Rwandan opposition activist killed in Cape Town robbery

A Rwandan opposition politician living in SA, Seif Bamporiki, was shot dead in Cape Town on Sunday afternoon in what the police described as a robbery.

Bamporiki was the Rwanda National Congress co-ordinator in SA.

The police said circumstances surrounding the murder were being investigated by Gugulethu police following an incident at around 4.20pm in Europa squatter camp when an adult male was shot and killed.

“It is alleged the deceased and another male, aged 50, were delivering a bed in the area when they were approached by two unknown suspects,” said police spokesperson Col André Traut.

He said Bamporiki was pulled out of his vehicle and shot, while the 50-year-old male who accompanied him managed to escape unharmed.

“The suspects, who are yet to be arrested, fled with the deceased’s vehicle. We have reason to believe the motive for the murder was robbery,” Traut said.

A number of Rwandan politicians have been attacked in SA.

Gen Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who was Rwanda’s ambassador to India until February 2010, was shot outside the driveway of his home in Johannesburg in June 2010.

Nyamwasa fled to SA after falling out with Rwandan president Paul Kagame.

In 2014, four men who were involved in his attack were sentenced by the Kagiso regional court to an effective jail term of eight years each.

Nyamwasa has maintained orders to kill him came from the highest office in Rwanda. He had also claimed the Rwandan government assassinated former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya and boasted about it.

Karegeya, one of the Rwanda National Congress’ founders, was strangled in his room at the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, Gauteng, on December 31 2013.

He was close to Kagame for a long time before he went into exile in 2007.

In April 2019, the Randburg magistrate's court referred the case back to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) after a finding by the presiding officer that there was evidence of identifiable people who were responsible for Karegeya’s death.

In September 2019, the NPA issued a warrant of arrest for two of the four alleged murderers of Karegeya.

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