Present at the ceremony, the mayor of the commune which bears his name, Phinnées Masombo, recalled that this date also coincides with the 67th anniversary of the creation of their municipality, formerly known as Dendale.

"This date not only marks the death of the first President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first mayor of the commune of Kasa-Vubu (formerly Dendale), the first president of ABAKO but also the 67th anniversary of the creation of our municipality," he stated.

He then thanked the President of the Republic for elevating him to the rank of national hero. "Therefore, on behalf of all the people of Kasa-Vubu and myself, we thank the President of the Republic, Félix -Antoine Tshisekedi for having elevated him to the rank of national hero."

As a reminder, Joseph Kasa-Vubu was a notable Ne Kongo, who became the leader of the Alliance of Bakongo (ABAKO) in the 1950s and one of the main proponents of Congo's independence from Belgian colonial rule. He later became the first president of the country in an alliance with Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba. Shortly after the DRC gained independence in 1960, their government faced a series of secessionist movements.

During this time, the centrist Kasa-Vubu and the leftist Lumumba clashed when the latter sought assistance from the Soviet Union, leading to a political stalemate. Kasa-Vubu accused Lumumba's government of communist sympathies and ordered its dissolution. After Lumumba's execution in 1961, Kasa-Vubu presided over a series of weak governments while facing subsequent rebellions from Lumumba's supporters. In 1965, he was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu. He died four years later, on March 24, 1969, in Boma, in Central Kongo.

Gisèle Tshijuka