MBUNDU a GAMONI

Mbundu a Gamoni (circa 1870-August 5, 1941) was a great chief of the Akwa Mushinga, a Pende people living about 80 km (50 mi) southeast of Kikwit. Owing to his power to the colonial authorities, Mbundu worked as a government agent and was partially responsible for the tensions leading to the great Pende revolt in 1931.

The son of Gamoni and his wife Galumbu, Mbundu a Gamoni was not selected as chief according to the traditional pattern. When in 1919 the Belgians recognised the chiefdom of Akwa Mushinga as a customary political structure, they refused to acknowledge the Akwa Mushinga chief Njila Gamoni. Because, in 1916-17, Njila had revealed his strong anti-colonial attitudes by opposing tax collection in the Mushinga lands, colonial authorities conferred official investiture on Mbundu a Gamoni, who had never been chosen as a customary chief.

From 1919, the Akwa Mushinga had two chiefs: Njila, “the customary” ruler, and Mbundu, “the official leader. Njila held the real power in the eyes of the population, while Mbundu was considered a mere capita (sub-chief) responsible for collecting taxes. Therefore, Mbundu was hated and rejected everywhere.

When Njila died in 1929, Mbundu became a candidate for customary investiture, which, he hoped would allow him to exercise real power over the Mushinga.

Traditionally, Pende chiefs were selected from among several eligible clans. The basic rule in matters of succession was that each clan eventually came to the throne in turn. Since Mbundu and Njila were from the same clan, the Ngiamba, Mbundu’s candidacy was contested by the other clans. The chiefdom’s council of notables also rejected Mbundu as chief. Then Mbundu appealed to the Kandale territorial authorities (Kandale is about 130 km, or 75 mi, southeast of Kikwit), who obliged the Mushinga to accept him. The Kashinga and the Kasanji clans, however, opposed this ruling.

In 1930, the Kashinga and Kasanji clans refused to pay the taxes, which they regarded as a tribute to a usurper. Therefore, Chief Mbundu and the Kandale territorial agent, Burnotte, had several recalcitrant taxpayers flogged and led about by a rope tied around their necks. Very discontent with this treatment, the Pende villagers resolved to defend themselves in the future.

In May 1931, acting on orders from Kandale territorial authorities, who wanted Africans to prepare for the 1931 tax collection, Chief Mbundu toured the villages under his control. Mbundu’s passage through the village of Kilamba, 80 km (50 mi) southeast of Kikwit, inhabited by members of the Kashinga and Kasanji clans, provoked a popular uprising.

Matemu a Kelenge, known as Mundele Funji, leader of the Tupelepele sect, which was then active in the Pende villages between the Lutshima and the Kwilu rivers, preached the imminent departure of the Europeans, systematic opposition to the tax levy, and categorical refusal to work for the Europeans. Mundele persuaded the inhabitants of Kilamba to chase Mbundu out of their village. The people followed Mundele Funji’s instructions by beating Mbundu and throwing stones.

When Chief Mbundu complained about the incident, government officials decided to send territorial agent Maximilien Ballot to collect the 1931 tax levy in the Kilamba region.

Accompanied by Chief Mbundu, a soldier, and three messengers, Ballot arrived in Kilamba on the morning of June 8, 1931. Realising the intensity of local hostility, Ballot ordered his troops to fire on a crowd assembled in Kilamba, where they had come to protest. After two villagers had been badly wounded, the crowd turned and fired a large number of arrows. Panic-stricken, the decorated chief Mbundu, the soldier, and the messengers who had accompanied Ballot fled. Then Mundele Funji, the main rebel leader, fell on Ballot, striking him twice on the head with a machete.

Chief Musoso Shagindungu subsequently decapitated the European. Ballot’s murder at Kilamba touched off the greatest uprising in the history of the Belgian Congo, as the entire Pende region between the Lutshima and the Kwilu broke out into open rebellion. Harshly suppressed by the colonial regime, the Pende revolt cost the lives of more than 4,000 Pende, and several dozen soldiers of the Force Publique (the colonial army).

Ironically, during the repression of the revolt, Chief Mbundu a Gamoni, together with several other Pende chiefs and notables, was arrested for having “handed over” territorial agent Ballot to “his blood-thirsty subjects.” He was whipped, almost to the point of death, in the camp at Kabobola, and also during the court marshall at Kandale. Later incarcerated in the prison of Kikwit, the Force Publique tortured Mbundu, putting out one of his eyes.

On February 18, 1932, he was banished to the Banningville area (now Bandundu) with 69 other Pende chiefs and notables. When the Belgian parliament and king, Albert I, (ruled 1909-34), learned of the cruel treatment the Pende had received from the colonial troops and authorities, they demanded redress. Thus, Chief Mbundu and the other detainees were released on November 23, 1932, after they had formally promised the government to renounce all future political activity and to remain submissive.

As soon as he returned home, Chief Mbundu was officially relieved of his power by the colonial authorities, who replaced him with a man named Khay from the Kihanji clan. Khay received official investiture on October 8, 1934. Upset by how he was repaid for his many past services, Mbundu categorically refused to return the insignias and symbols of his customary power. Thus neither Khay, nor the two other chiefs who succeeded him during Mbundu’s lifetime, (Kingufu in 1938 and Sangu in 1939), received customary investiture.

To avoid a new confrontation, the colonial rulers, realising Chief Mbundu’s great influence, recognised him as the customary chief of the Mushinga. They even acknowledged that the chief upon whom they had conferred official investiture and chief Mbundu, who retained customary authority, would work together for the proper functioning of the chiefdom. Although Mbundu ostensibly accepted this arrangement, in secret he incited his followers to disobey the orders from the “official” chief and from the colonial power.

Chief Mbundu a Gamoni died on August 5, 1941 after having given the insignias and symbols of customary power to the notable, Kingulu, of his clan (Ngamba). Therefore, Kingulu was regarded by the population as Mbundu’s successor and true customary chief, while Sangu, who had received official investiture, was considered a mere capita (sub-chief) of the Belgians.

Mbundu a Gamoni was uncontestably a very great chief. He acquired great renown throughout the Pende lands and in the neighboring areas at the time of the Pende revolt of 1931, in which he found himself indirectly implicated. His memory remained still very much alive decades after his death.

SIKITELE GIZE a SUMBULA