President Cyril Ramaphosa President Cyril Ramaphosa. File Picture: Kopan o Tlape
Durban - President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to be grilled in Parliament over the cost of the controversial Africa peace mission to Ukraine.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said there needed to be accountability after extra security personnel and journalists had to abandon their trip in Poland due to some documents allegedly not being in order.
Ramaphosa’s head of security, Major General Wally Rhoode, told the media the Polish government had sabotaged the South African government, accusing them of racism.
Steenhuisen said the issue was around the second plane, who it was procured from, and that there was poor planning and logistics that led to a large amount of fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
“This in a country struggling with its own infrastructure problems around electricity, water and sanitation. To be wasting large amounts of money on expenditure like this in this environment does not make sense.
“The question is why the president needed such a large security delegation, more than 120 people set aside for security and 12 containers of heavy weaponry and large amounts of ammunition, which is one of the reasons why it was not allowed into Poland and not allowed into the airspace of other countries.”
Steenhuisen said the South African Air Force had warned Rhoode before they departed about what was required, but that was ignored.
“We believe Rhoode and the rest of the Presidential protection unit have questions to answer,” Steenhuisen said in an interview on Monday.
At the weekend, Steenhuisen issued a statement, saying Ramaphosa must be held accountable for the millions of rand in taxpayer funds wasted on his failed PR stunt.
“The DA is submitting a series of urgent parliamentary questions to determine the full cost to the people of South Africa of this shambolic political stunt.
“We will be submitting a full set of questions to the Presidency to obtain a detailed breakdown of the security detail accompanying President Ramaphosa on this trip, as well as the total cost to the South African taxpayer.”
Steenhuisen said it appeared that Ramaphosa’s “ill-fated airplane” did not have authorisation to enter the airspace of various countries, while dangerous and undeclared weapons and goods may also have been on board.
“We will be submitting questions to the National Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to determine what ammunition and other materials were sourced and loaded on to the aircraft, as well as the cost of all materials;
“Finally, I will be writing to the auditor-general requesting that the cost of this peacekeeping trip be declared as fruitless and wasteful expenditure, given the fact that due diligence was not carried out on the part of the South African state.”
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