Africa-Press – South-Africa. Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi mockingly challenged the DA to “drag [him] to court or law enforcement agencies” after the party claimed he broke the law to allow the Emirati president and his entourage to enter South Africa at the Bulembu Airport last month.
Responding to the debate on the Home Affairs budget in a mini-plenary of the National Assembly, Motsoaledi, however, didn’t seek to contradict the claims of illegality that DA MP Angel Khanyile made or explain how he applied the law.
Last month, United Arab Emirates (UAE) president and ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, and his 680-strong entourage entered South Africa at the Bulembu Airport, near Bhisho in the Eastern Cape, from where they went to his game farm in the province.
Al Nahyan reportedly paid for upgrades to Bulembu to make it possible for his plane to land there.
For Al Nahyan and his entourage to enter the country at Bulembu Airport, it had to be declared an international entry and exit point.
On 5 February, Motsoaledi briefed the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs about how this was done.
Motsoaledi received a request from Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane to declare Bulembu an international airport for Al Nahyan’s visit on 7 April.
Five days later, after Motsoaledi “duly applied his mind to all the facts before him”, he declared the Bulembu Airport a point of entry and exit until 12 May.
There are two pieces of legislation at play here: the Immigration Act of 2002, and the Border Management Act of 2022 (BMA).
The Immigration Act does not require the minister to gazette a declaration for public comment, but the BMA does require him to “publish a notice in the gazette for public comments for a period of not less than 30 days”.
The BMA doesn’t distinguish between a temporary and a permanent designation, nor does it waive the requirement of 30 days for public comment for a temporary designation.
Had the designation of Bulembu been gazetted on 12 April, Al Nahyan and his entourage would not have been able to enter the country there.
Questioned by Khanyile and her DA colleague Adrian Roos, Motsoaledi confirmed that the declaration was never gazetted for a 30-day public comment period.
While admitting to the committee that he was not legally trained, Motsoaledi said he interpreted the law himself and determined that the BMA didn’t apply as it was a temporary declaration. He also said he didn’t obtain a legal opinion on this.
For the ANC, this was enough.
“If the minister says the laws have been complied with, that should be sufficient,” said ANC MP Bongani Bongo in the committee meeting.
Motsoaledi’s word was clearly not “sufficient” for Khanyile, judging by her speech in Wednesday evening’s debate.
“Minister, your decision to grant the United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Nahyan approval to land at Bulembu airport together with his 500 guests was illegal,” she said.
Referring to the committee meeting, she said Motsoaledi “justified this unlawful action” of not gazetting the declaration “by claiming that you used your own interpretation” of the legislation.
She said:
She said the BMA says a declaration for a point of entry must be gazetted.
“This provision of the law is not optional and you clearly failed to comply,” she said, adding that it doesn’t matter whether it was a temporary or permanent declaration.
“In trying to justify why a special arrangement was given to a private visit by the UAE royal family, you claimed that they were bringing investment to the Eastern Cape. I wonder which investments you are referring to because the royal family just came to have fun at their private game farm, carrying with them their own food, furniture, cars and gym equipment,” Khanyile said.
“From now on, the DA has put you on notice – any ‘special requests’ that are made to your office for special access to South Africa without following the law, we will not hesitate to approach the courts. We simply cannot allow lawlessness to fester because someone has paid the right price. South Africa is a country of laws, and it cannot be sold to the highest bidder.”
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Roos added: “You allow undocumented foreign nationals to enter at will and lock out investors. Unless they are, of course, UAE royalty. We need a home affairs where every person is treated like royalty.”
Responding to the debate, Motsoaledi said: “Honourable Khanyile, I always took it for granted that at your level, you’ll understand simple things. When you are convinced that somebody is breaking the law, you don’t put them on terms, you drag them to court or to law enforcement agencies.
“What is this story: ‘We are putting you on terms! We are putting you on terms!’ No, that is not how you fight when someone is breaking the law, if you are convinced that the law indeed has been broken.”
That was all he said on the declaration of a point of entry at Bulembu Airport.
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