Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, and Premier of the Western Cape, Alan Winde, have called for the yacht of a sanctioned Russian billionaire to be denied entry to Cape Town Harbour.
The luxury yacht belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexey Mordashov, valued at nearly R10 billion ($500 million) left Hong Kong on Thursday and is believed to be heading for the Mother City.
Watch: Video: inside Mordashov’s megayacht en route to Cape Town
Mordashov, a billionaire with ties to Vladimir Putin, was among a number of Russians sanctioned by the United States and European Union, but not the United Nations, following the invasion of Ukraine, for his links to the president.
The yacht was last tracked in the Bay of Thailand around 11am on Monday.
The City of Cape Town has no jurisdiction over ports or international borders, and no role in terms of imposing sanctions, which can only be instituted by national government.
This resulted in calls by Hill-Lewis and Winde for national government to deny entry to the yacht and its owner,
On Saturday, Hill-Lewis tweeted: “South Africa should not be offering sanctuary to sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
“We call on @DIRCO_ZA to uphold international sanctions and deny the yacht entry. Putin’s war accomplices are not welcome in Cape Town.”
Winde also weighed in on the matter adding: “Cape Town and the Western Cape cannot become a safe haven for Putin’s oligarchs. They cannot be welcomed here. South Africa must now show some backbone and stand up for the principles in our own Constitution.”
Meanwhile, according to IOL, the Ukrainian Association of SA (UASA) said they planned to stage a public protest upon the arrival of the yacht.
“Russia presents itself as a more egalitarian society compared to Western democracies, while in practice it’s a society where oligarchs steal the natural resources of people to fund multi-million yachts and multi-billion palaces around Europe.”
UASA further called on the SA government to stand with UN principles and international law and to “introduce sanctions that would allow it to seize a Russian-owned super-yacht and to use the funds from sales to support the rebuilding of Ukrainian schools, hospitals, and apartments”.
They called on companies in the city’s port to refuse servicing the yacht.
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Sanctioned oligarch’s R10 billion yacht heading for Cape Town
Photo: Picture: Screenshot / newsvlru