DR Congo flag carriers in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League TP Mazembe will have to travel in batches to South Africa after the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) denied club’s chartered plane flight permit.
Mazembe are due to face Mamelodi Sundowns in Pretoria on Saturday and had applied for flight permit that has since been denied by the ANR following orders from superiors.
The first contingent consisting of Mazembe’s technical staff has since left Lubumbashi club aboard a Kenyan Airways flight.
Owing to the ANR’s decision, Mazembe will have to spend over 24 hours to reach their destination.
Mazembe will have to fly into Nairobi before connecting to Pretoria for a trip that would have normally taken two hours.
President Fèlix Tshisekedi has instructed the ANR to ground all of opposition leader and Mazembe President Moïse Katumbi’s functions in the Congolese aerial space.