South Africa apologises to Ugandan MPs over robbery

Aug 26, 2016

"The South African Government takes its responsibility towards the safety and security of everybody within South Africa's borders very seriously," the statement said.

PIC:Left to right: Robert Migadde (Buvuma Island) and Santa Alum (Oyam) were among the MPs robbed in South Africa


The South African government has apologised to Ugandan MPs and staff of the agriculture committee following the Tuesday evening robbery incident they suffered in Johannesburg.

In a statement issued on Friday, the South African High Commission in Uganda extended its sympathies to the victims for having experienced "this traumatic event".  

"The South African Government takes its responsibility towards the safety and security of everybody within South Africa's borders very seriously," the statement said.

Four MPs and two parliamentary staff, who were on official trip to South Africa, were robbed at gunpoint on arrival at KariBou-Inn Guest House in a Johannesburg suburb, where they had been booked to stay.

They included the vice chairperson of the parliamentary committee on agriculture Robert Migadde (Buvuma Island) and other committee members; Santa Alum (Oyam), Francis Gonahasa (Kabweri County) and Kenneth Eitunganane (Soroti County).

Other victims were parliamentary senior counsel Florence Aceng and agriculture committee clerk Jacquiline Mutekanga. The MPs reportedly arrived at the airport at 7:00pm, South African time and were picked up by the host's driver.

They were on a benchmarking trip to Amandilera fertilisers plan on the fertilisers production and its usage. They had also planned to visit farms where fertilisers from the plant have been applied.

The attackers removed their wedding rings, snatched their passports, money, phones, laptops, bags, suitcases and wrist watches. One MP was reportedly stripped during the robbery.

The lawmakers and the parliamentary staff landed at Entebbe International airport empty-handed on Thursday night.

Investigations on
The High Commission said it was certain that the Ugandan High Commission in Pretoria, together with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation and the South African Police Services were cooperating in their investigations in this matter in order to bring the perpetrators to book.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah said on Thursday that the MPs walked away unscathed.

He advised legislators to take extra caution whenever they travel abroad and always stay in areas that have good security.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});