SA military denies it's to blame for US pulling out of Africa’s biggest air show at Waterkloof

SANDF force copper during the Africa Aerospace and Defence 2022 at Air Force Base Waterkloof in Tshwane, South Africa. 25 September 2022. (Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)

By Victoria O’Regan

18 Sep 2024

Africa’s largest air show and aerospace and defence exhibition kicked off at Air Force Base Waterkloof on Wednesday without a key regular participant: the US.

The South African military has hit back at accusations that it is to blame for the US’s withdrawal from a massive defence and weapons expo that is under way in Pretoria.

Rather, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has suggested the US is to blame for its non-appearance at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2024 exhibition, saying no request for overflight and landing clearances for military purposes had been received from the US. However, the DA has previously said the US withdrew from the arms expo after the Department of Defence (DoD) refused to confirm the application of the 1999 Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) during the visit.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was initially announced to be the opening speaker, was due to visit the AAD on Wednesday afternoon.

The AAD 2024 runs from 18 to 22 September, with three trade days ahead of the weekend open days and the airshow. The event is held biennially, and as many as 60,000 people are expected to attend this year.

On Wednesday morning, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga formally opened the AAD. Other dignitaries in attendance included Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa; Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink; chief of the SANDF General Rudzani Maphwanya; chief of the SA Air Force Lieutenant General Wiseman Mbambo; and ministers and deputy ministers of defence from various countries.

“This event is a unique biennial event which brings together defence industries from across the globe and is organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence, by partners that include the South African Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Industries (AMD), the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor), and the Commercial Aviation Association of Southern Africa (CAASA),” Motshekga said.

“We are proud as a department to be associated with such a phenomenal event which brings together senior decision-makers, industrialists and government officials representing aviation, maritime and landward defence participants to this unique event.”

The first revelation that the US would be absent from the event came from the DA last week. In a statement on Friday, it said the US had been forced to withdraw from AAD 2024 after the DoD failed to deliver the required diplomatic guarantee by a 6 September deadline.

air show SA Defence Force fighter jets during the Africa Aerospace and Defence exhibition at Air Force Base Waterkloof in Pretoria on 25 September 2022. (Photo: Lefty Shivambu / Gallo Images)

DA spokesperson for international relations and cooperation Emma Powell said: “Despite multiple reminders to the Minister of Defence and the Lieutenant General of Defence Intelligence that a written guarantee was required by the 6th of September deadline in order for the US to prepare for departure, this was not forthcoming.

“The DA can further confirm that Minister Angie Motshekga was personally informed that a failure on the part of her Department to transmit the required diplomatic communication would mean that the United States would be unable to participate in the AAD. It was only after the United States announced its withdrawal this week that the Department of Defence finally transmitted the required diplomatic guarantee.”

Powell called on Motshekga to take responsibility for “this national embarrassment”.

But on Tuesday, 17 September, Motshekga hit back at the DA’s accusations that her department was responsible for the non-appearance of the US at the AAD, saying it “did everything” it could to ensure the US could participate in the exhibition and air show.

At a press conference at Waterkloof, Motshekga suggested the US was rather to blame for its non-participation, saying her department “met all that they would have needed from our side”.

The minister deferred to Maphwanya to respond on the specifics. According to Maphwanya, no request for overflight and landing clearances for military purposes had been received from the US.

“The US submitted [a] request for the DoD to provide them with certain guarantees that their aircrafts participating in the AAD will not be searched and boarded. We do have the Status of Forces Agreement [SOFA] between South Africa and the US that provides certain conditions, as it pertains to [mutually] agreed exercises and activities between the two defence forces, and the relevant exemptions that [are] applicable. This, however, does not state that no due processes in terms of South African law will not be followed, to ensure that the relevant exemptions are availed to the USA,” he said.

“Firstly, we said the US, as with any other country, must submit a written request through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and that… the overflight and landing request must be accompanied by the full declaration, and that we said we will process. Secondly, based on the application and those declarations, the DoD, particularly the defence intelligence, will process and issue the overflight and the landing rights as requested. Thirdly, the relevant diplomatic courtesies are extended to the aircraft, meaning no boarding and searching will take place, and that is what is entailed in the [SOFA] and that we said we’ll observe… No such request for diplomatic overflight and landing was received from the USA for the AAD 2024.”

Maphwanya said the DoD was “ready to process those requests” when they arrived. He said the US was held to the same standards as other countries wanting to participate in the AAD.

“These processes are not only applicable to the USA, they are applicable to each and every country that will be attending and displaying in the AAD. And on that note, the DoD still remains committed and ready to assist and accept the participation of the USA in this AAD. And all efforts will be made to ensure that we will expedite the processing of their request should it come at any given time,” he said.

The application of the SOFA between the US and South Africa seems to be at the heart of the issue.

According to African Defence Review director, Darren Olivier: “A Status of Forces Agreement is essentially a set of promises a country makes about how it will treat another country’s military personnel when deployed by invitation on its territory.

“This includes elements such as allowing the visiting country’s personnel to wear their uniforms, exempting their equipment from certain tariffs and customs duties, allowing them to drive with their foreign licences, and providing similar levels of immunity as that given to diplomatic staff, amongst other things.”

Olivier said it appears that “part of the dispute is that South Africa feels the time they took to process the request and approve it was reasonable, but the US feels it took too long and they weren’t given enough time to do the logistical planning to send aircraft, especially given the operational demands on their fleet”.

An SANDF chopper at the Africa Aerospace and Defence show in Pretoria on 25 September 2022. (Photo: Lefty Shivambu / Gallo Images)

“While it’s not yet clear what, specifically, was being asked for regarding the SOFA that caused the delay, I suspect that because it’s such a vague SOFA it has become convention for the specific details of each event or exercise, such as the number of and type of personnel, to be reaffirmed through an exchange of diplomatic notes. This should normally be a routine, straightforward and quick process, and it has never been an obstacle for any previous AAD or exercise with US forces. We need a proper explanation on why this time was different.”

Asked to respond, a US embassy official pointed to “timing” being behind the withdrawal. The official did not criticise South Africa, but said the US Department of Defence regretted not being able to participate in the AAD.

“When we engage with partners, especially regarding an event like the AAD where we would be flying in with a US military plane, there are certain standard, routine protocols that we seek for the protection of our people and assets. Timing didn’t allow those assurances to be in place for this event,” the official said.

Motshekga, in Tuesday’s press conference, said she would make the statement available on the department’s website, detailing “the process that we had followed” with the US. However, by Wednesday morning no such statement was available.

Asked for clarity on why no statement had been published yet, DoD spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini told Daily Maverick on Tuesday night that Maphwanya was “reading from a report” of what transpired, and a statement was still being prepared.

He said the department would make the statement available on Wednesday.

In 2022, the US military had a large presence at the arms expo, bringing defence systems such as a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules, Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, and a Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk aircraft to the show.

While the US will not be participating in the AAD 2024, various US defence companies, such as L3 Harris Technologies, Nivisys LLC and Trijicon Inc, will still be exhibiting at the expo.

At the press conference on Tuesday, Armscor chief executive, advocate Solomzi Mbada, said about 30 countries would be represented at the AAD, of which nine would have “national pavilions”, where defence companies from those countries would exhibit.

Those countries were China, South Africa, India, Italy, Pakistan, Russia, Brazil, Turkey and the US.

Russian participation?

Military websites reported ahead of the AAD that Russia would be participating in the expo, and was expected to deploy a Tupolev Tu-160 long-range bomber to the exhibition.

However, on Wednesday morning the Russian military did not have any significant equipment or systems present yet.

Russia’s military did not have a presence at AAD 2022. Two Tu-160 bombers have visited South Africa before, in October 2019, on a visit that coincided with the first Russia-Africa summit.

Asked about the status of the Tu-160 bombers which were yet to arrive on Tuesday, Motshekga sidestepped the question, asking the Air Force chief, Mbambo, to respond.

Mbambo said that as far as the department was concerned, Russia had complied with the processes and procedures required for its participation in the AAD.

“When participants come to the air show, there is a due process that [they are] supposed to follow. There is the application and there is engagement prior to that, and the Russians have followed exactly those processes,” he said.

Mbambo added that the department was expecting the Russians to participate. However, it seems the Russians have left South Africa high and dry.

He did not confirm whether a Tu-160 bomber would be exhibited.

“From the point of view of processes, procedures and so on, all that has been cleared and we are ready to receive them. This is where we are in as far as the Russians’ participation is concerned,” he said. DM

This is a developing story and may be updated.

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