In 1940, Joseph KASA-VUBU completed his studies as monitor in Kangu. He takes the duties of grade six. Up to now, this grade had been entrusted to the brothers of Christian Schools, who had decided to leave Kangu because of a difference of opinion between them and the Scheutists on matters of salary and syllabus. KASA-VUBU was thus the first African to hold grade six at the ordinary school of Kangu. The first initiative he took was to teach all his subjects in French, which made sensational news. The pupils found it hard to adapt to this new system, but KASA-VUBU had an untiring patience. The missionaries are surprised about this zeal and somewhat wary, but they dared not oppose themselves to an initiative, which is so much in conformity with the official schedule. They let it go, but KASA-VUBU still feels he is monitored, watched over, spied on. He despises this latent hostility. So he goes to see His Eminence.

The question of his salary aggravated matters. It was a pitiful salary. He applied for an increase. His Eminence absolutely refused, uttering these historical words: “I do not want to create here a small president”.

KASA-VUBU then expressed the profound humiliation suffered: “I do not want to be placed in the same rank as those mere monitors who, after all, finished only their primary school and three years of medium school”.

To Father Jacques who reproached him, his conduct vis-à-vis the prelate, KASA-VUBU replied openly:

“You have here some plantations, factories and fields where you employ hundreds of pupils. How did you acquire the land, which you are exploiting; how did you obtain possession of this land? What gives you the right to occupy these grounds?”

Anybody would grasp at this point the final unfolding of the personal drama of KASA-VUBU. Originally a religious man, he first expressed himself in terms of social demands and, soon after, in terms of decolonization.

In fact, to view the missionary presence in terms of land rights, is already like denouncing a regime of foreign occupation, thus it went to the core of colonialism.

To appreciate the importance of these facts, one need only recall that the above took place in 1941.

He worked for some time with the forest and farming company of Mayumbe (AGRIFOR), and also with Agriyumbe, both companies established in Lemba. He applied and obtained a position with the central administration. From 1942 up to independence, he worked with the administration of finance, fulfilling the duties of assistant-accountant with the department of supplies.

Scrupulously honest and endowed with a remarkable sense of responsibility, he earned the trust and respect of his superiors.

Read More..

In 1941, he married in Kangu Hortense NGOMA MASUNDA.

Around 1945, the Association of Former Pupils of Scheut Fathers (ADAPES), the Association of Former Pupils of Brothers (ASSANEF), and the Union of Former Pupils of the Marist Brothers (UNELMA) were the main meeting points and assembly for the “developed” people of Léopoldville.

At that time, BOLIKANGO – who had played a very active role among associations of former pupils – founded a study group destined to lead a unified and concerted action aimed at obtaining the elimination of practices of racial discrimination and improving the social conditions of the Congolese people. Hence, the Union of Congolese Social Interests (UNISCO) was born.

Its founders, namely BOLIKANGO, went looking for people who might aid the movement.

It is within this framework that KASA-VUBU was selected among the delegates. The first speech he delivered was entitled very suggestively: “The right of the first occupant”. Under the cover of a summary of customary rights, KASA-VUBU was developing the idea that the land of Congo belonged to the first occupants, meaning the Congolese people, and that it should consequently be returned to them.

This prophetic and revolutionary speech, of incredible audacity if one recalls that ten years later most of the “developed” Congolese people were still hesitant to deliver such remarks, was like dropping a bombshell. The colonial administration reacted quite strongly and the members of UNISCO hastened to state that the speech delivered by KASA-VUBU did not reflect the intentions of the movement. There was no follow-up, but KASA-VUBU understood that time was not yet ripe enough to give up his reserve and his prudence. However, this short-lived speech remains the speech of a precursor.

One thus realizes that even before his entrance into Congolese politics, the great characteristics of the personality of Joseph KASA-VUBU already emerge with clarity. His concerns were those of a Statesman, more than those of a theoretician or an ideologist. He sought to improve the fate of the Congolese populations; approach their situation with reality, not wanting to force on them an abstract imported system; preserve the proper characteristics of a Congolese nationality and to maintain intact their ancestral heritage what is good and compatible with modern society.

KASA-VUBU understood that the colonial system bore inadequacies and contradictions, which demanded its radical transformation or its disappearance.

More and more, he became conscious of his own lucidity, conscious of being the first and the only one to see clearly. But he had to wait, patiently, for the time to be ripe when he will act. Still, he did not hesitate to take up his responsibilities every time he found it necessary, to write to the Governor General if drinking water was lacking in his community, to state politely his ideas to the European who torments him without reason. But he waited and he watched for the moment when he would undertake a public, decisive and radical action. The first sign of KASA-VUBU’s exceptional fate would be his election to the presidency of ABAKO on 21 March 1954. ABAKO (Association of the Bakongo (was founded in 1949 by Edmond NZEZA LANDU. The latter intended to create an ethnic and cultural movement destined to “unify, conserve and improve the Kikongo language”. To do so, he drew up some kind of charter which presented the program of the Association and which had been distributed in the classes of Léopoldville where they were likely to find interest. The aim was to affirm the force, unity and personality of the Bakongo populations. More than two thirds of Léopoldville population are Bakongos. “The Bakongos have no newspaper which might interest them, instruct them in their own language”, wrote the text of the charter.

“All the Bakongos feel like being brothers born from the same stock: Kongo dia ntotila, meaning “the Congo of the King”.

But, however, since the collapse of the kingdom caused by unending wars with our neighbors, the “Yagas” (Bayaka) and the slavery of the past three centuries, we are no longer united. The newspaper will serve as a link between us…. This charter thus did not constitute the association itself, but only a project of association. However, it should be pointed out that KASA-VUBU was mistrustful towards ABAKO. This mistrust came from the fact that the “group of Bakongos of Léopoldville” who wished to found the association mainly appointed Edmond NZEZA LANDU himself and the Rev. Father VAN WING, Jesuit of the Kisantu mission. The latter, although an eminent ethnologist and linguist, was a personality who was much talked about.

There is also the fact that NZEZA LANDU was using the greatest part of contributions to finance his newspaper. “Kongo dia Ngunga” was far from being a business, and unhappy to see the members’ contributions being swallowed up, the president of ABAKO was contracting debts with the printers. His credit kept on worsening. The committee of the movement decided to renew its office.

The election of KASA-VUBU as head of ABAKO on 21 March 1954 still poses questions today. Why was KASA-VUBU selected? The most fashionable thesis with the university students of Lovanium claims he was elected based on his clan. In ABAKO, there were differences between the Bantandu of the NZEZA LANDU group under the influence of the Jesuits, and the Bandibu, a group to which influent members of the ABAKO committee belonged, such as Pierre CANON and Simon TEZZO, who were under the protestant influence.

To prevent this divergence becoming a conflict, it is said that they appealed to a personality issued from a third group, the Bayombe. The other explanation is that the personality of KASA-VUBU, his reputation and his character played an important role in his election. He attributed his success to articles he’d written in the “kongo dia ngunga” and where he argued in concise slogans, his desire to perform reforms, and not only inside ABAKO.

KASA-VUBU’s first task was to organize ABAKO on solid bases: to start a management committee, a media section, an art and entertainment section.

---

His First Struggles

---

In fact, in a year or two, something had changed in the Belgian Congo. In 1954, a socialist-liberal coalition ministerial team came to power in Belgium, destined to encourage secular education instead of confessional and free education. The appointment of Mr August BUISSERET as minister of the colonies and his determination to bring this battle over schooling to the Congo had suddenly opened the eyes of the Congolese people on the divisions and disputes of their colonizers and also on the political party which they might deal with as a result.

A second event was the publication by the Belgian professor AAJ VAN BILSEN of a “Thirty-Year plan for the Emancipation of Africa”. This period of thirty years was justified by the fact that Belgians, having done nothing to prepare the Congo for its Independence, had to devise a plan for the education of an entire generation to prepare executive members and form elites destined to take charge of the country. Among those who believed professor VAN BILSEN had given the alarm signal and that it was about time to react, emerged a small academic circle from Léopoldville grouped around Abbot Joseph MALULA frequently visited by people like Joseph ILEO, Antoine GWENZA and Joseph NGALULA . The circle had a small monthly press, appearing on an irregular basis under the title of “African conscience”. The chief editor was ILEO, who had appealed for the co-operation of KASA-VUBU, who had refused. The group of “African conscience” started to examine with passion the “Thirty-year plan” and ILEO prepared a proclamation, the legal aspects of which were set by one of the most eminent legal writers of Lovanium.

The proclamation appeared on 1st July 1956. The publication had been slightly accelerated to gain ground at an extraordinary Congress of the Belgian socialist party devoted to the colonial matter.

The Proclamation created a novelty with the issues it presented and the “audacities” it contained. “For us a principle is important : skin color bestows no privilege. Outside this principle, the union is impossible….”

“We have the right to request from the Europeans who share our national life to be above all Congolese citizens….”

“However, Belgium must not perceive in our desire for emancipation a feeling of hostility. On the contrary, Belgium must be proud that, contrary to most of the colonized peoples, our desire is expressed without hatred and without resentment”.

As for the aims pursued, the Proclamation recalled the idea of VAN BILSEN, namely a political emancipation within a period of thirty years. Moreover, at every state of political emancipation, a step of economic emancipation, social emancipation and also progress in the education and culture, must follow”. As for the methods, the Proclamation was more ambiguous: “the national union is necessary because all the population of Congo must first and foremost be aware of its national nature and its unity.

“How could it be possible if the population is canvassed by several parties which fight each other? What were the Congo political parties from Belgium?

“Our position is clear: these parties are harmful, and they are useless”.

ABAKO replied with the African conscience. Commissions were constituted within ABAKO to examine the contents of the Proclamation and form a convenient response. Hence, on 23 August, during the course of a general assembly of ABAKO, Mr KASA-VUBU attacks a weak point of the Proclamation : his refusal of political parties, his belief in harmonization and progressive amendment of reports between the colonized and the colonizer : The Friends of African Conscience want to rule but disdain the means by which the country is governed. Could a military victory succeed without the use of arms?

ABAKO thinks that only political means can unite the various Congolese tribes. It is pure utopia to expect to rally all the Congolese citizens under the same banner.

ABAKO’s position was clear and it fought for political rights; all kinds of freedom, i.e., individual freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of expression and of the press, freedom of meeting, association and creed.

Regarding the VAN BILSEN Plan, he adds: “for us, we aspire not to participate in the elaboration of this plan, but for its pure and simple cancellation because its application could only delay the Congo further, as this is the case”. Then, he cries out the fateful, historical words: “since the time has come, we must be granted, as from today” he hesitates a moment -–”the IMMEDIATE INDEPENDENCE rather than delay it for another thirty years. Our patience has already gone too far”.

Thus, the game was set. The magic word was pronounced. It was irrevocable.

All this took place on 23 August 1956.

However, one must stress that ABAKO’s and KASA-VUBU’s political position was much subtler than the text of his speech might make one imagine.

Whilst it is absolutely certain that at the meeting of 23 August KASA-VUBU uttered the words “immediate independence”, the text officially broadcasted by ABAKO mentioned only the emancipation. It seems that during the session, KASA-VUBU conceded to an irresistible roar from the crowd.

Hence, what ABAKO claimed in front of its members was immediate independence, before public opinion, emancipation, and in front of the colonial administration, self-determination. A subtle game drawn up by KASA-VUBU. This showed that as from that time he was not really an ambitious man eager for personal power, but a negotiator and a politician, a man who knew what he wanted to achieve and who was aware of the scope and the precise utility of the means in his possession to achieve it as soon as possible and under the best possible conditions.

This speech made a profound but at times, painful impression. On the European side, there were the discontented and the bitter; on the Congolese side, the vexed and the jealous. KASA-VUBU and ABAKO from now on represented a dangerous political power, likely to put an end to the privileges of some and to offend the ambitions of others.

From there on, the colonial administration and some missionaries who could not tolerate the failure of ILEO’s Proclamation, similarly for the Congolese seemingly anxious about their immediate interests such as the great idea of the national independence, understood that it was in their interests to ally themselves against KASA-VUBU and to render him powerless at all costs.

To achieve this, they would resort to the most deceitful, the most dishonest, the most insidious means: slander. KASA-VUBU would be accused of being a xenophobe, and what is even worse, a separatist, for wanting independence only for the Lower-Congo, and not for the Congo as a whole.

Long term repercussions of this latter slander were, politically speaking, utterly disastrous. One must add that the perspective of municipal elections in 1951 did not soothe any passions. KASA-VUBU strongly defended himself against these accusations: “With regard to the provinces, our understanding is general. But we must form a united front for there are neither borders, nor barriers between the Congolese of the Upper-Congo and those of the Lower-Congo… Our collaboration with the Europeans remains traditional. It is that of our ancestors, full of humanity and charity”.

Hence, KASA-VUBU and ABAKO achieved success. They came out victorious from the dispute and it is undeniable that the prestige they gained from it would continue to play a major role and maybe even a decisive one in the phenomenal victory they achieved during the municipal elections in December 1957.

Nevertheless, this controversy would leave deep scars. The Congolese, and the Belgians, will always be on their guard towards ABAKO; they will have the feeling that the Bakongos do not play fairly towards their brothers issued from other groups and that they would rather ride the horses on their own.

Besides, one must admit that certain subsequent attitudes by ABAKO appeared ambiguous. Nevertheless these attitudes would have certainly been judged with more understanding if the “dispute of the Upper against the Lower” had not been so fierce, so long and sometimes so treacherous. KASA-VUBU and ABAKO were certainly victorious, but they ended up by being worn out by their victory.

Elections took place on 8 December 1957. The population votes in masses: 84,7% of Kinois (inhabitants of Léopoldville) go to the polls. For ABAKO, success is complete, unexpected, unhoped-for. They gain 133 counselor seats out of 170 provided, i.e. 78,2%.

For KASA-VUBU, this was a triumph. It would be hard to attribute it exclusively to the higher number of the Bakongos in Léopoldville, taken with the adoption in the districts of a uni-nominal system. This superiority in numbers had nothing to do with the extent of the successes.

At minimum, one must admit that ABAKO gave the impression of being an incomparably more efficient organization than all the other groupings in Léopoldville. It’s unlikely that the Congolese in Léopoldville had not guessed the actual scope of the struggle led for them for eighteen years by KASA-VUBU. Mayor KASA-VUBU understood immediately that he could withdraw from the massive and popular election that brought him into power, a much greater strength than that derived from the functions he fulfilled. At the General Assembly of ABAKO on 2 March, KASA-VUBU stated his positions and emphasized his daring ideas:

“Democracy is not the privilege of the urban people, but of the people”.

Belgium now had its back against the wall because after attempting a democratic experience in the Congo, the taste of power given to the Congolese people left them clamoring for immediate independence. It was absolutely necessary to take advantage of the situation and promote a “democratic experience” at the national level.

On 20 April 1958, during his official induction as Mayor of Dendale, he gave a speech before the colonial authorities on the universal vote and internal self-determination. This speech earned him a sanction from the administration. KASA-VUBU was given “the penalty of the warning referred to in ordinance of 22 October 1951”. Soon afterward, the African Mayors protested unanimously against “this measure of intimidation”.

For its part, the municipal board of Dendale sent a legal clarification to the Governor. As for ABAKO, it discussed the profound indignation of the black population. Belgium discovered to its astonishment, but without losing its self-confidence nor its good faith, that there existed in the Congo certain people who seemed unsatisfied with the PAX BELGICA and who seemed unhappy living in the richest, the most peaceful and the most glorious colonial empire of the universe.

During the last months of that year, when the Congolese were slowly awakening to political consciousness, Belgium tries to reconsider its colonial policy, all the while refusing to resume dialogue with KASA-VUBU. He devoted himself to strengthening and extending his party and focuse all his efforts on containing discontentment spreading among his membership.

The last months of 1958 marked incoherent, indescernible, complex period, full of trials and errors, vague desires, attempts. In Léopoldville, outside ABAKO, two political groupings imposed themselves by their importance: the Inter-Federal and especially the Congolese National Movement (MNC).

The Inter-Federal was born the day after the elections in December 1957, reacting against ABAKO’s triumph. It notably grouped the eight main ethnic federations of the so-called Upper Congo.

These included the entire population of Léopoldville, which was not from the “Lower” part, i.e. approximately half of the total population.

Purely a reactive movement, the Inter-Federal had neither a proven organization (each president of Federation assumed the presidency in turn, which never failed to cause friction), nor a political program apart from a posture of wisdom and moderation. Jean BOLIKANGO had been the founder and the first president of this movement. The history of the Congolese National Movement is much more peculiar. Soon after the announcement of the Proclamation at first it was a political grouping of ILEO and with the team of “African conscience”.

This attempt had no follow-up and the movement was doomed to failure. Subsequently, despite the a Proclamation’s wishes, the Beligan great political parties (the Social Christian, the Liberal and the Socialist) attempted without hesitation to create subsidiaries in the Congo and to position Congolese people as their frontmen. In Léopoldville, the socialist party, and particularly the Social Christian Party, were very active. The first one especially acted through the intermediary of a union, the Bureau of General Federation of Workers (FGTB), of which the most prominent personality was Cyrille ADOULA. The second one thought about creating a Christian Democrat Party in the Congo. The new group, which had neither organization, nor a proper name, included personalities “supported” by the Socialist Party, such as Cyrille ADOULA, and others headed by the Catholic Party such as ILEO and NGALULA.

Their will to part with their “protectors” and unite was so great that they decided on one of the Congolese “protégés” of the Liberal Party, to ensure, with regard to the Belgian parties, political stability of the new movement.

Only one man asserted himself straightaway by his tact with people and his dynamism. This man was LUMUMBA, the general president of the Federation of Batetela.

At this stage, it’s important to note the situation in Belgium. It is a fact that the elections of April 1958 gave the Christian Social Party an absolute majority in the Senate, but not in the Chamber. The prime minister, Gaston EYSKENS, looking to a collaborate with the socialists, was, however, refused, and instead constituted a minority government before the Chamber. He resumed temporarily the Ministry of Colonies. Under the personal influence of King Baudouin, the idea more or less was accepted that the Congolese question must be taken outside of Belgian partisan disputes. Mr PETILLON became minister. His first initiative was to transform the Department of the Colonies into a Ministry of the Congo and Rwanda-Burundi. But more importantly, he would commit a truly fatal error by refusing to make a declaration on the Congo immediately. He announced the creation of a Group of Labour entrusted with the study of political reforms necessary to the Congo.

The Group of Labour pays a visit to the Congo from 20 October until 14 November 1958, but on its return to Belgium it would submit his report to a new minister: Maurice VAN HEMELRYCK. This man was determined to go forward, but he was unfortunately linked to his predecessor’s earlier policies. Soon afterward, Mr DE SCHRYVER announced to him in the name of the Group of Labour that the Group would submit to him its report by Christmas. The minister announced a governmental declaration for 13 January 1959.

Images