Gigaba must publically address SAA's grounding in Zimbabwe: DA

The Democratic Alliance has called on Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba to confirm that the crew and passengers of an SAA flight that has been grounded in Zimbabwe are safe and are being properly cared for.

The party said it was concerned about reports that a South African Airways (SAA) flight had been grounded in Zimbabwe and that other SAA flights from Zimbabwe had been cancelled‚ while an Air Zimbabwe aircraft was being detained at OR Tambo International Airport.

“This seems to be due to the diplomatic impasse over the assault charges against Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe. Now‚ it seems that tensions between Zimbabwe and South Africa are mounting‚ leading to airlines being grounded‚” the DA’s Alf Lees said.

He added that as SAA fell within his mandate‚ Gigaba must “urgently and publically address these concerning incidents and confirm that the SAA passengers and crew in Zimbabwe are safe and are being properly cared for”.

“The silence from our government on the Grace Mugabe matter has been deafening.

“The reality is that the South African government has completely mishandled this situation‚ which is now affecting the operations of the national airline‚” Lees charged.

“Minister Gigaba has a duty to urgently see that the operations of the already desperately compromised SAA are allowed to continue without hindrance‚” he added.