Ghana government’s chartered flight that ferried the first batch of soccer fans to cheer the Black Stars at the FIFA World Cup tournament has been grounded by South African authorities, Daily Guide can confirm.

The huge Max Air Plane from Nigeria, which flew about 520 soccer fans, was on Saturday evening at Stand still at the OR Tembo International Airport at Johannesburg. The South African authorities took that shocking decision because the plane entered their airspace on Friday afternoon without their approval and notification.

The pilot and crew on board the plane have also been charged, and as at the time of going to press, attempts by Ghana authorities who hired the airplane to get it released had proved futile. Despite Ghana government’s intention, South African authorities insist they could only sit on the thorny issue today and it is not known if the plane would be released.

The Max Air plane, with Ghanaian soccer fans on board, had earlier in the day been forced by South African authorities to land at a military base at Mafikeng. The plane had entered South Africa air space at a time when the opening ceremony of the World Cup was underway, though it had been decided and announced in advance that no plane should do so due to security reasons.

The plane was at standstill at the Mafikeng Airport for almost four hours, under guard of armed military men and resulted in starvation of the soccer fans since food was in short supply in the plane. The delay, stress and starvation caused several soccer fans, mostly the elderly, to collapse while the flight was grounded and they were eventually saved by a handful of Ghanaian nurses and medical doctors on board the plane who put their expertise into display.

President John Evans Atta Mills, who was at the opening ceremony, had to talk to President Jacob Zuma before the plane was allowed to leave for Johannesburg, amid military jet guard. Nii Lantey Vanderpuye confirmed the report to a section of the Ghanaian press at the tournament in South Africa, saying “President Mills abandoned the opening ceremony and worked to pave way for the starving fans to be flown to Johannesburg.” According to him, the problem erupted because “the original plane that Ghana chartered disappointed us at the last minute. So we hired the Max Air at the last minute to fly the fans to South Africa.

Mr. Vanderpuye said maybe the short span, perhaps, prevented the plane’s managers from seeking the right to enter into South Africa airspace, leading to the eventual grounding of the plane. Since the grounding of the plane, he said, government had worked to no avail to get the plane released to enable it fly back to Ghana to bring in more soccer fans. The South African authorities, he noted, are prepared to open talks about the issue on Monday June 14, 2010 but it is not clear if the plane would be released.