Weapons-laden SAA flight: Authorities pass buck over murky authorisation

Authorities involved in the incident that left a chartered SAA plane carrying President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security staff stranded on the tarmac in Poland for over a day have fobbed off responsibility to one another around whether authorisation to carry weapons on board was actually obtained.

Two weeks after the incident there is still no answer, with the SA Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Presidency referring News24 to each other. SAA and the SA Police Service said they cannot comment at this stage.

This comes after aviation experts explained that there are clear regulations and requirements regarding the transport of weaponry on a civilian aircraft, and News24 reporting that air force officials had warned the leadership of the Presidential Protection Service (PPS) that they would need specific customs clearance if they wanted to transport weaponry to Poland ahead of Ramaphosa's visit to Ukraine and Russia.