“Whether president Aristide had requested the South African authority to leave? The answer is yes,” she told a media briefing in Cape Town on Thursday.
The minister did not say whether Aristide would be back in Haiti before March 20, when the country goes to the polls for the second round of presidential elections after a bitterly disputed first round in November.
“We are consulting with all interested parties to facilitate his return back home at the appropriate time,” she said.
Aristide has spent most of his time in South Africa since he fled a popular uprising in Haiti in 2004.
Washington has voiced fears that his return would be “a distraction” to the political process in Haiti.
Aristide planned a return last week, but this has been delayed by the American and South African governments.
If he does not return before the election, he will really find himself irrelevant and forgotten. When someone else sits in the presidential chair, Aristide will be a part of the past.
Already his people are flocking to Michel Martelly.
Aristide has lost his touch.
He had a chance to retain something had he backed Jean Henry Ceant. But his suspicion and jealous nature would not let him do this. Instead, he messed up the election and no one won, especially the country he claims to love.
He will be largely responsible for what is about to happen.
I believe this non-action has closed the real door on him – forever.