Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has again refused to divulge the costs involved in sending extra aircraft to “shadow” President Jacob Zuma’s presidential jet to New York in January.
In a written reply to a parliamentary question from DA MP David Maynier – which came 15 days after it was due – Sisulu simply referred the opposition MP to a media statement issued by the Defence Department on February 20.
That statement failed to provide details about the costs involved.
Instead, it said information about flight schedules for the “president and other principles” was “confidential” due to “safety considerations” and that the information “cannot be in the public domain”.
“That is not good enough. It leaves several important questions unanswered… The minister has a track record of attempting to hide information by avoiding parliamentary questions or by providing non-replies to questions,” Maynier said on Thursday.
He undertook to follow the matter up with National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu.
Earlier this month Sisulu prevented SA Air Force chief General Carlo Gagiano from briefing Parliament’s joint standing committee on defence on the state of the air force, saying the information he was to provide “might be classified”.
Defence Ministry spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya told the Cape Argus yesterday that he had “no further additions” to the parliamentary response given by his minister.
Asked whether he could provide details about the costs of the shadow operations, Mabaya said members of the media “should use Paia (the Promotion of Access to Information Act)” if they wanted the information.
After initial media reports in January suggested that a single plane had shadowed Zuma’s Boeing BBJ to New York on January 10, the Cape Argus revealed that in fact two planes had been used during the back-up operation. After initial denials, Mabaya admitted this was so. - Political Bureau
