The South African government is still waiting to hear when ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his entourage are to arrive in the country, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.
Spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the government was waiting for an official communiqué from the Caribbean Economic Community (Caricom) as to the exact date.
”But until then we are working full steam ahead to prepare for his arrival,” Mamoepa said.
Government Communications and Information Systems chief executive Joel Netshitenzhe last Thursday announced that South Africa had agreed to give Aristide a temporary home. This followed a cabinet Lekgotla to discuss the issue.
Netshitenzhe said the arrangement would be a temporary one, until the situation in Haiti had stabilised to the extent that it would be possible for him and his family to return.
Mamoepa, however, refused to divulge where Aristide would be living while in the country but said it would be ”broadly within Gauteng”.
Aristide’s visit has drawn much condemnation from opposition parties, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) questioning the government’s wisdom.
”The ministers of foreign affairs and finance needs to explain to Parliament and the people of South Africa how much Aristide’s stay is going to cost the South African taxpayer, and where the money is going to come from,” said party spokesperson Douglas Gibson, objecting to the costs involved in accommodating Aristide.
Netshitenzhe argued that in acceding to this request, South Africa sought to contribute to international efforts to bring stability to Haiti. ”South Africa has a responsibility, as an African country and as part of the international community, to ensure that democracy and peace prevail in Haiti and that the people of this country are able democratically to elect their leaders,” he said.
Netshitenzhe said government also supported the call for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Aristide’s removal from office and was committed to building international consensus against unilateral regime changes.
”We hope that all South Africans will handle this matter with dignity and maturity. We believe that as we mature as a democracy and as a country that has got this important role to play in international relations, we would all come to appreciate that international diplomacy does not lend itself to mathematical equations where you would have precise condition of comfort and discomfort, precise resolutions to problems with precise answers,” he said. – Sapa