[imagesource:calaero.edu]

The Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) is accusing the US Government of ‘harassing’ it after the flying school refused to hand over details about its students.

On 10 February, Daily Maverick reported on legislation introduced in the US House of Representatives “to require a full review of the bilateral relationship between the United States and South Africa”. This new bill is seemingly escalating the ‘harassment’ of TFASA.

In 2023 the US placed trade restrictions on TFASA, which they believe are among “entities determined by the US Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States”.

The statement read: “In contrast to its stated stance of nonalignment, the South African Government has a history of siding with malign actors, including Hamas, a U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and a proxy of the Iranian regime, and continues to pursue closer ties with the People’s Republic of China (‘PRC’) and the Russian Federation.”

The US stated that “South Africa has pursued increasingly close relations with the Russian Federation in both the military and political space.” This is a subtle way of saying the friend of my enemy is also my enemy.

The document goes on to highlight the flight school for “The recruitment of former United States and Nato fighter pilots to train Chinese People’s Liberation Army pilots at the Test Flying Academy of South Africa which the Department of Commerce added to the Entity List on June 12, 2023.”

TFASA however rubbished the accusations, saying the US Bill “suggests that TFASA plays a role in undermining democracy in South Africa, which is absurd; and in weakening the diplomatic relationship between the United States and South Africa, which TFASA rejects”.

TFASA is claiming that this latest accusation is ‘backlash’ after they refused to hand over details about their clients to the US government.

TFASA made it clear in a statement that they had no ties with the US, saying “We do not employ any US nationals, and none of TFASA’s activities involve any US nationals, businesses, goods, transhipments, or services whatsoever.”  In other words, stay in your lane.

UK Ministry of Defence also jumped on the bandwagon after a 2022 statement which noted that “there would be a crackdown on former British military pilots who provided training to members of the People’s Liberation Army of China.”

TFASA insisted that the UK had never raised any issues before, but nonetheless terminated the employment of UK nationals in its employ. The plot however sickened after a US pilot, Daniel Duggan, was arrested in Australia (where he has citizenship) on charges of “money laundering, violating the Arms Export Control Act, and a conspiracy to provide defence services to China.”

This arrest pulled South Africa into the mess after he was accused by the US of conspiring with people in South Africa. These ‘conspirators included a test flight academy based in South Africa that also had a presence in China, TFASA’s South African chief executive officer, and a South African lawyer who was “an associate of Duggan’s.”

“Duggan provided military training to PRC military pilots by, with and through [the South African test flight academy] in or around October-November 2010, March 2012, November 2012, and other times both known and unknown to the grand jury.”

TFASA however told Daily Maverick that Duggan “undertook one test pilot contract” for the academy in South Africa “over 10 years ago”. Since then, there has been no contact with the pilot.

The flight school claims that they are just one of many academies around the world, yet they are being targeted by the US.

“TFASA does not provide any classified military training, nor train frontline pilots, and all training is based on open-source material or material provided by clients.”

The US is obsessed with the ‘wolves at the door’ and sees a threat to their security everywhere they don’t call the shots. Perhaps the ‘world police’ should rather look domestically for threats to democracy.

[source:dailymaverick]