SA officials “mistakenly” release fugitive

Bureaucratic confusion between an elite South African police unit the Scorpions and the Department of Home Affairs has resulted in the mistaken release of a Rwandan bishop who is wanted in his country on genocide charges, a South African television documentary alleged on Tuesday.

Bishop Samuel Musabyimana who entered the country on a false passport early in August is wanted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity by the United Nations Tribunal for Rwanda. According to the documenary aired by SABC, Musabyimana was detained early in August on the same day he had planned to leave the country. The police alerted the UN tribunal who then sent a team of investigators with an international warrant for his arrest.

However, before the UN investigators arrived, Musabyimana was deported to Kenya by home affairs for being in South Africa with false travel documents. According to the SABC report, the Scorpions failed to inform the department that Musabyimana had been arrested for more than just being in possession of false travel documents.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Rwandan embassy in Pretoria told IRIN: “We were aware of the bishop’s presence in the country and of his subsequent arrest. We do not understand the circumstances under which he was released.”

Bulelani Ngcuka, the National Director for Public Prosecutions was quoted as saying that he acknowledged that a “blunder” had taken place.