Cape Town – The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for the head of the president’s protection unit, Major General Wally Rhoode, to appear before Parliament and explain a recent incident involving a futile trip of special forces to Poland, which resulted in a diplomatic dispute.
Over a hundred people, including journalists, were detained on an aircraft at Warsaw airport for over a day due to a bureaucratic mistake, preventing them from accompanying and protecting President Cyril Ramaphosa on his peace mission to Ukraine and Russia.
The DA’s Andrew Whitfield criticised Rhoode for conducting an impromptu press conference with journalists aboard the grounded flight, accusing him of embarrassing the country and wrongly accusing the Polish government of racism.
[WATCH] Head of the Presidential Protection Services Major General Wally Rhoode, briefs the media meant to cover President Ramaphosa on the #AfricanPeaceInitiative about the delays and challenges encountered in Poland. pic.twitter.com/Ux5AiIGyJp
— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) June 15, 2023
Whitfield has written to the acting chairperson of Parliament’s police portfolio committee, urging them to reconvene and address the matter urgently.
“… Rhoode, gave an unofficial interview, not authorised by the President, in which he labelled the Polish Government as ‘racists’ on international media.
“Not only was this statement defamatory and baseless but it came across as the South African Government’s official stance.
“The DA demands that the Acting Chairperson call the Committee to sit and summons Major General Rhoode, and any other relevant person, to appear before them and account for his actions,” Whitfield said.
[BREAKING] Head of the Presidencial Protection Service Maj-Gen Wally Rhoode has described the behavior of the Polish government as “surprising and racist”. @TimesLIVE pic.twitter.com/FZtpTaepn5
— Amanda Khoza – The Journalist (@MandaKhoza) June 15, 2023
He added: “At a time when South Africa is already the pariah of the international community, with the ANC government’s refusal to denounce the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, South Africa cannot afford to have unauthorised spokespersons such as Major General Wally Rhoode act as a renegade cowboy.”
Whitfield said that this was not the first instance that Rhoode’s actions “have been called into disrepute. He was a central figure to the Phala Phala scandal in which he conducted unauthorised investigations at the behest of the President and used taxpayer money to fund flights across South Africa’s borders.”
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
