‘Prostitute’ Insult Puts South Africa, Rwanda Relations on Ice

analysis By Peter Fabricius

Pretoria has officially protested to Kigali and recalled its envoy from Rwanda for consultations.

The short-lived normalisation of South Africa’s fraught relations with Rwanda has been by frustrated by insults flung at International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu by the Rwandan government

The website Rushyashya, which Rwandan exiles say is run by Rwanda’s military intelligence, went as far as calling her a prostitute. The story was quickly deleted from the site. Rwandan deputy foreign minister Olivier Nduhungirehe has also tweeted several messages which Pretoria has found offensive.

Sisulu suspended the normalisation of relations after the « prostitute » insult, according to some government sources. Her spokesperson, Ndibhuwo Mabaya, denied however that the process of normalising relations – ordered in March by both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Rwandan President Paul Kagame – had been suspended.

But he did confirm that South Africa’s High Commissioner to Rwanda George Twala had been…

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