Cost crunch keeps president’s jet grounded
● The presidency is fuming after the department of defence missed its deadline to have the presidential jet, Inkwazi, back in the air.
The jet was supposed to be operational this month, but the department has pushed the date to next month due to “budget constraints”.
The Sunday Times understands that at a meeting of senior officials two weeks ago, presidency representatives wanted to know from their defence counterparts why President Cyril Ramaphosa was still without an aircraft seven months after taking office.
Insiders said presidency officials expressed frustration during the meeting over the logistical nightmare that Ramaphosa’s work-related travel schedule posed.
The department of defence initially assured the presidency that Inkwazi would be ready for use by the end of this month. But this week defence officials said there had been a delay and that the president would have his jet next month.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko said: “We can confirm that the presidency has met with the department of defence to once again raise its frustrations with the delays in getting the presidential plane back into commission.”
Defence spokesperson Simphiwe Dlamini said he was not aware of the meeting but acknowledged that the servicing of Inkwazi was running “slightly behind schedule”.
“Inkwazi will no longer be taken overseas [for servicing] as was the case [because of a] huge cost of foreign exchange … now it will be serviced here at home in a secure environment,” he said.
“The service is running slightly behind schedule because of a work stoppage caused by budgetary constraints.”
Dlamini said the department had promised the president he would have his jet next month.
The “economic situation facing the country and the reprioritisation in government [spending]” could scupper plans to buy a new presidential jet, he said.
Three years ago there were plans to procure a jet for former president Jacob Zuma, but public criticism over the reported R4bn price tag put the project on ice.
Since Ramaphosa took office in February, the air force has chartered planes for him or he has taken commercial flights.