Sisulu's O3 addiction cost R11 Million in rentals

Two of President Jacob Zuma's senior cabinet ministers - public service's Lindiwe Sisulu and her defence counterpart, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula - are embroiled in a nasty row that is threatening to spill into South Africa's courts.

Details of the feud are contained in a series of explosive letters and documents that show Sisulu racked up an R11-million bill for chartered flights on a Gulfstream jet while she was defence minister.

Sisulu has accused her colleague of lying about the number of these flights, taken between September 2009 and February 2012.

The Sunday Times has seen the flight schedules and can today for the first time reveal the staggering cost to the taxpayer for trips between Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria as well as several foreign destinations.

Mapisa-Nqakula, in a written response to parliament in October 2012, said Sisulu had taken 203 flights on the private jet. Sisulu has insisted she took only 35.

The ministers appear to be at odds over how to calculate those journeys.

Documents show that on one occasion, the jet took off from Lanseria airport, landed at Ysterplaat Air Force Base in Cape Town, headed to Durban, then on to Swartkop Air Force Base in Pretoria and returned to Lanseria. Sisulu maintains this is one trip; Mapisa-Nqakula's calculations put it at four. This flight cost taxpayers R241,154.

Three days later, the jet flew from Lanseria to OR Tambo International Airport and on to Cape Town before returning to Lanseria. This flight cost R162306.

Three days later, the jet travelled from Lanseria to Ysterplaat, then OR Tambo, before returning to Lanseria. This flight cost R171042.

According to Mapisa-Nqakula's parliamentary submission, Sisulu undertook regular journeys on the jet, including seven overseas trips.

Between May 24 and May 27 2010, Sisulu travelled to Uganda, Turkey, Algiers and Sudan at a cost of just more than R1.1-million.

The following year, between August 9 and 12, Sisulu travelled to Burundi at a cost of R508488.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times this week, Sisulu vowed to clear her name and confirmed that she was considering legal action against her cabinet colleague.

"I want that expunged from my records with the necessary apology and the necessary remedy. I will not have it. I've worked very hard for this government and my reputation is not going to be sacrificed on something silly like that," she said.

The two ministers are among only four women in the top 15 of the ANC's election list. The timing of the public release of Sisulu's alleged extravagance along with the letters points to a behind-the-scenes battle for powerful cabinet positions after the May 7 national elections.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has been drawn into the fray. The Sunday Times is in possession of nine letters about the issue sent between the offices of Sisulu, Mapisa-Nqakula and Motlanthe - as leader of government business - during November and December 2012. They provide rare insight into the tenor of interaction in the current cabinet.

On November 9 2012, Sisulu wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula: "The answer you gave was wrong and I am of the opinion that this was deliberate." She asked Mapisa-Nqakula to withdraw the answer.

On the same day, Sisulu wrote to Motlanthe to insist Mapisa-Nqakula's answer was "NOT TRUE" [sic].

On November 15, Sisulu wrote to Motlanthe: "That the minister [Mapisa-Nqakula] is wrong is clear as daylight and she should know that I have worked with the SANDF and its operations longer than she has had contact with them. I crafted the handbook on VVIP planes."

She stated her belief that there was "a malicious and deliberate attempt to cause damage to my integrity", part of "a deliberate pattern".

"Minister Mapisa-Nqakula is wrong, she knows she is wrong and the only reason she is doing this, I am convinced, is deliberate," concluded Sisulu.

On November 18, Sisulu wrote a long letter to Motlanthe, asking him to act and invoking the Sisulu family name: "I can live with the pain and embarrassment that comes with being a politician, but I will not sacrifice my integrity. My integrity is central to my being, central to how, as a family, we define essential values. This I must guard with my life."

In a separate paragraph, she stated: "I AM DEEPLY AGGRIEVED" [sic].

The ministerial handbook gives the South African National Defence Force the responsibility to transport the defence minister, and authorises chartered aircraft use only when there are time constraints or commercial airline use is not cost-effective, or for health reasons.

The fight between the two started two years ago when Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier asked a routine parliamentary oversight question about the number of chartered Gulfstream jet flights Sisulu undertook.

Mapisa-Nqakula answered with her version of events and stuck to it. At some point, while Mapisa-Nqakula was out of the country and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini was nominally acting as defence minister, Dlamini withdrew the parliamentary answer.

This week, Sisulu said she was "hopping mad" about the matter and would take any steps possible to get Mapisa-Nqakula to apologise to her.

Sisulu said Mapisa-Nqakula had allowed herself to be caught up in a campaign to smear her name following her initiative to tackle corruption in the public service.

She said she had reported Mapisa-Nqakula to the public protector and parliamentary ethics committee.

The public protector's office yesterday confirmed that it was investigating Sisulu's complaint against Mapisa-Nqakula.

She has taken legal advice and will, if necessary, use the courts to clear her name. "My integrity is everything I have ... I will not sacrifice it for everybody. I do everything with integrity and I am going to protect it with all I have.

"I mean, how do I go to anybody now and say please come and vote for the ANC? This is an organisation that has given so much and they look at me and they see a flight? No, no, no," she said.

"I want that expunged from my records with the necessary apology and the necessary remedy. "

Sisulu took another swipe at Mapisa-Nqakula, pointing out that she had flown with her to an African Union summit in Angola in 2012, both enjoying the luxuries of the aircraft.

"Interestingly, on about six or seven of these flights was my successor. So she would have known that we did not fly to Angola six times, but we flew to Angola once.

"Because what happened is that the plane left Waterkloof with her in the plane to come here [Cape Town] because I was in a portfolio committee, to pick me up to go to Angola for an AU summit meeting.

"In fact, what would be interesting would be to get a breakdown of who was in the flight with the minister. Very rarely are these flights just the minister.

"So when you talk about the R10-million, you're ... not counting the totality of the office and the people who use that flight."

Mapisa-Nqakula denies being part of any campaign to tarnish Sisulu's name.

"The minister of defence would like to state categorically that at no time, in the present or the past, has she ever had any reason to conduct a smear campaign against Minister Sisulu.

"Even with the current misunderstanding, such a possibility remains so remote, given their personal relationship and the long bonds formed during years of struggle and comradeship. These are relationships she values deeply," said her spokeswoman, Joy Peter.

Mapisa-Nqakula said she would not respond to Sisulu's threats because she was dealing with the matter through Motlanthe's office.

"The minister will continue to deal with the matter through the office of the leader of government business, and this is her preferred channel to address issues of this nature. As a result, the minister cannot respond to any suggestion for a possible legal action against her," said Peter.

mokonet@sundaytimes.co.za

joubertj@sundaytimes.co.za

An expensive way to travel

Lindiwe Sisulu, when she was minister of defence, took 15 return trips on a private jet between Johannesburg and Pretoria and Cape Town, at a total cost of R3216988 and an average of R214466 per return flight.

The flights started at Lanseria or Waterkloof Air Force Base, went via OR Tambo International Airport and landed at Ysterplaat Air Force Base, before returning to OR Tambo, then Lanseria or Waterkloof. Sisulu was not on every leg of the flights.

By way of comparison, had the minister booked a return flight on a commercial airline, the average costs (based on Kulula/British Airways quotes) would have been:

• Booking 24 hours before, to leave and return the next day: R5250.
• Booking one week before: R4250.
• Booking a month before: R3000.
• Using an average of three people per flight, the cost savings would have been:
• 24 hours, average commercial flight: R15750; average private jet: R214466. Average saving per trip: R198716.
• One week, average commercial flight: R12750; average private jet: R214466. Average saving per trip: R201716.
• One month, average commercial flight: R9000; average private jet: R214466. Average saving per trip: R205466.
• This is an average saving of about R200000 a flight.

Using that average, if the minister had flown on a commercial airline instead of a private jet, the 15 flights she took between Gauteng and the Western Cape would have cost roughly R3-million less than on a private jet.

The commercial airlines total would have been R217000. The cost using a private jet was R3.2-million.

Kulula and British Airways had at least 10 options available for 24-hour bookings. Booking further ahead increased the options to between 20 and 30 flights.

The legs between OR Tambo and Lanseria airports, so-called ferry flights, cost about R7000 a trip. Those 15 ferry flights cost about R105000, or half the minister's total cost had she used a commercial airline. - Gareth van Onselen

- Timeslive

Still no answer on Sisulu’s flights

Cape Town -

Military discipline relies on following orders and on meticulous record-keeping.

But that seems to have unravelled when it comes to the number of charter flights undertaken by former defence minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

Her successor, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, had to admit on Tuesday that she still could not provide a parliamentary answer to DA MP David Maynier, more than a year after the question was asked.

“I have consistently received contradicting information from the department (of defence) in respect of this parliamentary question and have resultantly not been able to assertively provide the requisite reply in this regard,” Mapisa-Nqakula said in response to a parliamentary question by Maynier’s DA colleague Shahid Esau.

Last week, Maynier unsuccessfully tried to read out in the National Assembly a list of Gulfstream jet flights taken by Sisulu during her stint at the helm of the defence force, as he had vowed to do earlier in the year.

He was quickly cut short by a parliamentary point of order from Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor, who interjected just as Maynier had finished reading that “on a Friday, a Gulfstream jet departs from Lanseria International Airport and lands at Air Force Base Ysterplaat to collect the minister in Cape Town. The flight was empty. The flight cost plus minus R100 000… ”

For Mapisa-Nqakula it is the second time she has been embarrassed on the same issue.

Her response last year that her predecessor took 203 flights, at an estimated R200 000 each, was withdrawn from the parliamentary record after Sisulu rejected the costs and maintained she had taken only 35 flights - with her office on several subsequent occasions saying there was nothing to add on this matter.

However, Maynier has promised to continue trying to get to the bottom of what he believed was R40 million spent on luxury charter flights.

“The fact is Lindiwe Sisulu treated the air force like her personal airborne taxi service. She zoomed up and down the country like a yo-yo, wasting millions of rands. So I’m not surprised the air force lost count of number of flights she undertook,” Maynier told the Cape Argus.

“Thankfully, her wings have been clipped. The poor minister must be desperately missing her favourite privately owned ultra-luxury Gulfstream executive jet. The transition back to ‘chicken or beef’ on South African Airways must have been traumatic.” - Cape Argus

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