Jobs not Jets: Is the R1.3 billion in the special defence budget for the new luxury jet?

13 March 2017

It has come to the DA’s attention that the estimated expenditure increase in the Department of Defence’s budget for 2017/18 is R1.38 billion, almost exactly the same price as the new presidential jet that the Department is allegedly procuring.

Estimated expenditure on the Special Defence Account (SDA), an account which is used for the procurement of weapons and equipment and to cover the costs of covert operations, is expected to increase by R1.53 billion.

In the meantime, the Department expects to cut an estimated 11,581 jobs by 2019/20 to ensure decreased spending on the compensation of employees. We will thus submit further parliamentary questions to Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Ngqakula to ascertain exactly why expenditure on the SDA is being increased.

The possible increase in spending on a new presidential jet comes at a time when South Africa’s defence capabilities are severely hampered by a lack of funding and understaffing.

It is apparently more important to the ANC government to ensure that the President travels in luxury than ensure the safety and security of the country’s citizens.

The DA has been reliably informed that the presidential jet, Inkwazi, is fully operational and has conducted at least 8 eight flights since the beginning of February this year.

This is yet more proof that the ANC’s supposed “radical economic transformation” is not based on providing opportunities for the millions of South Africans that cannot find employment, but rather on ensuring that an elite few benefits from the tax-payers’ money.

If this deal is approved, money that could have been spent on improving the standard of education and skills that young people need to access opportunity will be wasted once again on a President who puts his needs above the peoples.

Issued by Kobus Marais, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, 13 March 2017