Jobs Not Jets: Zuma must stop wasting millions on hired jet

25 July 2016

President Jacob Zuma must stop haemorrhaging the people’s money on the lease of a private jet, while his presidential plane Inkwazi remains serviceable and unused. 

The DA will therefore request that all documents relating to the supply chain of the tender and lease of a private jet be made public. South Africans deserve to know the truth about how their tax money is being spent. 

The DA position on this has been clear from the very beginning: there is no need for a new jet – either leased or purchased – while the current Presidential Jet, Inkwazi, remains, in terms of aircraft standards, relatively new.

Yesterday it was revealed that the South African Air Force is paying almost R2 million a month for the lease of Fortune Air, a plane that is almost a decade older than Zuma’s Inkwazi jet. 

The reality is our economy is shrinking, while 8.9 million unemployed South Africans lose hope of finding work, and improving their lives and the lives of their families and loved ones. 

Spending R2 million a month on a private jet that is not needed, is an insult to the dignity of every one of those 8.9 million unemployed South Africans. 

On 3 August, South Africans have the opportunity to vote in a DA government, South Africans have the opportunity to vote for jobs, not jets.  

Issued by Kobus Marais, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, 25 July 2016