Joseph Kasavubu, first president of the Democratic Republic of Congo dies

Date: 24 Mar 1969
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Joseph Kasavubu, first president of the Democratic Republic of Congo dies

Joseph Kasavubu, first president of the Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo) from 1960 to 1965 died. He assumed the office when the Congo became independent from Belgium on 30 June, 1960. Kasavubu was born in the village of Kuma-Dizi in the Mayombe district of the Lower Congo region. He was a member of the Bakongo ethnic group. Kasavubu did not know his father and lost his mother at the age of 4. He was raised by his older brother who sent him to a nearby Catholic mission where he was baptized in 1925. On 25 November, 1965, Army Chief of Staff Joseph Mobutu overthrew Kasavubu and created a military dictatorship that controlled the nation for the next three decades. Kasavubu retired to a farm in Mayombe where he died on 24 March, 1969.

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?

How we know this

01Black Past, ‘Kasavubu, Joseph (ca. 1910- 1969)’, [online], available at www.blackpast.org (Accessed: 15 February 2013)
02Boddy-Evans, A. ‘This Day in African History: 24 March’, from About African History, [online], available at: africanhistory.about.com (Accessed: 13 February 2013)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, March 20). Joseph Kasavubu, first president of the Democratic Republic of Congo dies. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095315

South African History Online (2013) 'Joseph Kasavubu, first president of the Democratic Republic of Congo dies', South African History Online, 20 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095315 (Accessed: 28 August 2026).

South African History Online, Joseph Kasavubu, first president of the Democratic Republic of Congo dies [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095315, (accessed 28 August 2026).

"Joseph Kasavubu, first president of the Democratic Republic of Congo dies." South African History Online, 20 Mar. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095315. Accessed 28 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Joseph Kasavubu, first president of the Democratic Republic of Congo dies." South African History Online. March 20, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095315.