South Africans never get to know the competence of the men and women who guard their president. But on Thursday and Friday, the nation got a front row seat treatment to a litany of school boy errors that saw the president traveling to a foreign country while his bodyguards were stranded in another country.
A comedy of errors made by President Cyril Ramaphosa's security details left the president exposed and without protection as he entered the warzone of Ukraine and Russia.
Ramaphosa took a seven hour train ride from Poland to Ukraine while his bodyguards, support staff and a group of South African journalists were stranded on the tarmac at Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland.
The airspace approaching Ukraine is a no-fly zone.
President Ramaphosa and his Senegalese counterpart, Macky Sall, are leading an African delegation to UKraine and Russia to initiate talks towards a ceasefire in the region.
The SAA plane accompanying Inkwazi, the official presidential jet, was stranded because members of the SAPS presidential protection unit had flown without the necessary firearm permits.
SAA flight captain Mpho Ramashele said the flight had all the required paperwork. The problem was with the presidential protection detail.
Wally Rhoode, the head of the presidential protection unit refused to accept responsibility for their school boy errors and suggested they normally travel without original documents.
"We were strip searched. It has never happened that you strip searched anyone with a diplomatic passport.
"Now they say we don't have permits. We have permits. The only difference is that they say you can't bring copies of permits.
"Some of us have original permits but the embassy here printed permits because they thought it's not necessary to have the originals here. Now all of a sudden we must have originals."
He accused the Polish authorities of being racist.
"They are delaying us and putting the life of our president in jeopardy because we could have been in Kiev this afternoon already. I want you guys to see how racist they are."
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the president's safety was not compromised.
"We acknowledge the regrettable nature of that incident. Our officials are engaging with their Polish counterparts so that the PPS team and the media can proceed with their journey as planned, as well as be able to cover the Russian leg of the peace talks. We are deeply disturbed by the experience they have gone through."
