South Africa’s Department of Defence spent R2.4 billion on chartered flights

The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Angie Motshekga, would not provide details about R2.4 billion spent on chartered flights.

Chris Hattingh, the DA Spokesperson on Defence and Military Veterans, shared details about the secrecy around the issue.

He said that they have requested details about R2.4 billion spent on South African National Defence Force (SANDF) chartered flights over five financial years.

Minister Motshekga confirmed that the Department holds the underlying records, but would not provide the requested figures.

The DA requested annual flight numbers and expenditure across ordinary travel-management arrangements.

They also wanted details about supply chain management deviations and emergency or operational procurement.

“We also requested flight numbers and expenditure by operational category and the number of deviations exceeding R1 million, R5 million and R10 million,” he said.

“Minister Motshekga cannot keep hiding behind bureaucratic excuses while R2.4 billion of public money goes unaccounted for.”

The replies provided general explanations of procurement processes and operational requirements, but the figures needed to scrutinise that spending remain outstanding.

Hattingh added that there was also a R540,000 discrepancy in the Defence and Military Veterans’ figures.

The five annual amounts listed in the reply add up to R2,396,061,275, while the stated total is R2,395,521,275.

“The Minister must explain the difference and provide verified figures. Either the Department is sloppy, or it is deliberately obscuring the truth,” he said.

“The Department said it was reconciling its records to ensure accurate attribution and avoid double-counting. That work must have a completion date.”

“Parliament cannot scrutinise this expenditure while the requested breakdown remains indefinitely outstanding.”