Nkandla flights ‘strain SAAF budget’

EXPENSIVE daily helicopter flights between President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence and the King Shaka International Airport are further straining the shrinking budgets of the South African Air Force (SAAF), says the South African National Defence Union (Sandu).

An insufficient budget has led to half the Gripen fighter fleet being placed in storage, and the Agusta A109 light utility helicopter fleet has been grounded. Flying hours per pilot have been cut by as much as two-thirds and numerous maintenance contracts have been placed on hold.

Sandu national secretary Pikkie Greeff said while many air force units were being starved of resources for operations and training, money was being spent to transport Mr Zuma from the airport to Nkandla.

In KwaZulu-Natal, two helicopter squadrons on the coast have received no funding this year for sea and mountain rescue operations, but have funding for VIP flights, according to a report. Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday that 15 Squadron, based in Durban, was allowed a small number of flight hours for training, but 300 hours for VIP flights.

Mr Zuma uses his presidential jet to fly to King Shaka International Airport in Durban and two Oryx helicopters to fly 100km from there to Nkandla.

Beeld says these helicopter flights are estimated to cost about R36,000 each.

The media-shy air force chief, Lt-Gen Fabian Msimang, admitted to his staff at the weekend that the air force was experiencing difficulties but urged them to remain in the service. His address was leaked to DefenceWeb, apparently by a staff member.

The air force said on Tuesday Lt-Gen Msimang was speaking informally to officers and staff of 80 Air Navigation School (80 ANS) at Ysterplaat base, but was not aware any media representatives were present. He has avoided the media after reports were published about budget deficiencies leading to reduced flying hours for young pilots, lack of serviceable aircraft, and the poor morale of air crew.

Mr Greeff said Lt-Gen Msimang should realise he is a military leader, not a politician, and should refrain from going around units promising the SAAF will get better. "He is not in charge of the budget, the minister (Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula) and the government through the Treasury are responsible for insufficient funding within the SAAF."

The poor serviceability of the SAAF fleet was blamed on the cancellation of the Denel Aero Manpower Group (AMG) servicing contract from April 1. As a result, the SAAF’s air servicing units lost 389 skilled technicians. Only 139 specialists were retained in terms of a negotiated skills supply agreement and they were deployed to units across South Africa.

DefenceWeb also reported that Lt-Gen Msimang said the cancellation of the Denel-AMG contract was not an air force decision. It was evergreen and had been running for many years. "The auditor-general had an opinion that we had to end it because it was not conforming to the Public Finance Management Act, so we had to do something."

He also said that the air force, because of planning in silos, did not maximise people’s potential, to use them effectively. As a result, it was "overstocked with senior personnel". He was restructuring the air force "because the way it is configured right now is not working optimally".

- BDLive

Zuma’s VVIP jet queried

The Department of Defence’s plans to spend millions on a jet for the country’s “No 1” have met with little enthusiasm, but experts say that spending on planes with military airlift capacity is a different matter and concur with the defence minister that many of the country’s military’s planes are “antiques”.

Weekend Argus reported yesterday that Defence Minister Nosiviwe-Mapisa Nqakula had announced her department would buy a new VVIP (very very important person) jet, and focus on building strategic airlift capacity, which was sorely lacking. While the budget for the VVIP jet has not been announced, speculation is that it will come from the R4.6 billion in the department’s “secret” account.

Last year, it scrapped plans to buy a new VVIP jet at a price tag of R2bn.

On Friday, Mapisa-Nqakula said buying new aircraft was a matter of urgency since her department was spending millions on chartering flights for VIPs and for airlifting because South Africa had unsuitable or outdated planes.

Yesterday, defence analyst Helmoed Heitman agreed, describing some of the government’s planes as “antiques”. He said because there were no planes with long range and heavy airlift capacity, military equipment had to be transported in pieces and re-assembled on the other side, and troops flew in chartered planes.

The defence force’s VIP squadron 21 operates four planes: the presidential jet, bought in 2002; a Falcon 900 in 1991; and two Falcon 50s in 1982 and 1985, refurbished in 2005.

South Africa’s Hercules carriers date back to 1962 and 1963.

Heitman said South Africa had erred in buying the R600 million Boeing Business Jet, now named Inkwazi, as the presidential jet in 2002, as it was too small and its range was too short.

DA spokesman on defence David Maynier disagreed: “The defence operating budget has been cut to the bone and you would think scarce resources would be directed to the needs of the defence force, rather than (those) of the president.”

South African National Defence Union spokesman Pikkie Greeff also said spending should focus on “military capacity more than VVIP jets. We need to spend more on logistics and troop transport, unless the president will allow the defence force to use his VVIP jet the next time we need to extract soldiers from an operation”.

Greeff said that while he welcomed the minister’s “candid admissions” about the lack of airlift capacity, the issue had only really became problematic after the recent troubles experienced in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Heitman said troops deployed to the CAR had travelled there on chartered flights, and chartered flights had been used to extract some of them.

“Our air transport capacity is way below what we need to do the required work,” he said.

Heitman cited as an example the South African Search and Rescue Organisation, which effects “maritime and aeronautical searches” from half way between South America and South Africa, to half way between South Africa and Australia, and the South Pole. The SANDF is one of the government departments involved, but cannot “begin to cover” the area with its planes.

- IOL

SA to splash out on new jet for Zuma

Cape Town - The defence force is back in the market for
purchasing presidential jets as well as planes that will give
the military its own airlift capacity.
Previous plans to buy a R2 billion presidential jet and
Airbuses were scuppered amid widespread controversy and
public outrage.
But now the Defence Ministry is determined to buy the
planes as a matter of urgency.

The department has been allocated money by the Treasury and intends splashing out on the new aircraft as soon
as possible, according to Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
Addressing a breakfast at the Cape Town Press Club at the Castle of Good Hope yesterday, Mapisa-Nqakula said
the Department of Defence was spending millions of rand each week chartering aircraft, because many of its planes
were so old they belonged in museums.

The minister said the department was looking to buy VVIP jets as well as strategic airlifting capability planes as
soon as possible.
“We’re running out of time.”
VVIP refers to “very, very important people” and includes the president, the deputy president, former presidents and
the minister and deputy ministers of defence.

“Every week without fail, we pay millions of rand chartering aircraft for strategic airlift capability, which far exceeds
the money we would have spent by purchasing,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.
“If you look at some of our aircraft, they’re 60 to 62 years old and should be museum pieces and we use them to
ferry our people around,” she continued. “I won’t elaborate on some of the experiences I’ve had and what I’ve seen
happening, but this process (to buy aircraft) must begin.”

In 2009, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe had to make an emergency landing in the DRC after problems with
his jet. In 2011, an aircraft in which Motlanthe was due to travel encountered problems before take-off from the
Waterkloof Air Force Base. And in December, a SANDF Dakota crashed in the Drakensberg, killing 11 people.
The minister said: “We don’t know what happened there but that plane was over 60 year old and as far as I’m
concerned, no human being should be flying in it.”

She said the Treasury had allocated money for buying the VVIP jets. She would issue directives for the purchase,
after which the chief of the SANDF would have to implement it, while complying with the Public Finance
Management Act.

Mapisa-Nqakula was part of a delegation led by President Jacob Zuma which has just returned from Russia.
Following the visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said South Africa was in talks with Russia about buying
passenger jets.

Putin had revealed that these were MS-21 jets. However, they are reportedly going into production only in 2017,
and, except for a planned top-end version that is nowhere near production, all the models are mid-range – 5
000km or less – which would make them less than suitable for South Africa’s purposes.

In 2005, South Africa committed to buying eight Airbus A400M planes, intended to enhance the defence force’s
airlift capacity and reduce its heavy reliance on ageing chartered Russian cargo planes to transport troops and
equipment. The deal was cancelled in 2009 after concerns about its affordability.
In December 2010, in the wake of a series of embarrassments around VIP jet charters, the cabinet approved the
medium-term acquisition of four VVIP aircraft.

Last year, shortly after she became defence minister, Mapisa-Nqakula cancelled plans to purchase a “super-bling”
presidential jet, a R2 billion Boeing 777-200LR. A deposit had been paid for the aircraft, but after seeking legal
opinion, it was determined that the offer to purchase the jet had lapsed.

At the time she said she was looking into a lease contract to act as a stop-gap while they went through a tender
process to procure the VVIP jets. The ministry’s about-turn followed a refusal by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan
to condone a deviation from normal procurement processes.
Saturday Star

A slap on the wrist for wasting R1.6m

President Jacob Zuma has slapped Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson on the wrist for spending R1.6-million of public funds on lengthy stays at lavish hotels.

Zuma yesterday wrote to National Assembly speaker Max Sisulu informing him that he had reprimanded Joemat-Pettersson for violating the executive ethics code.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela last year found Joemat-Pettersson guilty of breaching the code by spending more than R420000 at a Johannesburg guesthouse during the 2010 Soccer World Cup and another R151000 of taxpayers' money to fly her children from a holiday in Sweden, among other transgressions.

Zuma's reprimand of Joemat-Pettersson follows a recommendation by Madonsela that he take action against her.

"I had an opportunity to engage with Minister Joemat-Pettersson on the findings of the public protector. After careful consideration of the public protector's findings on the matter, as well as Minister Joemat-Pettersson's submission on the matter, I have reprimanded [her] for her violation of the executive ethics code," said Zuma in his letter to Sisulu.

DA MP Annette Steyn said it was "terrible" that Zuma had merely reprimanded the minister.

She said it was now up to parliament's joint ethics committee to ensure she fully repaid the money.

"It's terrible that she's just being reprimanded . According to the public protector, the minister lied about her use of public funds. I will ask that the letter be discussed by the ethics committee," Steyn said.

But Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj insisted Zuma had dealt "sufficiently" with the matter.

"The president has acted to the recommendations filed by the public protector. We believe that is sufficient," said Maharaj.

In 2011, Zuma expelled then Cooperative Governance minister Sicelo Shiceka when a similar inquiry by the public protector concluded that he had abused public money by visiting a girlfriend serving time in a Switzerland prison.

Madonsela found that Joemat-Pettersson acted against the provisions of the ministerial handbook by spending public funds on flight tickets for her children.

The minister travelled to Sweden in December 2009 on official business but combined the trip with a family holiday.

Her spokesman, Palesa Mokomele, said the minister had started repaying the R151000 she owed but could not say how much had been paid back so far.

"She's made arrangements to pay that money ... I can't divulge how she's repaying it or whether it's being paid in full but the money is being paid ... The minister has made a commitment to comply with all the recommendations of that report," Mokomele said.

Joemat-Pettersson, who earns R2 -million a year, disclosed in the register of MPs' interests in 2011 that she received R200000 a month in child maintenance from the estate of her late husband.

She also has unlimited travel benefits from the same trust and owns a summer house and a flat in Stockholm, Sweden.

- Timeslive

Motlanthe defends his island holiday

Parliament, Cape Town - Paying with public money for transport and security on his Christmas break in the Seychelles was in line with government policy, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Wednesday.

Responding to a question in the National Assembly, he confirmed he had not performed any official duties between December 23 and January 4, and had in fact been on vacation at the Indian Ocean archipelago at the time.

The question was posed by Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier, who last month said it was “simply wrong for Deputy President Motlanthe to have used public funds to pay for part of his vacation in the Seychelles, when so many people in our country are living in poverty”.

Maynier said in a statement at the time that a Falcon 900 aircraft, operated by the SA Air Force’s VIP squadron, was used to transport Motlanthe - together with a number of passengers - from Waterkloof airforce base to Mahe Island International Airport on December 23.

Further, a Cessna Caravan aircraft, chartered by South Africa's defence department, was used on the same day to take Motlanthe, and a number of passengers, from Mahe airport to Desroches Island (Seychelles).

“Deputy President Motlanthe, together with a number of passengers, stayed at Desroches Island Resort, which is advertised as one of 'Forbes Top Ten Remote Destinations in the World'.”

The same aircraft had then been used, on January 4, to return Motlanthe to South Africa.

While it was known that the cost of chartering the Cessna Caravan was R83 000, the cost of operating the Falcon 900 was unknown.

“However, the total cost of operating the Falcon 900 and chartering the Cessna Caravan could have been as much as R1 million,” Maynier said.

Motlanthe said he wished to “relieve” Maynier of his anxiety regarding the holiday.

In terms of government policy, transport for the deputy president, whether for official or private purposes, was the responsibility of the state.

“The state also has a duty to provide security for the deputy president at all times, whether he is engaged in official duties, or while he is on leave.”

This policy had been re-affirmed by Cabinet on March 20, 2007.

The SA Police Service was responsible for security involving ground transport, while the SA National Defence Force was responsible for air transport.

“The deputy president has no role whatsoever in the planning and carrying out of operations concerning his own transport and security.

“These matters, including deployment of personnel and equipment, as well as related costs, are managed by the competent state organs,” Motlanthe said. - Sapa