The Potsdam hotel room of South African Airways’ (SAA) chief executive Khaya Ngqula was cleaned out by robbers during the World Cup final between Italy and France, it was confirmed on Monday.
It is understood Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa was also targeted, as were Zuzi Buthelezi, the son of Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and businessman Dr Dudu Kunene, but this could not be confirmed.
”We have no such knowledge,” said Shilowa’s spokesperson Annette Griessel. ”According to our information that is incorrect,” she said.
Confirming that Ngqula’s room had been burgled, SAA spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan said on Monday that the matter had been reported to the local police in Germany.
”I don’t know what the obsession is with [Ngqula], there were other people whose rooms were broken into,” she said, but did not know which other South Africans had fallen prey.
O’Sullivan did not know what was taken from Ngqula’s room. She had had only a brief conversation with him since the incident and the line had been poor.
Asked whether his passport was taken, O’Sullivan said the matter of his passport had been resolved.
”He’s coming back. Somehow he’s coming back,” she said. – Sapa