All they want for Christmas is a flying carpet

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu. Photo: Mxolisi Madela

Times are hard, Christmas is just around the corner and the last time President Jacob Zuma flew to New York it cost R6.33 million, so Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has come up with a cheaper alternative to put in his Christmas stocking – a magic carpet.

She revealed in a written parliamentary reply to the DA’s David Maynier on Wednesday that the chartered flight which took Zuma to a UN General Assembly meeting in September had cost R3.73m for the Boeing 727 and its crew and an estimated R2.6m for fuel and handling.

However, in a riposte to Maynier’s suggestion that Zuma was about to receive a “very big Christmas present” in the form of two new aircraft for him and Kgalema Motlanthe, Sisulu suggested it would be cheaper for the president and his deputy to use a Persian carpet.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly was debating the budget adjustments for national departments, when Maynier rose and tossed Sisulu a curve-ball:

“I understand… that the honourable minister is in the process of buying the honourable deputy president a VERY BIG Christmas present,” he declared, referring to reports the defence department is to cough up R1.6 billion to acquire two new aircraft for the use of Zuma and his deputy, Motlanthe.

“Will the minister tell this House whether she really believes that it is justified to purchase business jets at the cost of billions of rands, when so many of our people are poor and destitute?”

Sisulu, unimpressed, unleashed her withering sense of humour: “However, for your own benefit, honourable Maynier, I have just returned from Oman. I went to the souk, which is their market.

“And I went shopping,” she announced defiantly, shooting Maynier a deadpan glance.

“I went shopping for Persian carpets, because I am informed they still fly, as they did so many years ago. I’m thinking perhaps it might be cheaper to get a Persian carpet for the president and deputy president if they’re not going to get business jets. I don’t know what else you expect them to use.”

MPs, including Maynier, collapsed with mirth, but the dogged opposition member decided to push the envelope of his love-hate relationship with the minister with his next question.

“One must conclude from the minister’s reply that she has in fact not read her own adjustments budget.

“Had she done so she would have known that there’s a very substantial virement (adjustment) to support the VIP (transport) capability. But the question is, since the minister is doing so much Christmas shopping, will she be buying me a Christmas present this year?” he asked.

But Sisulu was not in a forgiving mood: “But the next Christmas present that you would appreciate is to be on the front page of every newspaper, that’s what you live for every day… And other elements of representing the poor is just a by-the-way and is an excuse.”

Maynier had had the rug pulled from under him. - Political Bureau