Cape Town – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is demanding that the government recall the country’s ambassador to Poland and downgrade the Polish embassy.
This comes after Polish authorities detained a South African media and security delegation for over 25 hours and prevented their flight from traveling to Russia.
The EFF accuses Poland of restricting media freedom and human rights, employing Cold War tactics to bully African states over their foreign policy objectives.
“The EFF condemns in the strongest terms, the refusal of Poland for the South African media crew and security detail top form part of the delegation of the African leaders peace mission in Ukraine and Russia.
“Poland cowardly restricted media freedom and the human rights of passengers and the crew by detaining them on a flight and then refusing them their journey forward to Ukraine and thereafter Russia,” the EFF said in a statement
EFF Statement On Poland Detaining Presidential Security Detail And Media Crew For Over 24 Hours.
-The EFF calls on the government not to respond to this lightly, but defend our sovereignty and dignity by recalling our ambassador to Poland, and downgrading the Polish embassy in… pic.twitter.com/qaz2KV1cHv
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) June 18, 2023
While the DA and the ANC are seeking answers and trying to understand the incident, the EFF criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for travelling to a compromised state in a war zone without his security and for being incapable of taking a firm stand in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“The South African head had to travel all the way to Kyiv in a compromised state in a war zone without his security detail. This is unacceptable and a deliberate form of humiliation, the EFF said.
Meanwhile, SABC reported on Monday that the team that was supposed to accompany Ramaphosa to the war-torn regions of Ukraine and Russia has returned home.
The report said that they arrived at the Waterkloof Airforce Base in Pretoria, after 21:00 on Sunday.
The team consisted of nearly 120 members, including 11 local journalists, as well as over 90 members from the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
They were denied entry into Ukraine and Russia due to the weapons they had on their flight.
In the meantime, President Ramaphosa has also returned to the country, describing the mission as a success.
He was accompanied by six other African heads of state as part of the African Peace Mission, where they met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Following their meeting with President Zelenskyy on Friday, the African heads of state from South Africa, Zambia, Comoros, Senegal, and the heads of government from Congo Brazzaville, Egypt, and Uganda met with President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
