#Jetgate: DA asks Treasury to clarify ANC‘s undervalued payment
12 October 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to National Treasury to ascertain whether the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, was consulted by the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula in terms of the Defence Act before she and the ANC went on a trip to Zimbabwe aboard a South African Air Force (SAAF) jet to meet with ZANU-PF.
We also sought to determine if Treasury was involved and approved Minister Mapisa-Nqakula’s calculations of total costs invoiced to the ANC for the flight.
The Defence Act is clear, Section 80(3)(a)(i) states that, the Minister of Defence must first consult the Minister of Finance before allowing conveyance of any person who is not an officer or employee of the State on board a SAAF aircraft.
However, there is no reference in any of the two reports submitted by Minister Mapisa-Nqakula to President Cyril Ramaphosa of any consultation with the Finance Minister. If, as we suspect, Minister Mboweni was not consulted, then the use of the SAAF jet by the ANC delegation results in irregular, wasteful and unauthorised expenses.