Azande crowns successor of King Gbudue
Leaders from the Azande community and other neighbouring tribes have already arrived in Yambio to commemorate the 117th anniversary of the late King Gbudue’s death.
The event will also include the installation of a new King for the Azande Kingdom.
Gbudue was a royal Azande chieftain and possibly the most significant person in the history of the Azande people, who live in the western parts of South Sudan’s, Western Equatoria State.
The crowning of the new king by the Azande people comes after 117 years following the death of the late King Gbudue in 1905. The late King was dethroned by the British colonial power and slain after he attempted to fight the British power to reclaim African freedom.
In an interview with The City Review yesterday, Badagbu Daniel Rimbasa, one of the grandsons of King Gbudue and a member of the royal family, said it is going to be one of the greatest days in the history of the Azande people as they will be celebrating two things at once.
“Azande people will celebrate King Gbudue, who was murdered by the British when he was fighting for the rights of Africans as an empire. Azande people will remember him for the good things he did and the contributions he made to the community and the African people as a whole,” he said.
“The second agenda item will be the instalment of one of the grandsons of King Gbudue in Gbudue’s place as the new King of the Azande Kingdom,” Rimbasa added.
According to him, the day will not only encompass the emphasis on the two issues, but also peaceful co-existence among them and their neighbouring communities.
Rimbasa said people are very excited as they have already started to see a lot of jubilation from the Azande community, including their neighbours.
“People are very excited about this, and they know the cultures of African people have been dying because of globalization. Now they see this as a way of preserving good cultures with good values,” he said.
The prince further stated that the event will also unite the Azande people in order to preserve and promote their culture and social cohesion.
Preserving the values
He claims that it will give children a chance to see who their forefathers were and how Africans lived before colonial powers arrived and destroyed their cultures.
“Its only objective is to preserve and promote culture in terms of food that people used to eat and dancing, just to build up that growing up of children to prepare our culture to be sold to other people.”
He added that the Azande people as a whole will not infringe on or interfere with any ethnic setting within that area, adding that each ethnic group has its own culture and has the right to promote and preserve it.
“Azande is not saying anything about the other groups. What is going to happen is a and traditional [thing] which has nothing to do with fear of invading other people’s rights,” Rimbasa added.
“This one is just a symbolic modern kind of kingdom which will have only two things: one, its objective is to preserve and promote the culture of the people; and two, it will develop a system that will supplement the government’s work. It is going to work under the government, ” he explained.
He explained that there would be no interference with government operations, as it is explicitly stated in the South Sudanese constitution and local government acts. He added that even though paramount chiefs will be present, the King will be present as a symbol to ensure that people’s cultures are revived and that social and economic activities are carried out to empower people economically, in agriculture, education, and health.
He repeated that there is no interference with the government system; it is just a social traditional thing that is stipulated clearly in the government local act.
