1. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda was one of the Heads of State and Government who attended Young Presidents’ Organisation conference in Cape Town from 6 to 7 March 2019, at the invitation of the organisers of the meeting.
Pursuant to the death of Col Karegeya who was found dead in his hotel room at Michelangelo Hotel on 31 March 2013 and the assassination attempt on the life of Gen Nyamwasa on 4 March 2014, bilateral relations between South Africa and Rwanda were severely strained.
Our Government took necessary measures by launching a police investigation on the death of Col Karegeya which is currently before an inquest. On the attempted assassination of Gen Nyamwasa, our Government declared three Rwandan diplomats and one Burundian diplomat persona non grata and expelled them from South Africa, for illegal activities inconsistent with their diplomatic work which was in violation of Article 41 of the Vienna Convention and Article 9 of the Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act. Our Government took that decision based on evidence from our security agencies pointing to their involvement in illegal activities.
(2) The Government of South Africa and the Government of Rwanda have since 2014 engaged in discussions pursuant to the death of Col Karegeya and attempted assassination of Gen Nyamwasa. As an outcome of these discussions, the two countries agreed in June 2015 to normalise their relations. In the meetings that I have had with President Kagame, we agreed to normalise our bilateral relations, including the reactivation of the visa service at the South African High Commission in Kigali. Our respective Ministers of International Relations and Cooperation are working on the modalities.