Pretoria – Cabinet has come out in full support of an investigation into how permission was granted for a civilian aircraft to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base.
A storm has erupted after the aircraft, which carried guests attending the wedding of the Gupta family, landed at the military air base in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The Waterkloof air base is a National Key Point and landing of aircrafts there is reserved only for government and its guests. Both the Departments of Defence and International Relations and Cooperation have distanced themselves from the saga.
Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, told reporters in Pretoria on Thursday that Cabinet viewed the matter as serious, vowing action would be taken if any wrongdoing was found.
“We all agree that this is a serious matter and we plead that we all allow the facts to be put on the table and allow for investigations to carry on. Once that is completed, definitely action will be taken (against) everyone involved,” Chabane said.
The Gupta family owns the New Age newspaper and Sahara computers.
Shortly after the chartered aircraft landed, the more than 200 guests were seen being escorted by police vehicles to the wedding venue in Sun City.
Chabane said he was not aware of whether there were any dignitaries, such as government ministers, in the delegation. But as far as he was aware, all of them were in possession of visas and valid passports.
“So at this stage, we can’t describe people as illegal immigrants because as far as we know, the passengers had all the documentation,” Chabane said in response to a question on the legal status of the visitors.
The South Africa Revenue Services was also probing why there were no customs officials to process the arrival of the passengers.
On Thursday, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation announced that Chief of State Protocol Bruce Koloane had been paced on compulsory precautionary leave pending the investigation. - SAnews.gov.za
