ANC lashes power-mad African presidents

UNICEF ambassador Khadja Nin from Somalia. Photo: Benoit Doppagne

UNICEF ambassador Khadja Nin from Somalia. Photo: Benoit Doppagne

Published Jan 12, 2016

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Johannesburg - African heads of state extending their prescribed terms of office were creating anarchy on the continent, the ANC said on Monday.

Spokesman Zizi Kodwa said this after internationally acclaimed Burundian singer Khadja Nin implored the ruling party not to forget the plight many experienced in her country.

Nin pleaded with ANC leaders during the party’s gala dinner in Rustenburg, North West, at the weekend.

Violent protests in the landlocked country erupted after President Pierre Nkurunziza secured a third term in office in July last year, despite a constitutional limit of two terms.

Speaking to The Star, Nin, who was in the country for the second time last week, said she had been on an international campaign to speak out against the Burundian strongman, who had been criticised and his third term dubbed unconstitutional by the opposition.

“The ANC means a lot to us as Africans because it fought for the freedom of this country. That’s why it is our last hope to what is happening in Burundi. When the AU wanted to send 5 000 peace troops to Burundi, the president said: We don’t want you here. If you come we will consider you as an occupation force and fight you.” We have run out of options, hence we would like the ANC to force Nkurunziza to go,” said Nin, who currently lives in Monaco.

She would be happy to return to Burundi one day when Nkurunziza, 51, has stepped down.

“But if I go now they will kill me,” she said.

Kodwa said the ANC government had long intervened to bring about normalcy in Burundi.

“We have been doing everything in our power to intervene there. We have also been giving support to the AU,” he said.

Burundi, however, was a sovereign state and Nkurunziza, who has been in power since 2005, had used legal avenues to legitimise his controversial third term, Kodwa said.

He added that “heads of state who want to extend their prescribed terms of office are creating problems on this continent.

“They are the source of instability. We are saying leaders must remain within their limits of office.”

Nkurunziza was not the only African leader who had fallen victim to the trappings of power.

In Rwanda, President Paul Kagame was reportedly preparing to hold a referendum that would amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third term in the 2017 elections.

Addressing African leaders at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa last year, US President Barack Obama called on the continent’s leaders to respect their constitutions and step down when their term ends, saying nobody should be president for life.

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The Star

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