'Tell your people the truth': Paul Kagame's camp insists President Ramaphosa's mining interests behind SANDF's DRC mission

As the diplomatic row between Pretoria and Kigali continues to spiral, Rwandan President Paul Kagame's spokesperson Yolande Makolo has fired a salvo at President Cyril Ramaphosa, insisting that South Africa's head of State deployed the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a hidden ploy to protect his personal mining interests.

In a direct response to Ramaphosa's post on social media platform X, Makolo has insisted that Ramaphosa must come clean about his personal interests in mining in the DRC.

She wrote: "South Africans deserve to know the truth. You are not supporting the people of DRC to achieve peace. You are sending your troops to fight President Tshisekedi’s war to kill his own people. And this kind of statement only makes the Congolese president more intransigent, while the suffering continues.

She added: "Please tell your people the truth about the personal interests in mining that you have in the DRC – these are the interests for which, sadly, SANDF soldiers are dying."

In his post on X which has garnered close to two million views, Ramaphosa shared his weekly newsletter and stated that South Africa will not let up in its support to the people of the DRC.

"As a country, we have a duty of support towards the nations of Africa whose solidarity and material support helped secure our liberation. South Africa will not let up in its support to the people of the DRC so that they may have the peace and security they rightfully deserve," the president said.

The latest debacle on X come just days after another fallout on the social media platform, where Kagame publicly responded to Ramaphosa on the social media platform.

Last week, IOL reported that in an unprecedented escalation of tensions between South Africa and Rwanda, Kagame had responded to Ramaphosa, with Kagame accusing his Pretoria counterpart of distorting facts.

However, what was chilling about Kagame’s 11pm reaction to Ramaphosa on X, was his last paragraph. Kagame responded: “If South Africa wants to contribute to peaceful solutions, that is well and good, but South Africa is in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator.

Kagame added: “And if South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day.”

As tensions continue to boil in South Africa over the killing of South African soldiers following a fierce battle in DRC, the vast country situated in central Africa has accused its neighbour Rwanda of involvement in the heinous acts.

Chief of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), General Rudzani Maphwanya has told Parliament’s defence portfolio committee that the remains of the 14 soldiers who died in Goma, the capital and largest city of North Kivu province in the eastern DRC are expected to arrive on home soil on Wednesday.

Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, DRC’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Francophonie, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, said the joint summit planned for southern and east African nations will be a moment of reckoning.

“I think it is a moment of reckoning for us as Africans. I find it particularly distressing when in 2025 we find ourselves in such harrowing situations. The scenes that we have seen from Goma. I find it unbearable that in 2025 we find ourselves in situations where Africans kill other Africans," she said.

“This is not just talking about Rwandan forces killing Congolese (people), but also South Africans, but also people from Malawians, but also people from Tanzania.”

The Kinshasa diplomat insisted that the presence of Rwandan troops on the DRC soil is beyond question.

She said she hopes that at the high-stakes joint summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) scheduled for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Saturday to address the deepening crisis in DRC, egos will be set aside

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda's Kagame – the main protagonists in the war which has sucked different regions of Africa – are both scheduled to attend the joint summit.

“This is a moment that I really hope that everyone goes beyond their personal egos, beyond whatever has motivated them to engage in such inhumane action that have led to so many years of suffering. We understand as Africans that this is the moment where we change, we reverse the tide, we open a new chapter that is one where we can look at the potential that we have as a continent,” said Wagner.

Kinshasa’s Foreign Minister has expressed condolences to the South African government and the families of the soldiers who lost their lives in the DRC.

The rebel group that claims to have taken control of city of Goma has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, after fierce fighting with the Congolese military and the foreign peacekeepers, which has reportedly left hundreds of people dead.

However, Wagner said the ceasefire is not sufficient.

“The M23 has issued a unilateral ceasefire on humanitarian grounds. We have yet to see what that means concretely. For humanitarian solutions, for humanitarian access to be re-established, first of all we would need Goma to be de-militarised, we would need the M23 to leave immediately as we as the Rwandan Defence Forces which are de facto occupying a sovereign part of the DRC,” she told Newzroom Afrika.

The rebel coalition in the DRC, the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) which includes the M23 armed group has declared the declared the truce which started on Tuesday.

Rwanda has been repeatedly accused of supporting the M23 rebel group, but it denies the allegations.

jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za

IOL