The UAE President’s landing at a South African airport needs to be investigated thoroughly said ATM Photo Pexels
South Africa – The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has called for answers following the controversial landing of the president of the UAE and his family on a South African runway in the Eastern Cape. The party’s leader, Vuyo Zungula, said the country has become a “banana republic” for allowing anyone to come and go as they please.
President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan and his entourage of 680 people, landed at Bulembu Airport to spend the last week of Ramadan in the country. This followed after Oscar Mabuyane, Premier of the Eastern Cape, visited the UAE for a three day business meeting. On returning he advocated for the arrival of al Nayhan to the country. This would have been fine if proper procedure was followed, which Zama Ntshona, the ATM National Spokesperson, believes was not followed.
“After [Mabuyane’s arrival] we got reports that the premier wrote all kinds of letters enabling the arrival of the UAE president on our shores and the declaration of the Bulembu Airport. In order for you to be able to do that, you must talk to Dr Aaron Motsoaledi of Home Affairs. Upon satisfying himself with the application he will then publicise the Declaration of Intent in the government gazette.”
The public must then be given thirty days to comment on the matter before it can actually be declared. However, given the timeframe of when the reports were first issued, the declaration could not have been in the government gazette for thirty days, said Ntshona.
Was proper procedure followed for the UAE president’s landing
With the thirty days not being given for citizens to comment on the declaration, ATM has written to the Public Protector demanding answers to vital questions, said Ntshona. Questions that will help clarify whether proper procedure was followed.
“Why is it that, though the thirty days has not lapsed, the UAE president is already in the country? That is question number one. The Public Protector must tell us when the application was made. Two, was it gazetted and three, was it gazetted in line with the statutes and laws of this country? They must tell us when it was declared because declaring Belumbu as a port of entry is an important undertaking but it must be done through the law.”
The ATM are alarmed by the “hush hush” nature and how quickly the matter was undertaken, said Ntshona. These matters must be investigated by the Public Protector and she must ensure both Motsoaledi and Mabuyane acted within the law and Mabuyane, specifically, did not put “undue pressure on the officials” to get his desired outcome.
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The president must also answer to the public
Answering questions after his bilateral talks with Finland’s president at the Union Buildings on Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa assured the nation due process was followed to facilitate the UAE president’s visit to the country. He also said that ministers would brief the nation about the visit and procedure in the following days. However, Ntshona believes the president also has to appear before the nation.
“The Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic South Africa, who is President Cyril Ramaphosa, there is no way that he did not know of the whole value chain of what is happening because there is no aircraft, especially of this magnitude, that can come into a South African air space, travel for close to two hours without the South African Defense Force intervening. Those planes should have been shot down.”
The only way those planes were allowed to travel, unchallenged, was because the president knew of their arrival. Therefore, he must also answer to the public. Government must also be questioned on why the UAE president was allowed to spend R20 million to upgrade the airport. All these questions must be answered and Ntshona has called on the Public Protector to perform thorough investigations so that the public has the answers they want.
To hear more from Zama Ntshona on the airport and the questions that still need to be answered, listen to the podcast here:
