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Why Cyril Ramaphosa had to use a Gupta plane

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Picture: Adrian Munro
Picture: Adrian Munro

The SA Air Force pays up to $30 000 (R400 000) per course for advanced training for its VIP pilots, but four of the six sessions it booked and paid for overseas were cancelled this year at the last minute.

A senior air force officer involved in the training told City Press’ sister newspaper, Rapport, that the air force still had to pay for all forfeited bookings because the courses were booked and paid for a year in advance.

It is through training in flight simulators in the US that pilots earn their stripes as captains.

But bureaucratic red tape between the air force’s different departments has seen the training being turned down – because it is considered a nonessential “luxury”.

This is partly the reason 21 Squadron, the air force’s VIP squadron, had access to enough planes this past week, but not to enough captains to fly Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and a government delegation on an official trip to Japan.

A jet, owned by the Gupta family, had to be hired through aviation company ExecuJet. That plane belongs to Westdawn Investments, and President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane is one of its directors.

It is understood that 21 Squadron has only a few expert pilots on its books after some of them resigned or retired. Ironically, the two pilots who flew Ramaphosa to Japan were former air force pilots who had left for greener pastures.

The planes can be manned by a minimum of two flying crew – a captain and a co-pilot. The president is also flying to China this week and there had to be enough captains available for that flight. This left the number two plane, a Falcon 900, understaffed.

There is a team of co-pilots with the squadron, but they have found themselves in a bottleneck as a result of the simulator-training cancellation.

On Friday, the air force said its department that approved upcoming travel and accommodation costs for training did not understand the urgent need for it.

The air force is now developing a system that will prevent these problems.

The same issue exists at 28 Squadron – the feeder unit for the VIP squadron. There, too, simulation training was hobbled.

This squadron’s training in America is supplied free of charge to South Africa by the US Air Force, but – even so – the training is being turned down, partly because the recipients need to be representative of South African society.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said at a press conference called to discuss the latest Gupta scandal that the air force was facing an ongoing problem when it came to training enough pilots.

South African pilots were therefore undergoing training in Cuba. A second group was on its way there. She was also negotiating with the Ethiopian Air Force for help in training more pilots. She denied that there was a problem with the approvals for advanced training.

According to the air force, she “signed off” several courses over this past week for final approval after the need for them reached critical levels.

To plug the advanced-training gap, the air force is also considering reopening its air-transport training school in Bloemfontein, which was closed years ago for cost-saving reasons.

According to Mapisa-Nqakula, it is essential that new planes be bought for the VIP squadron so that the air force does not have to hire planes.

Plans for this are to be executed in phases and she said she would seek Cabinet approval in due course.

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