It is very sad that South Africa has now fallen into the trap of allowing itself to be disrespected at the expense of its sovereignty to accommodate foreign investors.
The fallacy is that foreign investment develops countries. But what we are seeing is how these “investors” are just undermining the country’s dignity.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) president is reportedly in the country on a private visit to the Eastern Cape. What is galling is the information about his visit.
He is reported to have privately invested money to develop a runway at an airport in the area to accommodate his entourage and his planes. These are said to include helicopters, ambulances and what have you. Surely, this president takes this country very cheaply and does not even trust its security or medical facilities.
But more than this, he is reported to have brought with him an entourage of 500 people. Now, the question is: where he landed is not a designated international airport, and this poses a dangerous security risk. Do the South Africans authorities know who he brought into the country, and how their credentials were checked when they arrived, that they were legitimate?
This conjures a whiff of the Guptas once again. And we know that such things go with corruption.
Who can say that officials in the Eastern Cape have not been bribed for this brazen flaunting of sovereignty to let this “investor” into the country under such circumstances? Is this not the man whose country fooled South Africa and let the Guptas escape the clutches of the law by not extraditing them to South Africa to answer for their alleged crimes?
Does the desperate need for foreign investment come with such insults as flouting the country’s sovereignty?
* Dr Thabisi Hoeane, Pretoria.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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