Bloemfontein, 8 January 2012
President Kagame was in South Africa this Sunday where he took part in celebrations to mark the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress (ANC).
Along with other high profile dignitaries invited to the celebrations, President Kagame attended a Dinner for Heads of State as well as a national event that took place Sunday at Bloemfontein Stadium.
Rwanda and South Africa have enjoyed warm relations from the time ANC took power in 1994. The ANC was founded as the South African Native National Congress on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein with tha aim of fighting for the rights of balck South Africans. It was renamed ANC in 1923.
The Centenary is a milestone achievement for the ANC as a liberation movement. It seeks to celebrate the organisation’s proud traditions, values and principles that earned the movement an indelible place among the people of South Africa and many others in liberation movements around the world.
President Kagame was accompanied to the ANC celebrations by Louise Mushikiwabo, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister Aloysia Inyumba, Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, and Abdoulkarim Harerimana MP in the East African Legislative Assembly.
Speaking to the press following the celebrations, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to South Africa Vincent Karega said “President Kagame’s visit to South Africa is proof that our countries enjoy positive bilateral relations. Rwanda and South Africa have strong ties and mutual respect for our common features as liberation movements, ANC and RPF, with similar vision and challenges of reconciliation, broadening our economies and restoring African dignity”.