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South Africa To Investigate ‘Mystery’ Of Planeload Of Palestinians

Published

3 weeks ago

November 15, 2025

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says there will be an investigation into the “mysterious” arrival of a chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians from Gaza into the country.

The group arrived at OR Tambo International Airport but were initially refused entry and were stuck in the plane for more than 10 hours as they “did not have the customary departure stamps in their passports”, local authorities said.

Most were eventually allowed in after intervention from a local charity and because of the government’s “empathy [and] compassion”, Ramaphosa said.

The circumstances of their departure from Gaza and travel to South Africa remain unclear.

South Africa has maintained strong support for the Palestinian cause throughout the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.

Ramaphosa said the group “somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi” and flew to South Africa, reports the News24 site.

Israeli military body Cogat, which controls Gaza’s crossings, said in a statement: “The residents left the Gaza Strip after Cogat received approval from a third country to receive them.” It did not specify the country.

According to the Palestinian embassy in South Africa, the group left Israel’s Ramon Airport and flew to the country via the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, “without any prior note or coordination”.

A statement from the embassy said “an unregistered and misleading organization [had] exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner”.

The BBC has asked the Kenyan government for comment.

Of the 153, 23 managed to fly on to other destinations, leaving 130 who were admitted into the country, South African authorities say.

Ramaphosa, speaking during an event in Johannesburg, said he was informed of the unfolding crisis by the home affairs minister.

In response, the president said “we cannot turn them back”, according to News24.

“Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country.”

The president also told reporters the South African government would carry out a “proper evaluation” of the matter and update the public on “what is happening and how this matter came to be where it is”, according to public broadcaster SABC.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that while Palestinian passport-holders qualified for 90-day visa-exempt access to South Africa, the lack of departure stamps, return tickets or accommodation addresses in some of the travellers’ documentation resulted in the initial refusal to let them into the country.

Once it was established that the absence of this information “did not indicate that the travellers wished to apply for asylum” and their accommodation was confirmed, they were granted entry.

“All of the travellers are in possession of valid passports and, at present, none of them have applied for asylum,” he said.

South African charity Gift of the Givers has said it will provide the group with accommodation in the country.

Civil societies in South Africa have called for investigations into the conditions the Palestinians had fled in Gaza and the exact route of the aircraft.

One of the Palestinians who spoke to local eNCA TV expressed his relief to be in South Africa, describing it as a country of “peace, laws and justice”.

“We came from Gaza where we’ve faced death on daily basis. We have survived a war of two years and we are lucky to be here,” said one man who had fled with his wife and two children.

Gift of the Givers has since called for Ramaphosa to investigate the home affairs ministry and border authority for the “humiliation they’ve caused” the Palestinians.

The organisation’s founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said this treatment included being forced to wait for hours on the tarmac at the airport, being denied food provided by the group and “using every excuse in the book to prevent these passengers from disembarking”.

South Africa has been highly critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza.

The country’s sympathy for the Palestinian fight for an independent state goes back decades, particularly the early 1990s when anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela pledged support for the Palestinian cause.

Large pro-Palestinian marches have been held around South Africa since the conflict began.

Smaller pro-Israel marches and rallies have been held in the country, which hosts the largest Jewish community in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2023, the South African government filed a case against Israel with the International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide in Gaza. Israel has strongly rejected the South African claim, calling it “baseless”.

Related Topics:Palestine Palestinians South Africa

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Headline

Meta Suspends Activists For Showing Election Killings

Published

12 hours ago

December 5, 2025

Editor

Meta suspended the Instagram accounts of two Tanzanian activists on Thursday after they posted images of the violent crackdown by security forces on election protests, which authorities have tried to suppress.

Tanzania descended into violence on October 29, the day of elections deemed fraudulent by international observers.

More than 1,000 people were shot dead by security forces over several days of unrest, according to the opposition and rights groups, though the government has yet to give a final toll.

Mange Kimambi, who has more than 2.5 million Instagram followers, had been posting hundreds of photos of the dead and wounded since early November, sent to her by Tanzanians via WhatsApp, she told AFP last month from the United States.

Not all the images have been verified, but AFP fact checkers and other media and investigative sites have found many are real.

On Thursday, Kimambi, in a letter to US President Donald Trump published on X, complained that her Instagram accounts and WhatsApp number had been “deactivated after I raised awareness about a series of severe abuses and horrific events occurring in Tanzania”, including “kidnappings, killings and imprisonment of opposition leaders on fabricated treason charges”.

Another prominent Tanzanian activist, Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who lives in exile, also had her Instagram account suspended, though only within Tanzania.

“Check out @Meta @instagram and their role in enabling the cover up of #TanzaniaMassacre by restricting and deleting our Instagram and Whatsapp accounts,” Tsehai posted on X.

“This is a direct attack on human rights defenders! We work to save lives by whistleblowing about abductions, corruption and killings,” she added.

Contacted by AFP, a spokesperson for Meta justified the action against Kimambi in the name of its “policy against recidivism”, implying she had created new accounts after others were suspended.

The action against Tsehai was a response to “a legal order from Tanzanian regulators”, the spokesperson said.

“If we are unable to provide our services there, millions of people will be deprived of connecting with family and friends,” Meta added.

In early November, Tanzania’s attorney general, Hamza Johari, called for Kimambi to be arrested and threatened to try to have her extradited from the United States, where she lives.

Headline

Why Europe Is Blocking More Nigerian Goods At Its Borders

Published

2 days ago

December 3, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s exports continue to face repeated rejection in European Union markets, a challenge caused by consistent quality failures, weak regulatory enforcement, and heavy dependence on raw commodities.

New trade figures further show that while export values expressed in naira have risen sharply, dollar earnings have continued to decline, undermining Nigeria’s competitiveness abroad.

Meanwhile, South Africa remains one of the African countries with the highest rate of export acceptance in Nigeria and the EU, highlighting the gaps between both economies’ standards and certification systems.

According to data from International Trade Centre (ITC) , Nigeria’s export earnings fell for a second consecutive year in 2024, dropping by 8.5% to $57.9 billion.

The figure had already declined from $63.3 billion in 2022 to $60.65 billion in 2023. In naira terms, however, total exports rose from ₦26.8 trillion in 2022 to ₦36 trillion in 2023 and surged to ₦77.4 trillion in 2024.

These increases reflect the naira’s steep depreciation, not an improvement in the volume or acceptance of Nigerian goods overseas.

Intelpoint data show that the naira weakened from ₦645.2 to the dollar at the end of 2023 to ₦1,478.9 in 2024, marking the sharpest yearly decline in a decade.

EU border agencies have repeatedly rejected Nigerian agricultural and manufactured goods for failing to meet essential sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.

Frequent violations include excessive pesticide residue, poor traceability, contamination detected during inspection, and inconsistencies in certification documentation issued in Nigeria.

These failures stem largely from fragmented supply chains, weak monitoring capacity and a lack of internationally accredited laboratories.

South Africa, Morocco and Kenya maintain far stronger conformity systems, and South Africa in particular consistently delivers some of the highest acceptance rates across EU ports.

The ITC figures show that oil remains the backbone of Nigeria’s exports, contributing nearly 90 per cent of total earnings between 2022 and 2024. Over that period, the country earned $163.2 billion from crude oil out of total export revenues of $181.8 billion.

Despite this dominance, oil earnings have continued to fall, declining from $57.4 billion in 2022 to $55.6 billion in 2023 and then to $50.3 billion in 2024.

Because crude prices are determined externally and the product is exported with limited value addition, Nigeria gains little competitive advantage from currency depreciation.

Non-oil exports recorded mixed fortunes. Cocoa earnings rose from $679 million in 2022 to $759 million in 2023 and climbed sharply to $2.6 billion in 2024.

Fertiliser exports fell from $1.9 billion in 2022 to $935.4 million in 2024. Ores and residues, however, increased from $158.6 million in 2023 to $824.4 million in 2024.

Despite positive growth in some sectors, quality problems have continued to undermine acceptance in Europe, particularly for foods such as beans, palm oil and processed crops.

Nigeria recorded stronger performance in African markets in 2024 due to the relative strength of the West African CFA franc.

Companies such as Unilever Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria and Guinness Nigeria reported export sales of ₦22.8 billion in 2024, up from ₦9.92 billion in the preceding year. EU markets, however, maintain stricter inspection standards, and Nigeria’s structural weaknesses continue to limit penetration.

The country’s export structure remains heavily constrained by outdated processing technology, weak inspection capacity, irregular regulatory monitoring, and an overreliance on raw commodities.

Also, pipeline vandalism and crude theft also prevent Nigeria from meeting its production benchmark of 1.7 million barrels per day, despite a rise to 1.5 million barrels per day in 2024.

In December 2023, the Federal Government introduced the Trade Policy of Nigeria (2023–2027), aimed at aligning export regulations with World Trade Organisation rules and boosting global competitiveness.

The policy forms part of a wider reform agenda tied to the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2021–2025) and Agenda 2050.

Despite these initiatives, limited investment in quality assurance, industrial processing and standards enforcement continues to weaken Nigeria’s acceptance in high-value markets such as the EU.

Headline

US Imposes Visa Restrictions On Nigerians Linked To Religious Freedom Violations

Published

2 days ago

December 3, 2025

Editor

The United States government on Wednesday announced visa restrictions targeting individuals involved in violations of religious freedom in Nigeria. The measures may also extend to immediate family members of the affected persons.

In a statement titled “Combating Egregious Anti-Christian Violence in Nigeria and Globally”, the Department of State said the restrictions were being implemented in response to mass killings and attacks on Christians by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani militias, and other violent actors in Nigeria and elsewhere.

The statement explained that under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the State Department would now have the authority to deny visas to those who have “directed, authorised, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom,” with the policy potentially extending to their immediate family members.

It further cited former President Donald Trump’s remarks, noting that the United States “cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries.” The policy will apply to Nigeria and other governments or individuals implicated in violations of religious freedom.

The announcement follows growing international concern over attacks on religious communities in Nigeria, including targeted killings, abductions, and destruction of property attributed to armed groups.