President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa is reinforcing its relationship with Rwanda, despite some challenges faced in the past.
Ramaphosa has joined other world leaders in Rwanda for events to mark 30 years since the genocide against ethnic Tutsis, and moderate Hutus where nearly a million people were killed in a hundred days.
Ramaphosa says South Africa has a good and special relationship with Rwanda.
“We came to Rwanda following an invitation extended to us and the fact that Paul Kagame and the Rwandan government invited us is born out of the position that South Africa has always taken regarding Rwanda. We’ve always had good relations with Rwanda over a number of years.”
President Ramaphosa on SA-Rwanda relations and genocide commemoration:
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has commended South Africa for its support during difficult times in that country.
“South Africa embarked on a number of initiatives which President Kagame spoke about in his speech at the commemoration applauding the help that South Africa post-apartheid gave to Rwanda and the solidarity that we pledged. How we helped Rwanda to rebuild its health system by supporting and paying for doctors from Cuba and how we opened our universities and colleges for Rwandese students to come to South Africa to learn.”
‘ANC victory’
Meanwhile, addressing journalists in Kigali, on the sidelines of the 30th anniversary of Rwanda’s genocide, Rampahosa says he’s confident his party will achieve victory in the May 29th general elections. The provincial and national elections are expected to be the most competitive since the end of the apartheid era.
Political analysts widely predict that the African National Congress (ANC) will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994 amid discontent regarding load shedding, poor service delivery, and high levels of unemployment.
“We are a country of 62 million people and many people have seen changes in their lives and like many other countries we are faced with a number of challenges that have to be addressed. But what I can assure you, the party that I lead, the ANC is not going to lose its majority on the 29th of May. Many South Africans still love ANC and I’m brimming with confidence that we are going to do well in the elections so watch the space, my dear friend!” -Additional reporting by Ntombi Mavimbela
