By: Natasha Archary
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has rubbished a Sunday Times report claiming the President’s flight to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) cost over R2.6 million.
SANDF insists the President’s flight to the DRC only cost the taxpayer R1.6 million.
Spokesperson for SANDF, Siphiwe Dlamini, slammed the Sunday Times report as ‘misleading’, and said the President had no other option due to presidential plane Inkwazi, being out of commission.
As a result Ramaphosa and 14 others were “forced” to travel via South African Airways (SAA) to Kinshasa, DRC.
Just arrived in arrived in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo where I am attending the 42nd Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community Heads of State and Government. South Africa will lead discussions of the SADC Organ Troika Summit this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/yjMQfNJwxM
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) August 16, 2022
According to SANDF, SAA had a quote which was the lowest and that’s why the national carrier was chosen.
Dlamini said the amount that the publication had passed as fact was R1 million more than the President’s flight to the DRC actually cost.
“In arriving at its estimate, the 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.”
SANDF insists the President’s flight to the DRC didn’t cost the taxpayer R2.6 million
Dlamini also said that the publication had printed incorrect information regarding how many passengers were on the flight.
While the Sunday Times reported that the flight only accommodated 12 people, according to Dlamini there were 14 people on the flight to the DRC and 55 on the return flight after the SADC summit.
The numbers don’t include the SAA flight crew members.
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