Why did South Africa Seize an Air Tanzania Plane?

South Africa’s seizure of an Air Tanzania aircraft last week was linked to a land compensation claim that dates to the 1980s, the East African nation’s government said. The Airbus 220-300 was due to fly from Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

A retired farmer has said the aircraft was impounded because Tanzania’s government had not paid him $33m (£28.8m) it owes in compensation. Lawyer Roger Wakefield told the Media the money was awarded after Tanzania’s government seized lands belonging to the South African farmer.

A Tanzanian government spokesperson told the Media that the country’s lawyers had arrived in South Africa to investigate. In a statement on Friday, Air Tanzania said that it expected to make flight schedule adjustments “due to unforeseeable circumstances” but did not give any further details.

The carrier’s managing director Ladislaus Matindi told Media arrangements had been made for passengers to resume their journey on another flight. The move comes barely two months after Air Tanzania opened its service to South Africa.

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has led attempts to revive the state-owned airline, hoping to boost tourism and turn the country into a major transportation hub. It had just one plane when the president was elected in 2015. Since then, millions of dollars have been spent on the purchase of eight new aircraft.

But the carrier is battling several multi-million-dollar lawsuits with its former suppliers. This is also not the first time Air Tanzania has had a plane seized. In 2017, Canadian construction firm Stirling Civil Engineering seized the airline’s new Bombardier Q400 plane in Canada over a $38m lawsuit.

The Q400 was released in March 2018 after Tanzania’s prime minister and attorney general negotiated its release. No details were given about the terms of the settlement.