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Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.Photo: Global Information System
- DA MP Angel Khanyile said Interior Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s failure to gazette Bulembu Airport as a national point of entry to allow the UAE President and his entourage into the country violated the law.
- Motsoaledi, a self-confessed legal layman, had previously told the Home Affairs Combined Committee that he interpreted the law himself but had not been given legal advice.
- Responding to debate over his portfolio budget, Motsoaledi challenged Khanyile to drag him to court or law enforcement if she believed he had broken the law.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi mockingly challenges DA to ‘drag’ [him] Last month, the party claimed he had breached laws allowing the UAE president and his entourage to enter South Africa at Bulembu airport.
However, Motsoaledi did not try to refute DA MP Angel Khanyile’s claims of illegality, nor did he explain how he applied the law, when responding to the debate on the Home Affairs budget at the small plenary session of the National Assembly.
Last month, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and ruler of Abu Dhabi, and 680 of his entourage traveled from East Bulembu airport near Bhisho in Cape province entered South Africa, from where they traveled to his presidential palace. Game farms in the province.
Al Nahyan reportedly paid for the upgrade of Bulembu so that his plane could land there.
For Al Nahyan and his entourage to enter at Bulembu Airport, it must be declared as an international entry and exit point.
On 5 February, Motsoaledi briefed the Home Affairs Committee on how this was done.
Motsoaledi received a request from Eastern Cape Governor Oscar Mabuyane to declare Bulembu an international airport for Al Nahyan’s visit on 7 April.
Five days later, after Motsoaledi had “seriously considered all the facts before him”, he declared Bulembu airport the point of entry and exit until 12 May.
read | UAE president lands in Eastern Cape on 20m runway he built for himself and his entourage
There are two pieces of legislation at play here: the Immigration Act of 2002 and the Border Management Act (BMA) of 2022.
The Immigration Act does not require the Minister to publish a statement in the Gazette for public comment, but the BMA does require him to “publish a notice in the Gazette for public comment for a period of not less than 30 days”.
The BMA does not distinguish between temporary and permanent designations, nor does it waive the 30-day public comment requirement for temporary designations.
If Bulembu’s name is announced on April 12, Al Nahyan and his entourage will not be able to enter the country there.
Asked by Khanyile and her DA colleague Adrian Roos, Motsoaledi confirmed that the statement was never published during the 30-day public comment period.
While acknowledging to the committee that he had no legal training, Motsoaledi said he interpreted the law himself and determined that the BMA did not apply because it was an interim statement. He also said he had not obtained legal advice on the matter.
For the ANC, that’s enough.
“If the minister says the law is being followed, that should be enough,” ANC lawmaker Bongani Bongo told a committee meeting.
read | How Motsoaledi ‘interpreted’ law to help UAE president land without legal help
From what she said during Wednesday night’s debate, it was clear that Motsoaledi’s words were “not enough” for Khanyile.
“Minister, your decision to approve the United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Nahyan and his 500 guests to land at Burumbu Airport is illegal,” she said .
Referring to the committee meeting, she said Motsoaledi “justified the illegality” by claiming that you used your own interpretation of the legislation, that is, did not gazett the statement.
she says:
You admit that you have not obtained legal advice, compounding your misunderstanding of the law.
She said the BMA said the declaration of entry points must be gazetted.
“This provision of the law is not optional and you have clearly not complied with it,” she said, adding that it did not matter whether it was a temporary or permanent declaration.
“In trying to justify why there are special arrangements for a private visit by the UAE royal family, you claim they are bringing investment into the Eastern Cape. I wonder what investments you are referring to, as the royals have just arrived at their private game farm having fun, bringing their own food, furniture, cars and gym equipment,” Khanyile said.
“From now on, you have been informed by the Prosecutor – any ‘special request’ made to your office for special entry into South Africa that does not comply with the law, we will not hesitate to take it to court. Let lawlessness fester at the right price. South Africa is a country of law and cannot be sold to the highest bidder.”
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Roos added: “You allow undocumented foreigners to come in at will and keep investors out. Unless, of course, they are UAE royalty. We need an interior where everyone is treated like royalty.”
Responding to the debate, Motsoaledi said: “Dear Khanyile, I always thought that at your level, you understand simple things. When you are convinced that someone is breaking the law, you don’t convince them, you drag them to court or Law enforcement agencies.
“What’s the story: ‘We put you on terms! We put you on conditions! No, that’s not how you fight when someone breaks the law if you’re convinced that the law is actually being broken.”
That’s all he said in his statement at the entry point at Bulembu airport.
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