Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Maimane: department slammed
THE Department of International Relations and Co-operation has come under fire for intervening in the deportation of DA leader Mmusi Maimane from Zambia on Thursday.
Yesterday, the SACP accused the department of inconsistency in handling the denial of entry to Zambia and that of Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande and three officials.
This comes after it was reported that the Zambian high commissioner was set to be summoned by the department to explain why Maimane was barred from entering Zambia.
Maimane, who was scheduled to attend the treason trial of the nation’s opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, was deported to South Africa after landing at the Lusaka Airport.
Department spokesman Clayson Monyela was quoted as saying they directed the South African High Commission in Zambia to go to the Zambian Foreign Ministry to get answers on Maimane’s deportation.
“Depending on the explanation that we get we will then see if there is a way in which we can take the matter forward,” Monyela was quoted as saying.
However, SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo said Nzimande and three officials had been denied entry visas to Israel two years ago.
Mashilo said Nzimande had been invited in his capacity as a minister by his Palestinian counterpart Dr Kwawla Shaksheer after a visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2014.
“(Neither) the South African government, (nor) Dirco neither summoned the apartheid Israeli ambassador to explain the decision, nor reported to the public that they had taken any steps against the decision,” he said.
Mashilo also said the department’s response to Maimane’s plight was “interesting”.
“The inconsistent manner in which the government attended to the two situations, one affecting its own cabinet minister and officials on duty, the other affecting an opposition leader in a political mission, is an invitation to serious scrutiny.
“The SACP will undertake the work and calls on progressive South Africans to do likewise.”