Ramaphosa's stranded protection force and SA crew cleared to leave Polish capital, says captain

After almost 20 hours of being stuck at the Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland, President Cyril Ramaphosa's special forces and a media contingent covering the African peace initiative to end the Russia-Ukraine war, finally received clearance to depart for their next destination. 

SAA pilot Captain Mpho Mamashela, the man flying the chartered XS-SFX Airbus A340-300 meant to have transported about 100 of the president's highly specialised protection team on the peace mission, confirmed this on Friday. 

Minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and international relations director-general Zane Dangor were roped in to ensure the necessary clearances were issued.

“I started my flying in 1982 and we are breaking a record,” said Mamashela. 

He was referring to the number of hours spent on the aircraft waiting to iron out logistical and bureaucratic issues. 

“The situation of the aircraft is not a problem. Everything that we are supposed to have done, is being done. The whole issue is about the [peace initiative] mission. It's at a level that is beyond me. 

“My mission is to get the aircraft here safely and as long as you are on board, we give you SAA hospitality and make sure that you guys are safe.” 

In situations like these Mamashele said it was all about patriotism and solidarity. “If you have to be here, then we have to be here.” 

He said the flight was scheduled to return to South Africa on Sunday. 

Mamashela lauded his crew saying they had no choice but to remain with the passengers. 

“One thing about South Africans: When we had the Olympics in Greece, we were with top business people and when we got there we found that the hotel was a dump because you couldn't find anything. 

“So we decided to make the most of it in South African style and we had so much fun.” 

He commended the crew who remained on the aircraft overnight with passengers while the pilots went to get their 10-hour minimum required sleep. The crew ensured stranded passengers were fed and hydrated during the ordeal.

Drama ensued in the early hours of Friday after a breakdown in relations between the South African and Polish governments over permits. 

Head of the presidential protection services Maj-Gen Wally Rhoode accused the Polish government of “deliberately sabotaging” Ramaphosa's peace initiative after an SAA chartered aircraft ferrying about 120 special forces members and journalists was detained on Thursday. He described as “racist” the behaviour of some officials he was dealing with. 

Hours after Ramaphosa paid a courtesy call to his counterpart, Polish President Andrzej Duda, dramatic scenes unfolded on the tarmac of the Warsaw Chopin Airport. 

Pointing to his colleague, Rhoode told the media: “She tried for four hours to get in here, she was strip-searched. It has never happened that we have strip-searched someone with a diplomatic passport, just to get us out of here.” 

He was referring to an incident where a senior female PPS official was trying to organise accommodation for the police and members of the media. Shortly before the drama she had entered the plane and informed journalists the police would be offering accommodation to female reporters. She never returned to fetch the female journalists. 

“Now they say that we don't have permits, we have permits. The only difference is that they are saying we cannot bring a copy of a permit, we must bring the original. 

“Some of us have original permits and the embassy here (Poland) printed permits because they thought it was not necessary to have the originals here,” said Rhoode

Rhoode added: “Now, all of a sudden we must have permits and are putting the life of our President in jeopardy because we could have been in Kyiv (Ukraine) this afternoon already.” 

The aircraft was scheduled to take off after noon, destined for another part of Poland. 

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