State security minister pulls out of Saudi visit at 11th hour

21 October 2018 - 00:00 By QAANITAH HUNTER
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Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba will no longer be travelling to Saudi Arabia.
Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba will no longer be travelling to Saudi Arabia.
Image: Twitter

The government yesterday made a u-turn on a planned trip to Saudi Arabia by state security minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba following questions by the Sunday Times on the reasons for a planned visit to the kingdom.

Yesterday afternoon, the minister’s office said she was no longer travelling to Saudi Arabia “due to pressing issues in the country that require her urgent attention”. 

On Friday, however, Letsatsi-Duba’s spokesperson, Lebohang Mafokosi, confirmed that the minister would be travelling to Riyadh to meet the head of Saudi intelligence, Khalid bin Ali al Humaidan, to discuss “issues of mutual interest”.

She also planned to attend a showcase investment conference that has been shunned by a host of Western leaders in the past week as outrage grew over the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, allegedly by Saudi intelligence operatives.

Despite Letsatsi-Duba’s office confirming her trip on Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office yesterday said they knew nothing about the trip.

Critics say Letsatsi-Duba’s now-aborted visit comes as Pretoria attempts to nurse its relations with the kingdom to avoid a fallout that could lead to the Middle Eastern superpower withdrawing its recent pledges to invest in SA.

Read the full story in the Sunday Times.


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