Warsaw debacle: SA ‘didn’t breach security protocols’

Investment

Cape Town – Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has denied allegations that South Africa breached security protocols when President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security detail was grounded in Poland during an African peace mission to Russia and Ukraine.

The plane carrying Ramaphosa’s security team also had weapons on board, and Polish authorities claimed that the clearance papers for the weapons were not in order.

Ntshavheni said that the government would use diplomatic channels to investigate the standoff between the security detail and Polish authorities.

She said that South Africa had followed normal protocols for charter flights, which differed from those for commercial flights.

“Everything was done according to the normal protocols that are done. And also, to be clear, the SAA [South African Airways] plane was a charter, it was not a commercial flight and the rules that apply to commercial flights do not apply to a charter flight, so they can carry whatever needs to be carried by the delegation, which they are made aware they are carrying,” Ntshavheni said.

Ntshavheni also defended the confidentiality of the security detail’s cost, stating that disclosing such information would compromise the president’s security.

“The security detail of the president will never give you a breakdown because next you will want to say what was their deployment and that will compromise the security of the president. It is never done,” she said.

Although the South African government considers the trip successful, opposition parties continue to criticise it as futile.

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Compiled by Betha Madhomu

 

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