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The Guptagate report has now been complete and we are advised that it is up to Jeff Radebe, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, to make the at-present-secret report public. We are told that the report will be made public later in the week. There is no way round it; the report must be made public. Too many questions remain, the  Department of Home Affairs, for example, needs to account to the public.

All along the government has been working hard to create a perception that it did not condone this major breach of security and that it opposed it. The report must explain how it was that all 207 passengers and the 12 crew members on the plane in question had been processed through immigration. Officials were on hand to process all of these people at Waterkloof Airbase? Exactly how were they processed and how were all documentation for non-South Africans coming into the country verified as true, accurate and legitimate?
 
In a media briefing, Minister of Home Affairs, Naledi Pandor confirmed all passengers were indeed verified as correct and had met required legislation. This could only have happened if Home Affairs had prior warning of the aircraft and it’s passengers.
 
Clearly, the DHA was well prepared for the receipt of passengers from an aeroplane that government claims had not been granted permission to land at that base. If indeed permission had not been granted for this plane to land then it would be logical that resources from the DHA would not have been on hand to process passengers. According to the DHA, it was indeed present and successfully administered all passengers. While I wait for this report, I have submitted official questions to the Minister to explain this.
 
The government spin and the actual series of events simply do not add up. Government needs to immediately release the full report unedited so that South Africa can be clear as to exactly what happened. South Africans want to know that we are not being controlled and “owned” by a family that essentially bought the President and his government lock, stock and barrel.