Lawyers take refugee’s case to apex court

THE Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) will take the fight against the deportation of Rwandan national Alex Ruta, to the Constitutional Court tomorrow.

They’re challenging the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA) interpretation of the provisions of the Refugees Act that relate to exclusion from refugee status.

Ruta was allegedly sent to South Africa to eliminate exiled opponents of the central African country’s president, Paul Kagame.

Ruta, a former member of the civilian arm of the republican guards in Rwanda’s National Security Services (NSS), said in his court application he arrived in South Africa in 2014 to link up with an NSS agent.

Having dissociated himself from the mission, Ruta approached the office of the Hawks and alerted them of his position, offering his co-operation in their investigation, according to his papers.

“According to the Refugees Act, a person may be denied refugee status if he/she ‘has committed a crime which is not of a political nature and which, if committed in the republic, would be punishable by imprisonment’.

“The DHA relied on this provision in refusing to process Mr Ruta’s application for refugee status,” read the LHR application.

Ruta was arrested in 2016 for possession of a fraudulent asylum-seeker’s permit while driving an unlicensed motorcycle without a licence and being an illegal foreigner.

He was attempting to supplement the witness protection programme’s allowance and was convicted for being in the country illegally and jailed for a month. After his release he was sent to Lindela Repatriation Centre pending deportation. The LHR successfully challenged proceedings to deport Ruta at the Pretoria High Court last year, but the department approached the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), which overturned the decision last December.

LHR argues that the approach of the majority of the SCA was not sustainable and the appeal should be upheld. They also want the SCA order replaced with one dismissing the appeal of the DHA.

DHA spokesperson Thabo Mokgola said: “It would be fair to allow the Constitutional Court process to unfold and our response will be informed by the outcomes thereof.”