from the clouds. Mobutu wore a leopard printed hat and laid a law that no one else other than him would be allowed to wear leopard prints. Mobutu paid Muhammed Ali and George Foreman $5 million each to play in his country