Proposed VIP jet lease costs released and denounced

In a written reply to a Parliamentary question, South African Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has revealed that the government has budgeted R100-million to lease a VIP jet during the 2016/17 financial year. She further confirmed that a Request for Offer had been issued on August 18. Once the tender process has been completed, and assuming there is a successful bid, the aircraft should be delivered to the South African Air Force (SAAF) on November 1 this year. It should be noted that the South African government’s financial year runs from April 1 to March 31. This means that the aircraft would be operated for just the last five months of the 2016/17 financial year. The official opposition party in Parliament, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has, in a press release, strongly attacked the proposed aircraft lease. (The question which elicited Mapisa-Nqakula’s written reply had been posed by DA Shadow Defence and Military Veterans Minister Sarel JF Marais.)