South Africa VP set for Kenya visit

The list of high profile foreign visitors to Kenya this year continues to grow as South Africa’s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe arrives in Nairobi next week for a two-day official visit.

Mr Motlanthe will be the highest ranking South African government officer to visit Kenya at a bilateral level since the end of the apartheid.

Neither President Nelson Mandela nor his successor Thabo Mbeki made bilateral official visits to Kenya during their terms in office.

Current President Jacob Zuma came to witness the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the two-decade war in Sudan. He was then the deputy president to Mr Thabo Mbeki.

“South Africa is beginning to view Kenya as a strategic partner rather than a rival within the African continent,” acting permanent Secretary in the ministry of Foreign Affairs Patrick Wamoto remarked on the planned visit.

“His coming will strengthen bilateral ties between our country and South Africa,” the PS added.

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Mr Motlanthe are expected to sign bilateral agreements during the visit.

The South Africa’s deputy president’s visit next week, Mr Wamoto told the Nation, is a precursor to President Jacob Zuma’s first official visit to Kenya since his election as president.

Mr Motlanthe’s visit follows other high-profile visits to Kenya by US Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japanese Crown prince Kotaishi Naruhito.

Other foreign dignitaries whom Kenya has hosted recently include outgoing Brazil President Ignacio Lula da Silva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Wang Gang among others.