Pretoria - The Department of Home Affairs has expressed shock and sadness over the treatment of some Nigerian nationals at OR Tambo International Airport during an incident in which 125 of that country's citizens were deported.
The Nigerian citizens were returned to their country from the airport, after it was allegedly found that they were not in possession of yellow fever certificates.
"We have noted suggestions that these Nigerians were deported by officers of the Immigration Branch of the Department of Home Affairs. Nothing is further from the truth. The Nigerians were returned to their country by health officials and not immigration officers," the department's Deputy Director-General Vusi Mkhize clarified in Pretoria on Friday.
At the heart of the matter was the health issue - related to yellow fever certificates, he added.
Mkhize explained that prior to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the Department of Health issued a directive advising that citizens from a number of designated countries should not be allowed into South Africa without the requisite yellow fever certificate.
This was part of international measures to prevent and control the possible spread of epidemics and disease.
Turning to the recent incident with the Nigerian nationals Mkhize said: "...a number of Nigerians who allegedly were not in possession of yellow fever certificates were returned back to their country. The incident was indeed regrettable."
Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will be part of a high-level ministerial task team set by Cabinet to look into the incident.
Earlier, Cabinet condemned the incident and put in place the task team, comprising the affected ministries, to investigate the incident and ensure there was no repeat of it.
At a joint media briefing held in Pretoria on Thursday, South Africa and Nigeria condemned the incident, saying it was unfortunate but added that the two countries had, through diplomatic channels, consulted at the highest levels on ways of avoiding a recurrence of such developments.
The South African government also sent a letter of apology to the Nigerian government following the incident which it believes could have been handled better.
