JOHANNESBURG: South Africa suspended a senior foreign ministry official on Thursday after a charter plane carrying nearly 200 guests for the wedding of a family with close ties to President Jacob Zuma used an Air Force base without proper military permission.
The scandal over Tuesday’s flight from India to the Waterkloof Air
Force Base near Pretoria has dominated South African media, with
newspapers and radio phone-in callers accusing the wealthy Gupta family
of influence peddling.
The defence ministry said it had rejected a request from the Guptas to
use the base but the Indian High Commission in Pretoria then went behind
its back and sought authorisation from the Chief of State Protocol at
the foreign ministry.
“The clearance should be rescinded and that aircraft should immediately be removed,” it said in a statement.
The foreign ministry said its protocol chief, Bruce Koloane, had been
suspended to “allow the department to get to the bottom of this matter”,
adding that no “executive authority” was granted for a civilian
aircraft to land at the base.
Foreign ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela confirmed that the flight
carried some Indian state ministers arriving for the wedding.
The business empire of Gupta brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh covers
mining, resources, aviation and technology. Two of Zuma’s children have
served as directors of Gupta firms, according to South Africa’s
companies database, and the family is a major financial backer of the
ruling African National Congress (ANC).
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