MPs want to grill Motsoaledi on UAE president's landing in E Cape

Parliament wants to grill home affairs minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi on Friday on whether the law was broken in relation to the controversial landing of planes belonging to the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in the Eastern Cape.

The portfolio committee on home affairs, which has resolved to hold a special sitting on the matter, will also question Dr Mike Seapato, the commissioner of the Border Management Authority.

“The resolution forms part of parliament’s constitutional obligation to hold the executive accountable, as well as the need to ensure that domestic and international law is applied,” said committee chair Mosa Chabane.

“The committee has noted the media briefing the minister and his counterparts have held on the subject, but it remains our responsibility to ascertain that indeed domestic laws and regulations have been followed. The committee has also resolved that it is prudent that it satisfies itself that there is documentary proof of all assertions made and that every regulatory provision has been followed,” said Chabane.

He said the committee would apply to the house chairperson responsible for committees to hold the session Friday. If the application is unsuccessful, the meeting would be held next week Tuesday.

Motsoaledi last week told Sowetan that Al Nahyan and his 679 fellow travellers mostly from his country UAE had landed directly at the Bulembu Airport in Qonce (formerly King William's Town) because his trip had financial benefits for the country. 

The airport is currently not for commercial use. 

During the portfolio committee's meeting held on Tuesday,  Patriotic Alliance MP Christopher Roos said: “There are some questions that need to be answered… we will first see what comes out before we jump into conclusions.”

IFP MP Liezl Linda van der Merwe proposed that Motsoaledi should start briefing the portfolio committee on matters of public interest before they hog media headlines.

“I think this briefing you’ve proposed is an important one. However… there is a lot of issues pertaining to our portfolio committee that end up playing themselves in the media and we as MPs, we sort of are being subjected to the same treatment as other members of the public and we seem to be getting information from the social media and we see press conferences by the department,” she said.

“We have had issues on the [Thabo] Bester and the Gupta matters and their travelling documents, and now it is this matter. I am sure that in this case that the minister already knew about the landing of this royal family some time before it hit the media. In future we should have these types of briefings happen before they are in the public domain.

“If possible, the minister could have given us the information on the landing of this family before it was actually revealed in the media and it could stop some of these issues that play out in the public domain, where people don’t have the correct information or they assume there is something wrong or untoward,” said Van der Merwe.

Motsoaledi confirmed he would be available.

“For both Friday and Tuesday next week, I’ll be ready for the things that the committee is asking for,” he said.