The South African president’s security detail have been stuck on a plane in Poland for hours as the authorities are refusing to allow them and accompanying journalists to disembark and continue their journey to Ukraine where Cyril Ramaphosa is leading a peace mission by African heads of states.
The SAA chartered flight with more than 120 people on board reportedly landed in Warsaw’s Chopin Airport early on Thursday afternoon.
Mr Ramaphosa’s head of security, Maj Gen Wally Rhoode, said the Polish government was sabotaging the president’s security by not allowing them to disembark.
“They are delaying us, they are putting the life of our president in jeopardy,” he told journalists. “Because we could have been in Kyiv by now and this is all they are doing. I want you guys to see how racist they are.”
The Polish authorities have not commented on impasse that has escalated into a diplomatic row – though it has not stopped Mr Ramaphosa himself heading to Kyiv, where he arrived by train on Friday morning.
He was received in the Ukrainian capital by the South African ambassador and Ukraine’s special envoy for Middle East and Africa, according to the South African presidency. He will later travel to Russia in the African bid to find an end to the conflict.
One of those still on the plane in the Polish capital is News24 journalist Pieter du Toit, who posted a video on Friday morning saying they had been stuck on the tarmac for nearly 24 hours.
“SAA staff have been quite brilliant in supporting everyone on the plane. Conditions on the plane are now starting to resemble that of a refugee camp as supplies are running thin,” he said.
“The security detail that was supposed to protect the president on his visit to Kyiv is still on the plane.”
