Not happy with the slow pace of response from Parliamentary authorities regarding its Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) request for maintenance and service records of the Presidential Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), the Democratic Alliance (DA) has now gone to one of the SA Air Force’s major service providers for this information.
At the same time military analyst Darren Olivier has shone some light on the cost of chartering VIP appointed jet aircraft to ferry President Jacob Zuma and his immediate entourage on what Armscor has called “an inter-continental air transport system in support of diplomacy”.
DA shadow defence and military veterans minister Kobus Maris has submitted a second PAIA application for maintenance records of Inkwazi, the Presidential Boeing 737 BBJ. This time it has gone to Lanseria-based ExecuJet, a private aviation company offering aircraft maintenance as one of its services.
The request to ExecuJet comes two months after a similar PAIA application was submitted through Parliamentary channels with no response to date.
Marais said the decision to ask ExecuJet was made after information was made public that Armscor had paid the Lanseria company R230 million for VVIP aircraft fleet maintenance over the past two years.
“ExecuJet has for the last few years been receiving repeated contracts for the maintenance of President Zuma’s Inkwazi, as well as a number of the South African Air Force’s VVIP jet fleet for which we need the details to assess the claims that the President needs to lease another jet or even purchase one to the tune of billions of Rand at taxpayers’ expense.
“We have requested all contracts undertaken by ExecuJet Maintenance, pertaining to Inkwazi, as well as all records of maintenance performed by ExecuJet Maintenance on Inkwazi from January 1, 2011 to the present,” he said.
Marais and DA leader Mmusi Maimane maintain the planned acquisition of another Presidential aircraft is a “vanity purchase” at the expense of the South African taxpayer.
Zuma has apparently indicated he does not want to use the Being 737 and this has led to aircraft being chartered for his use recently.
Various aircraft, including the Super 727 (ZS-PVX), a Gulfstream V, Bombardier Global Express and a Dassault Falcon 900EX are currently on the three year register of the RT61 contracts for VVIP flights.
The most recent pricing Olivier could track down indicate ZS-PVX was costing over R75 000 an hour in December 2014. The Gulfstream V was put down at R91 500 an hour, the Falcon at R66 900 and the Global Express at R109 000.
“Contract prices are allowed to be increased annually based on a specified formula but the December 2014 information is the latest I have been able to find,” he said.
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