Minister Sisulu must provide the facts about President Zuma's shadow planes
The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, must take full responsibility and make an urgent public statement setting out all the facts concerning the use of back-up aircraft used to "shadow" President Jacob Zuma's Boeing Business Jet ("Inkwazi") to the United States.
The fact is that the defence department have tried to cover up the truth about the use of back-up aircraft to "shadow" President Jacob Zuma's Boeing Business Jet to the United States.
Earlier this week it was revealed that a Boeing Global Express XRS was chartered from a private company to "shadow" the presidential Boeing Business Jet. The second aircraft was used as backup in case mechanical failures were experienced by the presidential jet
However, I now understand that not one, but two aircraft were used to "shadow" President Jacob Zuma's Boeing Business Jet during his recent visit to the United States.
A second aircraft, a 250-seater, four-engined Airbus A340 (200 Series), was used to "shadow" the presidential Boeing Business Jet. The Airbus A340 aircraft was chartered from and operated by South African Airways (SAA).