Case file · Folklore / legend
André Matswa, the leader who would return
When the Congolese activist André Matswa died in a French colonial prison in January 1942, many of his Lari followers refused to believe it and waited for his return, voting for him in elections for years afterward.
1942 CE · -4.27, 15.28 · status: official
The account
Matswa had founded the Amicale, a mutual-aid association, in Paris in 1926 and was jailed for campaigning against colonial taxes. His movement became a church, Matsouanism, which saw him as a saviour like Kimbangu; his supporters kept nominating him to office as late as the 1950s. The point is Brazzaville.
The sceptical view
His death in custody is documented; the expectation of his return is a religious belief.