Nineteen South Africans were almost stranded in Accra when their passports were stolen on Sunday night from the African Regent Hotel a.k.a Hotel Kufuor or Hotel "Waa Waa". John "Chief" Kufuor jnr, son of Ghana's President John Kufuor, is the CEO of the group that owns the hotel, which is near the president's official residence. After a whole day at the South African embassy in Accra, the group got temporary passports and were due to return to South Africa late on Monday night. The group, which included journalists and employees of cellphone giant MTN, had attended the opening match of the Africa Cup soccer tournament as guests of MTN. An MTN spokesperson, Nozipho January-Bardill, confirmed the theft in a statement on Monday. MTN says their support of the Africa Cup has not been dampened by the theft, fortunately. The MTN group confirmed there had been "a breach of security" at a hotel housing MTN guests and that the passports of some of the guests had been stolen. According to one of the journalists, who asked to remain anonymous, they had to hand their passports to MTN personnel on their arrival in Ghana in order to facilitate security clearance. The group's passports were suppossed to be kept in a safe in the African Regent Hotel, where they were staying. The journalist said there was no safe in the hotel room of the MTN employee who was keeping the passports. The group attended the opening match between Guinea and the host, Ghana, after which they went to celebrate Ghana's victory. On their return to the hotel, they found the room had been broken into and all 19 South African passports, as well as a British one and a laptop, had been stolen. Hotel manager Norbert Angerer is reported to have said that the incidence was deeply regreted. SOURCE: GHANAWEB