After ten years of exile in South Africa, Joseph Mukungubila returned to the DRC on Sunday. A politician and pastor, a harsh critic of the regime of former President Joseph Kabila (2001-2019), this unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2006 went into exile in Johannesburg after being sentenced to death in 2015 for attacks in 2013 in what the authorities called an “attempted coup d’état”. Several hundred people, including his followers, were killed. Today, according to the authorities, we must turn the page on this episode.
2 min
with our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
Wearing a traditional chief’s hat, Joseph Mukungubila got off the plane wearing a blue suit and no tie. If he returned, it was thanks to one man, President Félix Tshisekedi, but Joseph Mukungubila considers the suspension of his sentence and that of his followers last October as a reparation for an injustice.
Read alsoDRC: Félix Tshisekedi suspends sentences against Pastor Mukungubila and his followers
In 2013, his followers had carried out with poor means synchronized attackss in several cities until seizing strategic sites in Kinshasa. We were not pardoned, but the head of state understood that we lied. It was a mistake, the Congolese state apologized for having condemned me for what was not real. I am here to serve the country, I will not let go. »
The preacher assures that he has turned the page. I have forgiven all those who persecuted me, whether in politics or in the priesthood. ” he said.
He returned to Kinshasa with one of his wives, the other and his children, according to his entourage, remained in South Africa, ” victims of administrative harassment “. Her residence in Johannesburg was attacked last April.
The pastor still has battles to fight. According to his entourage, his bank accounts remain frozen in South Africa and he must recover his real estate properties occupied by security forces in several Congolese cities.