ANC NEC Members Demand Investigation into Intelligence Failures over Palestinian Refugee Flights

Knowledge Muneri                                                                                                                                                                      

Members of the ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) have called for an investigation into how South Africa's intelligence services failed to warn the government about the imminent arrival of planes transporting refugees from Palestine.

According to NEC members who attended a meeting over the weekend, concerns were raised that refugees had arrived in the country without the intelligence services' knowledge. Two planes have landed in the country, with one arriving a few days ago. The arrival of the passengers has raised alarms within government circles, particularly since the refugees reportedly did not know where they were being taken.

A source in the NEC said that during discussions, members were shocked that the intelligence services failed to detect the situation. "This is not the first time something like this has happened," the source stated. "There is another plane that has arrived before, and there have been people coming from Palestine and, we understand, others from Ukraine. However, the intelligence service was unaware; how can that be? We now want them to be investigated."

The NEC members said that both the domestic and foreign intelligence arms should take responsibility for this security breach. "A plane filled with people just landed in our country, and they know nothing about it," the source said. "We wanted answers because this means this could happen again and again."

The party also wants a profile of everyone in the country. "We are concerned that some of the people who have arrived stated that they paid about R30,000 to be taken there, and we wanted to confirm if that is indeed the case," the NEC member said. The party is considering implementing more stringent visa regimes in the future.

International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola said the flight was part of "a clear agenda to cleanse Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank." The Palestinian embassy in South Africa stated that the group left Israel's Ramon Airport and flew to the country via Nairobi without prior notice or coordination.

The embassy added that "an unregistered and misleading organisation" had exploited the plight of Gaza citizens, "deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in the irregular and irresponsible manner."
Dagmedia