Nkosikhulule Nyembezi
Cape Town - There is something instructive to all South Africans about last week’s arrest of one of the world’s most wanted genocide suspects, a 62-year-old Rwandan former police chief, Fulgence Kavishema.
He was arrested in Paarl (60km north-east of Cape Town) and charged in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court with playing a leading role in the murder of more than 2 000 people in a church in April 1994.
Thousands more greased piglets like him roam freely in our communities, once again raising awareness about the dangers that threaten our collective efforts to promote social cohesion by also integrating foreign nationals in our communities instead of confining them into camps while they wait to be issued permits to remain in the country.
He was detained by the South African police and members of a tracking team from the Rwandan war crimes tribunal based in Arusha, Tanzania, following a March 2019 arrest warrant issued by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals is sued.
The former police chief of Kivuma is facing charges of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and alternate charges of complicity in genocide and extermination in Rwanda.
The arrest follows his alleged participation in the rounding up of thousands of civilian Tutsis at a church where Kayishema’s police and members of the Hutu Interahamwe militia attacked them on April 13, 1994, hacking at them with machetes and throwing grenades into the crowd.
The survivors, many women, children and the elderly, barricaded themselves in the church as the siege went on for three days.
A bulldozer demolished the church, bringing its roof down on the people inside. They killed anyone found alive in the ruins.
What appears to concern most South Africans is the report that, in a search after his arrest in Paarl, investigators found documents relating to his arrival and identity in the country, leading to charges under South African law.
As a result, he also faces two charges of fraud, a charge of violating the Immigration Act and a charge of violating the Refugees Act locally.
Come to think of it, the report that Kayishema has spent more than two decades as a fugitive and was living under a false name at the time of his arrest is instructive not only for what it reveals about what ordinary South Africans are not doing to identify and ensure the arrest and prosecution of foreign nationals roaming freely in our communities and yet are fugitive from justice in their countries, but also removed an inexplicable veil from the disastrous lawlessness that has spread across the country.
The immigration system, courts and broader justice system face growing problems, even if the government often hides the reality from public view.
The conversations between citizens about how many other Kayishemas living undetected in our midst have stirred too much public anger and left too many questions unanswered, not least about the matter of illegal immigrants and undocumented refugees escaping criminal prosecution and imprisonment in their countries and continuing with their criminal activities contributing to complex social problems here in South Africa.
Aside from the security problems inherent in having dangerous individuals in our country who are constantly breaking the laws meant to guarantee our collective safety, Kayishema’s case has exposed a tolerance of disorder in our country.
And yet South Africa is supposed to be a leading global promoter of justice and peace.
After the initial shock, we will likely see the slow burn of embarrassment and the realisation that South Africa remains an attractive and conducive destination to fugitives of justice.
How our government handles Kayishema’s case will determine how much we can have confidence that many more fugitives will be arrested and prosecuted. Any failure by the government to instil confidence threatens outright vigilantism and disastrous lawlessness.
That anxiety will not be dispelled by praises for the South African government by Serge Brammertz, the tribunal’s chief prosecutor who led the hunt, for “their exceptional skills, rigour and co-operation.”
Brammertz also paid tribute to the South African authorities for their assistance, saying: “The thorough investigation that led to this arrest was made possible through the support and co-operation of the Republic of South Africa and the operational task team established by President (Cyril) Ramaphosa to assist our fugitive tracking team.”
But in the eyes of many citizens, President Ramaphosa’s ANC government appears not to care enough about the escalating tensions between South Africans and foreign nationals, especially those whose stay in the country has not been regularised by the government.
Many accuse the government of failing to meaningfully involve communities in anti-crime activities, including public awareness campaigns on identifying and reporting foreign nationals who are wanted for crimes committed in their homeland.
The government and other stakeholders do not actively engage law-abiding foreign nationals with helpful information about wanted persons. This lack of public engagement is particularly notable in rural communities such as Paarl, where Kayishema has been hiding for many years.
The government’s retreat bodes ill for a public safety service that badly needs a strategic plan involving diverse populations. Every wanted criminal has a different profile, which law-enforcement authorities must assess and appropriately use in the crime-prevention if the public is to be protected.
The ANC’s elitist overriding goal seems to be power, and it has identified a macho stance on law and order as one way to help the party hold on to it.
Even Police Minister Bheki Cele’s ridiculous promise to terrify criminals is just how the ANC government threatens to take the country backwards.
Nyembezi is a policy analyst, human rights activist and researcher
Cape Times