According to the government the landing of a privately chartered jet at the Waterkloof Air Force Base on 30 April 2013 was unauthorised. This plane was carrying guests from India for an over-the-top Gupta family wedding ceremony at Sun City in the North West Province.
The government has suspended and arrested officials apparently involved in this ordeal as a public “signal” by it that it finds it unacceptable that the Air Force Base, a national key-point, was used for private purposes. Justice and Constitutional Development Minister, Jeff Radebe also announced that a Task team consisting of a number of Directors-General, which includes the Department of Home Affairs, would be investigating this matter.
Clearly the government is working hard to create a perception that it did not condone this major breach of security and that it opposes this breach.
If this is indeed the case, how is it that, according to Home Affairs, all 207 passengers and the 12 crew members on the plane in question had been processed through immigration? If permission had not been granted for this aircraft to land how is it that officials were on hand to process all of these people at Waterkloof? Exactly how were they processed and how were all documentation for the non-South Africans coming into the country verified as true, accurate and not fake? According to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) all passengers were indeed verified as correct and meeting all required legislation.
It appears that the DHA was very well prepared for the receipt of passengers from an aeroplane that it claims had not been granted permission to land at that base. The feeble attempts by the government in spinning the tall story is not holding water as the public is not gullible enough to believe this spin.
If indeed permission had not been granted for this plane to land then it would be logical that resources from the DHA would not have been on hand to process passengers. According to the DHA, it was indeed present and successfully administered all passengers. Government speaks with forked tongue as it makes claims on one side but actions demonstrate another.
The spin and the actual series of events simply do not add up. Government needs to come out and admit that it looks after those close to the President and the ANC, even if it means posing a danger to South Africa and breaking its laws as it did in this case.
We demand answers to all these questions and we will be posing these to the Minister who is accountable.
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