Pretoria - Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says there were no dangerous goods in the plane that was carrying President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security detail.
The plane was grounded in Poland last week where authorities refused to let members of the Presidential Protection Services and journalists disembark.
This led to heated arguments and accusations of racism against the Polish authorities.
But Poland denied racism allegations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland later said the plane was grounded at the airport in Warsaw because it carried dangerous goods.
Ntshavheni said there were no dangerous goods on that chartered flight.
She said the weapons were meant for the protection of Ramaphosa during his trip to Ukraine and Russia.
Ramaphosa, along with six heads of state and government officials from Africa, met with presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin where they discussed their peace plan.
Ntshavheni, who was briefing the media on Thursday after a Cabinet meeting, said they had done everything by the book when the presidential protection team travelled to Poland en route to Kyiv and St Petersburg.
“We want to indicate on our part that everything was done according to normal protocols.
“What you deem dangerous goods, there were no dangerous goods. There were weapons that formed the protection of our president. It’s normal when all presidents travel internationally they travel with their security and weapons and permits that are allowed for them to come in.
“Cabinet noted those events and we deem them as unfortunate because everything was done properly. We have indicated that through Dirco (the Department of International Relations and Cooperation) and the Ministry of Police they will give further details on the matter. But Dirco is considering measures to be taken in addition to the work that has been done.
“There is work that Dirco does and the client department, in this case, will be the SAPS, who will say what are the things that have not gone right, where we have, as a country been offended in terms of diplomatic protocols, and then we will take the necessary preventative measures or necessary channels. You recall previously, we had an incident with the US, with the conduct of their embassy,” said Ntshavheni.
She added that they will announce through the Department of International Relations the measures they will take to address the incident.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics