Pretoria - Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said it was not the state’s business to enquire about the ownership of an aircraft before it was chartered for use by senior government officials.
On Friday, Mapisa-Nqakula told a press briefing at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria that there was nothing untoward about the procurement of a Bombardier Global Express aircraft owned by the controversial and wealthy Gupta family to ferry Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on an official trip to Japan. The jet was hired through a government-managed contract with service provider ExecuJet.
“Everything, all the information at my disposal talks to the fact that everything was done according to the book. There is nothing, as far as I’m concerned, which we have done (wrong). The problem is that people are not looking at the processes but they are looking at the owners of the company and it so happens that this particular aircraft is owned by the Guptas,” she said.
“We have absolutely no control over who owns an aircraft which is chartered by ExecuJet on the basis of the required specifications submitted to National Treasury. We have absolutely no control over that. As we were driving, somebody was mischievously saying the deputy president should have said he won’t use the aircraft. The principals never know whose aircraft they are using.”
She said it was not her business or that of the SA Air Force to probe the ownership of the chartered aircraft as long as the company was vetted before being included on National Treasury’s RT-61 procurement pool, as long as it was a South African company and the crew had been vetted by state security.
“If you were saying the defence force went to the Gupta family and said ‘provide us with an aircraft’, that would be a different matter. People are bringing back the (2013) matter of the landing of an aircraft at Waterkloof (Air Force Base) and now you are linking the two. I think we must be honest about it. There is no case for the SA National Defence Force to answer here, and there is no case for the principals,” she said.
“What was important, and is always import is the safety and comfort of our principals. The fact that the aircraft belonged to whoever, is another matter. There shouldn’t be an impression created to South Africans that the defence went out to get an aircraft from a particular grouping of people. There is nothing like that. You cannot fault us on this one.”
She said the details of the owners of the plane were not disclosed.
“ExecuJet (the company which manages the chartered the plane) is not obliged to disclose to us who the owner of the plane is. What is important, is that the jet belongs to a company which is in South Africa. Necessary process was followed,” she said.
“I have however been informed, following interrogation of the ownership issue, that ExecuJet itself doesn’t own and operate its own aircraft but manages a fleet of aircraft on behalf of various owners from which they source suitable aircraft in case they are awarded a contract on the RT-61 contract.”
She said the private plane was required for the trip to Japan because none of the SA Air Force aircraft were “available or suitable”. A state charter contract of the National Treasury, the RT-61 contract, was then initiated and private companies were approached.
“The first company on the list was approached, but the aircraft they had on the list could only complete the flight with multiple refuelling stops and did not meet the requirement,” said Mapisa-Nqakula.
“The second company on the list, ExecuJet, was approached and they had the Global Express aircraft available which could complete the flight with only one refuelling stop as well as carry the required amount of passengers.”
After media reports on Wednesday revealed the provenance of the plane, the country’s two biggest opposition parties vowed to get to the bottom of whether proper procurement processes were followed.
Said the Economic Freedom Fighters: “This then means that the family of President Zuma is benefiting directly from shoddy business dealings between the State and those who do not even blink an eye before financing the ever exorbitant lavish lifestyle of the President and his large family.”
The party said it would write to the ministers of defence and finance to check whether proper procurement processes were followed.
On Friday, the Democratic Alliance said it would urge the portfolio committee on defence to launch a full inquiry into the matter.
The DA said it would also demand, in a series of parliamentary questions, to know why air force planes were not available, and how much extra it had cost to hire a private jet.
DA defence spokesman Kobus Marais said the defence minister’s explanation of events was not plausible and she should answer to the committee along with Ramaphosa.
“The minister claims that all the necessary procedures were followed and that because ExecuJet provided the plane, they are under no obligation to name owners. If the suppliers of aircraft were indeed thoroughly vetted, how is it that the DoD did not know that the plane belonged to the Guptas and therefore that the use would be entirely inappropriate? ” he said.
“Whether or not due process was followed remains to be seen.”
In 2013, a private plane transporting a wedding party for the Gupta family, was allowed to land at the Waterkloof Air Force Base – with government denying that it was responsible, blaming an Indian diplomat for bypassing proper channels and misrepresenting the purpose of the flight.
* This story has been updated
ANA