STAFF REPORTER
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) called for the South African government to take strong actions against the Polish embassy following the events over the weekend where a South African media crew and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security detail were refused entry.
A chartered flight carrying the crew en route to Ukraine for the first leg of some African leaders’ peace initiative to try and stop Nato’s proxy war with Russia in Ukraine was blocked upon landing at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport on Thursday.
Polish authorities not only forced the crew to spend 24 hours in the plane before it turned back to South Africa, they also did a body search on a diplomat throwing all protocols through the window.
The EFF’s spokesperson Sinawo Tambo described the incident as ‘an unacceptable and deliberate form of humiliation’.
“Poland outwardly restricted media freedom and the human rights of passengers and the crew by detaining them on a flight, and then refusing them their journey forward to Ukraine and thereafter, Russia”.
Tambo said Ramaphosa, as the South African head of state, had to travel all the way to Kyiv in a compromised state in a war zone without his security detail.
“While Cyril Ramaphosa is an incompetent and corrupt buffoon of imperialism who is incapable of taking a firm stance on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the South African state and our sovereignty was undermined through him,” he said.
The EFF said the treatment by the Polish is rooted in racism, however, this is not surprising from a country that has been begging the SA government to release Chris Hani’s killer Janusz Walus and return him to his country of origin.
Poland has lobbied for the release of Waluś for many years, and “he has developed a large following in the racist, right-wing, neo-Nazi country.”
“EFF calls on the government not to respond to this lightly, but to defend our sovereignty and dignity by recalling our ambassador to Poland and downgrading the Polish embassy in South Africa,” he added.
In justifying the diplomatic standoff, the Polish authorities said the SA plane carried dangerous goods which the South African representatives did not have permission to bring into their country. They also alleged there were persons in one of the aircraft whose presence was not communicated to the Poles beforehand.
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