RWANDA’S VIOLATION OF SA SOVEREIGNTY
IN THE Star of Monday, March 18, the headline read “SA, Rwanda in dirty fallout”. In an exclusive interview with The Star editor Japhet Ncube, President Paul Kagame claimed he had good relations with President Cyril Ramaphosa, but in a rather demeaning and condescending manner, warned that Pretoria should “rein in its top officials to mend relations – there is a risk of further fallout that could also cause political instability in the Great Lakes region”.
The interview is very patronising and in bad taste towards Ramaphosa, depicting him as not in control of government officials, or that the South African state is dysfunctional.
This is typical of Kagame, trying to drive a wedge between the president and officials. For decades, he has been meddling in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries.
In South Africa, a court ruled that Rwanda organised and paid assassins in an attempt to murder General Kayumba Nyamwasa. Two Rwandans and two Tanzanians were sentenced to eight years in prison.
Recently, the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, in the inquest of Colonel Patrick Karegeya, ruled that the people who assassinated him were close to the government of Rwanda. It is therefore disingenuous for Kagame to claim “the genesis of the problem is South Africa”.
When Ncube confronted him about the inquest into Karegeya’s assassination, Kagame dismissively responded: “I pay little attention to it. I am not bothered”.
That is a callous response from a national leader about the assassination of a citizen.
He expects South Africa, on whose territory a murder and attempted murders have occurred, not to be bothered, like him?
Essentially, Kagame thinks South Africa is a banana republic where he can do as he wishes and expects no consequences.
No wonder, in Rwanda under Kagame, assassinations of political leaders, enforced disappearances and imprisonment of opposition leaders are a common occurrence.
Rwanda is yet to account for the disappearance of a South African citizen, Leon Orsmon, who criticised Kagame in Kigali.
Rwanda is a dictatorship where Paul Kagame has ruled since the time of Mandela
Rwanda churns out more refugees than any other East African country, and there are hundreds of Rwandan refugees in the SADC region. The issue should not be Why do those countries host refugees? The question should be Why are more people fleeing Rwanda?
The allegation that P5, the Rwanda National Congress and Nyamwasa are terrorists is a common description and label by all dictators against opposition parties and opposition leaders. Nobody buys the lies.
The law on non-refoulement prohibits South Africa from extraditing a refugee when there is genuine evidence that the person in question will be persecuted in the country should they be returned.
Kagame openly admitted at a prayer breakfast that he ordered the assassination of Karegeya, and that it is a matter of time for Nyamwasa. Kagame was a refugee in Uganda fighting the Rwandan government at that time, and he was not extradited by Uganda.
South Africa is a constitutional democracy and governed by the rule of law. On the contrary, Rwanda is a dictatorship, where Kagame has been in charge since the time of Nelson Mandela.
He expects Ramaphosa to act like he does, ignoring state institutions.