A Rwandan opposition figure who has been in exile in South Africa was on Sunday shot dead by unknown gunmen in Cape Town, his party has said, calling the attack an ‘assassination’.
Seif Bamporiki, 49, who was the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) coordinator in South Africa, was killed as he delivered furniture in the crime-ridden township of Nyanga.
Although the intentions of his killers is yet unknown, RNC spokesperson Etienne Mutabazi told newsmenthat the method mirrored past politically-motivated attacks.
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The killing ‘was executed in a similar modus operandi of luring the victim in a compromising and insecure environment for assassination,’ he said.
Mutabazi was referring to past attacks on Rwandan dissidents in South Africa including ex-intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya, whose body was found strangled in his room in a luxury hotel on January 1, 2014.
Bamporiki and his colleague from a pawn shop were accosted by two gun-toting assailants as they waited for a client who had disembarked from their vehicle to collect money to pay for a bed he had bought.
The client had ‘been looking for him for quite a while‘, Mutabazi said. ‘Even on Saturday, that particular individual came to the shop and said only Bamporiki could serve him.’
The attackers made off with the activist’s pick-up truck and money, leaving his body on the ground.
No arrests has been made so far and neither has any official position been made public.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
