SCA approves deportation of Rwandan spy
Man was ‘sent’ to SA to kill opposition figures
An agent of Rwanda’s intelligence services‚ who had a change of heart after being sent to South Africa to allegedly kill members of that country’s opposition‚ should be deported.
That was the decision of four of the five Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judges‚ who heard an appeal by the Home Affairs Department.
The department wants to deport Alex Ruta‚ who was arrested in December 2016 for being in possession of a fraudulent permit and for being an illegal foreigner. The four judges held that Ruta contravened the Refugees Act by failing to apply for asylum timeously and without delay.
Ruta arrived in South Africa in December 2014 after being instructed by his superior in Rwanda to travel to South Africa to engage with members of the Rwanda National Congress (RNC)‚ an exiled opposition party with offices in South Africa.
There have been at least two attacks on RNC leaders in South Africa. Patrick Karegeya‚ a RNC leader, was assassinated in a hotel in Johannesburg in December 2013. Another leader‚ Rwanda’s former army chief, General Kayumba Nyamwasa‚ was shot and wounded in 2010 in what the government described as an attack by foreign security operatives.
Ruta came to SA in December 2014 through Zimbabwe without a visa. Ruta said his Rwandan handlers had arranged a house and allowance for him and a Rwandan intelligence agent told him a gun would be organised for him.
Ruta said he realised that meant he had to kill a member of the RNC.
He avoided contact with the agent and approached the Hawks in February 2015 about the mission he had been instructed to carry out. The Hawks placed him under witness protection in March.
Ruta was moved to Durban for three months. During this period‚ he did not apply for asylum. He was released from the witness protection programme in December 2015 because he had obtained work without a valid work permit.
He was arrested in March 2016 and charged with possession of a fraudulent permit‚ riding a motorbike without a driver’s licence and being an illegal foreigner.