Only R1,6m used for Ramaphosa Kinshasa visit - SANDF
The South African National Defence Force has denied claims that President Cyril Ramaphosa's official visit to Kinshasa cost taxpayers R2,6 million as reported by Sunday Times.
Last week, Ramaphosa had to use a South African Airways flight to attend the SADC summit in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ramaphosa and his delegation could not fly using the Presidential aircraft, Inkwazi because the air force plane has not paid subscription fees to the Jeppesen database.
The newspaper article said Ramaphosa charted the flight with only 14 people while returning with 55 people.
"The national carrier, South African Airways, was one of several bidders from whom the Air Force sourced quotes. SAA filed the lowest quote at under R1, 6 million - R1 million less than the R2, 6 million "estimate" the Sunday Times tried to pass off as fact.
"Two quotes for significantly smaller aircraft came close to R1, 9 million each," said SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini.
"Sunday Times regrettably relied on hearsay from alleged sources in the aviation industry, which the Department of Defence believes the Sunday Times uses as a way to cover up the unethical sourcing of information from unauthorised Defence personnel."
However, Dlamini could not say when the presidential aircraft will be back in the sky again.
His Excellency President @CyrilRamaphosa is this morning undertaking a Working Visit to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo where he will be participating in the 42nd Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community Heads of State & Government. #SADCSummit pic.twitter.com/ER5sb9P2T9
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) August 16, 2022
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