Burundian activist: Zuma has destroyed what Mandela built in my country

Yerevan - Exiled Burundian activist Marguerite Barankitse, who received a $1.1m humanitarian prize on Sunday, has accused President Jacob Zuma of destroying Nelson Mandela's legacy of peace-building in her country.

"Thanks to Mandela, we completed a peace and reconciliation deal," she said in an interview. "And now today, it's a South African president, Jacob Zuma, who has brought shame and destroyed what our hero Mandela had built."

"South Africans themselves want to tell him no, and he resists... [African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma] decided to send 5 000 soldiers to protect the Burundian people. And it's African presidents, including her ex-husband, who refused to do that. This is serious.

"Zuma, he's corrupt. And that makes a mockery of us. Quite frankly, it's a mockery," she said.

Burundi plunged into crisis a year ago when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to seek a third term in office, despite the two-term limit imposed by the constitution created as part of the peace deal brokered by Mandela.

Mandela’s efforts in Burundi

Mandela's relentless efforts at peace in Burundi helped ended a civil war that left 300 000 dead and forced one million people from their homes in genocidal violence between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis.

Barankitse said her country has returned to a "situation of total fear" with 250 000 people again fleeing the country.

Armed opponents of the president in December attacked a military barracks. The government responded by sending troops into the streets who killed people indiscriminately and buried them in mass graves.

That level of unrest has stopped, but fears remain of a return to the genocidal violence that devastated neighbouring Rwanda in 1994.

Although opposition to Nkurunziza comes from both ethnic Hutus and Tutsis, the crackdown has targeted neighbourhoods with large Tutsi populations, while Tutsis in the army and the government are increasingly sidelined. 

AU ‘corrupt’

An African Union plan to deploy peacekeepers was rejected by Nkurunziza, who branded the proposal an "invasion".

Barankitse said the African Union's efforts were hobbled by corrupt presidents seeking to cling to power themselves.

"How can you expect the African Union to help Burundi when it has so many corrupt presidents?" she asked.

"Do you want Sassou Nguesso in Brazzaville, or the president of DRC who wants to run again?

"They give us a mediator like Museveni. He's now spent 30 years in power. They're making a mockery of us and I'm convinced they're going to come when it's too late, like in Rwanda, and they're going to cry crocodile tears."

Peace prize

She was speaking in the Armenian capital Yerevan, where on Sunday she became the inaugural laureate of the Aurora Prize, created in memory of the Armenian genocide with the aim of honouring individuals who have risked their own lives to save the lives of others.

She received $100 000 to support her own work and a further $1m to donate to other charities who support her causes.

Barankitse is Tutsi, but sheltered her Hutu neighbours when the civil war erupted. When they were discovered, she was forced to watch their executions.

After that incident, she started caring for orphans and refugees, eventually caring for 30 000 children through her Maison Shalom and opening a hospital that has treated 80 000 patients.

The violence last year forced her to close Maison Shalom but she is now working with Burundian refugees in neighbouring Rwanda.

She is considered a moral voice of her nation, and is sometimes referred to as Burundi's Mande

Fuel price increase 

Fuel price increased with effect from last week Wednesday 6^th April 2016. A litre of 93 octanes has increased by 86c which leaves it at R12.48 per litre, a litre of 95 octanes has increased by 88c which leaves it at R12.62. A litre of diesel has increased by 63cents which is currently R11.63 per litre. Oil and paraffin have increased by 20cents.

Samuel Mahlangu – TOTAL Petrol Station worker and a local community resident stated that “Fuel not only affect motorists, but affects the whole economy because fuel is essential for the supply of goods and services. For the collection of food products in farms to stores fuel is required. When fuel increase food prices also increase because supermarkets use fuel for the collection of food products, It also affect local households because food becomes expensive to purchase”.

 Dingaan Amos – TOTAL Petrol station manager say “that when fuel price increase or decrease they do not make profit, because they are not the ones setting the fuel price. Fuel is imported and only the company supplying fuel make profit from the fuel increase, When fuel price increase petrol stations lose consumers because the number of cars filling fuel decreases, and that the salary of the workers do not increase when fuel price hike because it is not their call”.

Gontse Mashigo – A taxi owner mentioned that “if petrol keeps on increasing they will migrate to diesel because it is cheaper than petrol and thicker than petrol “. He also mentioned that with a full tank of diesel it can last for two days or more, and that it is more reliable than petrol.

Victor Mashapo a local resident mentioned “that if the taxi fare and bus fare increase they will use train for transport to work. Because fuel price increase and decrease but the taxi fare does not decrease, it keeps on increasing”.

Man sets house alight after argument with wife

A man named William Modiga burned sections of his house in Soshanguve Block XX. This followed a heated argument with his wife, Sibongile Modiga on 28 March 2016.

On the evening of 28 March, Modiga arrived home intoxicated and searched for his gun. The gun had been taken by his wife who feared for her life after her husband threatened to kill her.

He then became infuriated and went out to purchase petrol in the early hours of the morning. When he came back, he set the house on fire.

“His wife smelled the smoke and woke up her two children.” This is according to the couple’s neighbour, Justin Chauke.

“His wife and children knocked at my home at two o’clock in the morning asking for a place to stay. When I went outside all I saw was fire and smoke. All the furniture and belongings including birth certificates of their children and their identity documents caught fire,” he added Chauke.

According to Chauke,  Modiga left the scene. “She mentioned that her husband wanted to burn her and the children alive because he had had enough of her,” he said.

“We called the police and they helped us to stop the fire using sand and water. After stopping the fire, the police entered the house to search for trapped people and valuable belongings.

Everyone was safe. The police did the investigation the following day. His wife and children slept at our place for three nights until William’s family collected her to live with them,” said Bongani Chauke, Justin Chauke’s brother.

Chauke’s brother said the police have not arrested Modiga. He mentioned that the children are both in primary school and are under the age of ten.

Inspector Mahlangu from Akasia Police Station said “in cases involving arson, the person who initiated the crime must be arrested. For further information regarding the case a docket number, and the victim must be present.”