Publications
Partners
President Jacob Zuma prefers flying in aircraft with the South African Air Force, not chartered planes.
In a statement today, the presidency said that recent media reports, which quoted aviation experts saying that Zuma preferred chartered aircrafts, were untrue.
In fact, the Presidency agreed that it would be “more cost-effective for the government” to make use of smaller aircraft for local travel and the general use of the air force fleet rather than hiring aircraft.
“The president and deputy president utilise aircraft provided by the sir force. Currently both the president and deputy president have been transported in chartered aircraft locally and abroad due to non-availability of reliable aircraft within the air force fleet,” said the statement.
The defence ministry came under fire this week over its aviation plans for the presidency which were criticised as being extravagant
The ministry confirmed in a written parliamentary reply that R100 million had been allocated for a “VIP-configured jet” over the next financial year. The aircraft is due to be delivered to the air force in November.
Saying this amounted to R273 972 a day to lease the jet, the Democratic Alliance pointed out that this was more than double the price of a first-class round trip to London.
Thereafter, the air force planned to buy a second presidential jet for between R1 billion and R2.8 billion, the Sunday Times reported. It quoted experts saying that these costs were unnecessary, that 21 Squadron had enough smaller aircraft and that the presidential jet Inkwazi was in working order.
Last year, City Press reported that Armscor planned to buy a jet for Zuma which could cost as much as R4 billion.
