Flight costs taxpayer R270 000
Date: 16 July 2003
Erika Gibson
An "urgent" flight with President Thabo Mbeki's brand new jet, Inkwazi, with only two passengers onboard to Kinshasa cost the taxpayer about R270 000.
To add insult to injury, the jet returned empty and the two special envoys returned to the country with South African Airways.
Sam Kwanzaa, spokesperson for the defence ministry, confirmed this week that Mojanku Gumbi, Mbeki's legal advisor, and Minister of Local Government Sydney Mufamadi, travelled to Kinshasa on the Inkwazi to attend an official ceremony of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's transitional government.
"They were special envoys who attended the function on President Mbeki's orders," Mkhwanazi said.
He said there were no other planes available to transport the two officials, not even a chartered one.
Experts said a chartered plane would have cost about a third of the Inkwazi flight.
It costs about R41 250 an hour to operate the Inkwazi and a return flight to Kinshasa lasts about 6 hours. The landing fee in Kinshasa costs about R22 500.
Mkhwanazi said VIP flights are planned as cost-effectively as possible. However, unforeseen circumstances sometimes forced exceptions to this rule.
Source: PutuPop (Beeld)
