Exiting pilots 'stole' Air Force planes – minister
Cape Town – Some of the South African Air Force's (SAAF) planes were stolen and put in museums, which is why there were not enough planes for pilots to get their wings, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Tuesday.
"We have a problem," she said in response to a question to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on why SAAF pilots were being sent to Russia and Cuba to train.
"Sometimes these young people train and they run short of flying hours before they can get their wings," explained Mapisa-Nqakula. "We can't give them those flying hours because there are no aircraft," she said.
The minister said that if the government buys them people start "screaming" about buying aircraft. "So you are damned if you do, and damned if you don't," she said.
"I tell you that some of the aircraft were taken by some of the people who left the Air Force and they belong to them in their museum.