Zuma’s ‘R4 billion’ jet plans going ahead: report
Despite calls for President Jacob Zuma to scrap government’s plans to acquire a new jet plane – which could cost the country as much as R4 billion – plans are going ahead to have the plane on the runway by April 2016.
This is according to the City Press, which has seen the tender document from state-owned Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor), which is handling the transaction.
According to the paper, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is “fed up” with not having VIP jets available, and the final request for information from interested parties is 20 November.
Preferred suppliers then need to be considered by mid-January, and contracts would have to be signed by March, Armscor CEO Kevin Wakeford told the paper. The plane would then be delivered in the interim.
This stands in contrast to Armscor’s claims that the tender is non-binding. The group also refuted the R4 billion price tag on the plane, saying that media reports were reaching, and false.
Neither Armscor or government could say how much has been set aside for the purchase.
Rapport previously published stories relating to six new jets for the presidency that would cost as much as R2 billion. A brand new plane, at the specifications requested by the Armscor document, would easily cost double that amount.
According to the report, the specifications for the jet include a “private bedroom suite, a bathroom, and a conference room for eight people”.
“The aircraft must be able to carry at least 30 passengers and have a range of 13,800km,” stated the report.
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