A reply to a DA Parliamentary Question has revealed that the Department of Defence (DOD) has blown their budget for Very Very Important Person (VVIP) flights in the 2015 – 2018 period by R22.5 million and in the 2016/17 year, by an astounding R35 million.
The DOD is mandated to transport the President, Deputy President and other principles in a manner which guarantees their safety as well as ensuring their on-time arrivals for appointments at various destinations, internationally and domestically.
The DA will now ask further Parliamentary Questions to determine exactly which VVIPs were transported, whether or not they were on official business and who accompanied them.
The reply also shows that at least three big-ticket VVIP Charter flights alone collectively cost the Department more than R12.5 million in the 2016/17 financial year.
This is what happens when President Zuma refuses to fly on the perfectly functional Presidential Jet, Inkwazi.
The failing ANC government could have used the R35 million to supply 3 500 flush toilets to indigent communities or built nearly 270 Reconstruction and Development Programme homes.
The DA will not sit idly by while the ANC continues to waste money on luxuries for the political elite at the expense of millions of South Africans who are forced to survive without the most basic of services.