My big, fat Gupta wedding

210413: Above: Vega Gupta with her parents on the left and her husband-to-be, Aakash Jahajgarhia, and his parents on the right. Vega and Aakash, right, pose for a family picture, and below is the mirror-plated, embossed gold wedding invitation.

210413: Above: Vega Gupta with her parents on the left and her husband-to-be, Aakash Jahajgarhia, and his parents on the right. Vega and Aakash, right, pose for a family picture, and below is the mirror-plated, embossed gold wedding invitation.

Published May 2, 2013

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Cape Town - If the 300 Gupta wedding guests aboard the airliner that allegedly landed without proper authority at Air Force Base Waterkloof brought any gifts, they will have escaped paying customs duties.

As government departments desperately shifted the blame and the ANC sought to distance itself and President Jacob Zuma from the debacle, the SA Revenue Service confirmed on Wednesday that no customs officials were on duty at the air force base when the Gupta jet touched down.

This is despite legislation that provides for SA Revenue Service (Sars) to be notified when, in “particular circumstances”, an aircraft is given special permission to land at an airport not designated as an international airport and where there are ordinarily no customs officials.

Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay said in these cases “Sars Customs is advised and requested beforehand to have a presence for such scheduled landings in order to clear goods and passengers on such aircraft”.

The service was investigating why its officials weren’t at Waterkloof as they should have been, Lackay said.

He could not immediately comment on what would be done about the possibility that the guests of the fabulously wealthy family had arrived bearing gifts on which they had not paid customs duties.

As a political storm engulfed the society wedding of the year, the Gupta family, well-known for their ties to the ANC, insisted the Indian High Commission had obtained permission from the relevant authorities for the plane to land.

But the Defence Ministry insists it never gave permission for the plane to land at the military air base, a national key point usually reserved for SANDF operations and foreign dignitaries on official business.

Spokesman Sonwabo Mbananga said on the eNCA news channel the ministry had asked the South African Air Force “to provide the department with clear details as to what transpired leading up to the landing of that aircraft”.

The Department of International Relations and Co-operation has also washed its hands of the matter, saying it had nothing to do with the air base.

But political parties, including the ruling ANC and its alliance partners the SACP and union federation Cosatu, have called for heads to roll, saying it was an abuse of state resources and, in the words of ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, “a breach of national security”.

Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota, himself a former minister of defence, said there was no way either Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula or President Jacob Zuma himself would not have known about the landing.

Any country wanting such permission “would have to interact with the ministry”.

“The minister would have to give an instruction to the chief of the defence force and there would have to be preparations for customs to be there. There is simply no way that any plane can enter South African airspace without the air force knowing.”

The plane would only have been allowed to land if the instruction had come from above.

Under normal circumstances, the request would go through the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, which would have to tell the president so he could instruct the defence minister to make the arrangements.

“One minister cannot instruct another minister, so the president would have to tell the minister of defence that such a request had been made,” Lekota said.

“The fact that the commanders of the defence force said they knew nothing about it means the minister knew nothing. In the absence of the minister it would have to be the president.”

He said if it were possible for an aircraft to enter South African airspace and land at a military facility without permission “it means South Africa could be attacked any time”.

The ANC said the use of the air base for private guests “had nothing to do with President Zuma, but those who have authority on the use of national key points, hence our call to the Department of Defence to clarify how this was authorised”.

SA National Defence Union spokesman Pikkie Greeff said even though there were reportedly Indian government ministers aboard the plane, they could not have been granted diplomatic status as they were not in the country on official business.

Political Bureau

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