Minister of Land and Agricultural Affairs Lulu Xingwana muscled a South African Airways (SAA) passenger off her business-class seat on a flight to Johannesburg two weeks ago, relegating the latter to a crew seat at the back of the aircraft.
According to the pilot’s formal incidents report, a copy of which is in the Mail & Guardian’s possession, Xingwana stormed through the boarding gate and ”hijacked” seat 1F when she discovered she had been removed from flight SA 570 from Durban to Johannesburg.
The passenger, who asked not to be named, confirmed the incident, as did SAA.
The flight report, sent by the captain of SA 570 to Ground Pax Services, SAA Protection Services and the Leadership Team, states that the plane departed 20 minutes late because of Xingwana’s ”hijacking” of the passenger’s seat.
The captain, whose name is not known, also requested feedback on why the VIP section, which should have dealt with the minister’s flight, ”was not available or contactable” on the day.
SAA spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan confirmed the incident, saying that just before take-off, Xingwana had been bumped off the flight because of an SAA systems error which meant that her boarding pass was invalid. But she had walked through the boarding gate and boarded the aircraft before the error could be sorted out.
The captain’s report says that Xingwana arrived at her seat, found a passenger already in it and accused her of taking her seat. As the lady got up to check her boarding pass, the minister promptly sat down in her seat.
According to the passenger, Xingwana refused to move, and caused ”quite a scene”.
The passenger said she had ”reluctantly” accepted the captain’s offer of a seat at the back of the plane. ”I said she could take a later flight as I had to take a connecting flight from Johannesburg to London and could not afford to be late,” she said.
”I was very irate,” the passenger told the Mail & Guardian recently. ”Xingwana, who I did not know at that time was the minister of land and agriculture, was extremely rude.
”When I told her 1F was my seat, she simply said: ‘Well that is not my problem, it is SAA’s problem.’ I have not received any apology from her, although SAA has been great and gone out of their way to make up for the mistake.”
Xingwana’s spokesperson, David Tshabalala, said the minister was not aware that she had been bumped off the flight when she boarded the plane. ”This was a miscalculation on SAA’s part,” he said. He added that the VIP unit at Durban International Airport had helped her board the plane.
”SAA had already written a letter of apology to the minister and she has accepted it,” Tshabalala said.
SAA’s VIP unit assists with the check-in and boarding of certain customers deemed VIPS, but this must be arranged in advance. VIPs are then met on arrival at the airport, handed a boarding pass, escorted to the airline’s lounge and taken to the aircraft 10 minutes before departure. In addition, the SAA office at the destination is notified that a VIP is on board.
O’Sullivan said Xingwana had travelled from Johannesburg to Durban on July 15 and was to return the same day. She had been allocated a seat number for the return flight, but was ”mistakenly” removed ”as a result of human error”.
”This error was picked up at the boarding gates in Durban before boarding the aircraft,” O’Sullivan explained. ”An SAA staff member at the gates then immediately proceeded to try and correct the error. During this time, the minister passed through the gates and boarded the aircraft, which was parked opposite the boarding gates.”
She said the passenger was met on arrival in Johannesburg by SAA staff and given a voucher entitling her to a free return ticket on any SAA flight as compensation.
O’Sullivan insisted that all SAA passengers were treated equally on SAA flights, and no preferential treatment was given in problematic circumstances.