Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Vincent Biruta, arrived in South Africa earlier Friday, June 4, in what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said is a working visit. The Ministry has tweeted pictures of Dr Biruta being received by Dr. Naledi Pandor, South Africas Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, at the OR Tambo Building, in Pretoria. During a news conference last year, Dr Biruta said that relations between the two nations were in the process of resuming normalcy and visa issues would be addressed in due time. At the time, he noted that South Africa had already designated a new envoy to Kigali. 🇷🇼 🇿🇦 In #SouthAfrica for a working visit, Minister @Vbiruta was received by his counterpart, Dr. Naledi Pandor. #RwOT pic.twitter.com/vEfTe5j5Fh — Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Intl Cooperation (@RwandaMFA) June 4, 2021 Since 2014, Rwandans, especially students and business travellers, were unable to travel to South Africa due to its visa policy on Rwanda. In March 2018, while in Kigali, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he was working with his Rwandan counterpart, President Paul Kagame, to significantly improve the bilateral ties between both countries. Ramaphosa then said that the issue of visa restrictions against Rwandans travelling to his country should be “considered solved.” At the time, during a Business Forum organised as part of the African Union Extra-Ordinary Summit that was then set to adopt the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Ramaphosa said that it does not make sense for countries to push for a free trade area where people’s movement is still being restricted. Rwanda has an open visa policy for all African countries, including South Africa. Before travelling to South Africa, Dr Biruta was in Tanzania on Thursday where he delivered a special message from President Kagame to his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan.
