PM Modi Not Received Well At BRICS, Says Report. South African Government Denies (Image: twitter.com/narendramodi)

South Africa’s Daily Maverick has been subjected to Indian cyber attacks after the daily reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to disembark from the aircraft as the South African government had not sent senior level ministers to welcome him when he arrived in the African country for the BRICS summit, according to The Wire. However, the Indian and South African government officials snubbed the report by the South African daily.

On this, the spokesperson for South Africa’s vice president Paul Mashatile has said that, Mashatile was at the Waterkloof Air Base, Pretoria, “well before” Prime Minister Modi landed.

As per Daily Maverick, a cabinet minister was sent to receive PM Modi, the website also reported that “by contrast, President Cyril Ramaphosa had personally been on the tarmac to greet Chinese President Xi Jinping when he arrived on Monday night.” Eventually, the Deputy President Paul Mashatile received the PM from Waterkloof, reported the Wire.

The online website of Daily Maverik is not available now for more details, the news on this which has been reported is also inaccessible, the Wire said. The page now says “sorry, you have been blocked, you are unable to access dailymaverick.co.za.”

There are no official statements from the Indian side on this but government sources have denied the claims, according to reports.

The news said that the “South African government arranged for Xi to make a state visit to the country before the BRICS summit, but was unable to do the same for Modi due to scheduling conflicts,” reported the Wire.

However, news24, another South African news outlet has said that the government officials denied the claims made by Daily Maverick. The spokesperson, Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), Lunga Ngqengelele said that the government had “arranged with its BRICS counterparts as to who would receive the respective heads of state at the Sandton Convention Centre,” and that, it was “common for ministers to welcome heads of state during working visits”. He also said that foreign minister Naledi Pandor had received Brazil’s President Lula da Silva and that the Indian government was in the know of who would receive the PM, in addition to “in most cases, it is ministers who receive heads of state [during working visits], or the president himself, if he is available, Wire reported.

The South African vice president Mashatile’s spokesperson, Vukani Mde also denied the news reported by Maverick story. He said that, Mashatile’s office “was well aware, ahead of time” and that, “He was there well before PM Modi landed”, “was not ‘dispatched’ suddenly, he did not need to “appease’ anyone,” he was quoted as saying, according to news24, said the wire.

The tensions were managed by President Ramaphosa, news24 reported, by greeting PM Modi first, during a photo opportunity, “before the other BRICS leaders arrived, and after he and Modi had met for a working meeting,” said the Wire.

The leaders, PM Modi, Xi, Ramaphosa and Lula Da Silva are at Johannesburg as part of BRICS’ 15th annual summit. The Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending virtually, owing to concerns relating to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against him.