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Indian High Commissioner to South Africa Virendra Gupta. Picture: Sizwe Ndingane<\/p>\n
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Durban – The Indian High Commission in Pretoria spoke out publicly on Tuesday, insisting that it had followed correct procedures in applying for permission for the Gupta family\u2019s wedding guests to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base last month. <\/p>\n
And it said that state-level ministers and officials aboard the aircraft of wedding guests had also come to South Africa for an official meeting with the Free State government. <\/p>\n
The commission was clearly responding to Sunday\u2019s statement by South African cabinet ministers who repeated insinuations that the high commissioner of India in South Africa, Virendra Gupta (no relation to the family), bypassed the proper channels and misrepresented the purpose of the flight. <\/p>\n
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said that Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had turned down the Guptas\u2019 request to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base on April 3. <\/p>\n
Only then had the Gupta family \u201cresorted to the use of the diplomatic channel with the support of an individual in the Indian High Commission who redesignated the wedding entourage as an official delegation to enable them to use the Waterkloof Air Force Base under the cover of diplomatic privilege\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an undisputed fact that there was no official Note Verbale from the Indian High Commission to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and therefore due process was not followed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
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The Airbus that brought the Gupta family members and guests to the Waterkloof Air Force Base moments before take-off. Photo: Phill Magakoe<\/p>\n
INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS<\/span><\/p>\n On Tuesday, the High Commission said it wished to clarify its position, explaining that it had applied much earlier than April 3 and through the usual channels. <\/p>\n \u201cThe initial request was made by the high commission of India on February 28 since the charter flight was expected to carry several ministers from state governments as well as central government and senior political figures from India,\u201d the commission said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe request was made with a view to ensuring appropriate security arrangements and courtesies for the visiting dignitaries.\u201d <\/p>\n The commission claims that a formal request by the defence adviser in the high commission was sent to the chief of defence for foreign relations in the SANDF <\/p>\n . <\/p>\n \u201cThe mission\u2019s request was made a full two months in advance from the date of the scheduled landing of the plane, and all requested information was provided to the concerned authorities,\u201d the high commission said. <\/p>\n It said that another letter was sent by the defence adviser to the Air Command Unit of the Air Force Command Post with a copy to the chief of defence for foreign relations in the SANDF on April 4. <\/p>\n \u201cAuthorisation for landing was provided to the mission by the South African Air Force on April 9, three weeks prior to the scheduled landing date. <\/p>\n \u201cSeveral senior ministers and dignitaries from the government of Uttar Pradesh, which is the largest state in India with a total population of 200 million, were actually on the flight that landed on the morning of April 30. <\/p>\n \u201c <\/p>\n Of these dignitaries, the visit of Shivpal Singh Yadav, Minister of Public Works and Irrigation, and the delegation accompanying the minister was an official visit, which took place at the invitation of the Free State government, and a memorandum of intent was signed between the Free State government and the Uttar Pradesh government,\u201d the high commission said. <\/p>\n Details should be given about a memorandum signed by the Free State government and the Uttar Pradesh government in India, the DA says. <\/p>\n Independent Foreign Service<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" INLSA Indian High Commissioner to South Africa Virendra Gupta. Picture: Sizwe Ndingane Related Stories Guptas\u2019 property valuation error DA seeks detail on Indian pact Gupta plane had \u2018official business\u2019 Gupta \u2018sorry\u2019 too late for SAAF officer \u2018No need for Zuma to explain Gupta ties\u2019 Gupta report \u2018tailored\u2019 to protect Zuma Durban – The Indian High […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-19916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}