Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga has, according to a Democratic Alliance (DA) Parliamentarian, not provided all the information requested in a Parliamentary question regarding SA Air Force (SAAF) charter flights.
Chris Hattingh, who sits on both the Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) and the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans (PCDMV), took exception to a June response to his SAAF charter flights question asking follow-up questions in an effort to obtain clarity. A statement – issued after answers again without the necessary details provided – has him saying: “In fresh Parliamentary replies, the Minister confirms the Department [of Defence] holds underlying records but provides neither the requested figures nor a deadline for supplying them”.
The question and answer exchange – still not to Hattingh’s satisfaction – started when an earlier Motshekga response in June this year had it the Department of Defence (DoD)/SA National Defence Force (SANDF) spent R2.4 billion in five financial years chartering aircraft for various reasons. These included urgent operational deployments; non-availability of suitable commercial flights; security sensitive movements; access to remote areas; time critical operations as well as supporting peacekeeping and regional rotations.
Cost-wise, Motshekga informed him the expenditure over the requested five-year period was R2 395 521 275 with annual amounts of R15 492 850 (2021/22), R753 797 591 (2022/23), R622 790 063 (2023/24), R629 043 694 (2024/25) and R374 937 076 (2025/26).
The Ministerial replies, Hattingh maintains, provide only general explanations of procurement processes and operational requirements. His request for more details is to allow for proper scrutiny of the five-year charter flight spend. Going further, a DA interrogation of Ministerial charter flight answers to date shows a R540 000 discrepancy.
“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 DoD is sloppy with public money or it is deliberately obscuring the truth. Neither is acceptable.
“The Department says it is 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.
“The reported total covers chartered flights procured through several mechanisms. The replies do not establish how much was spent through deviations or whether any particular expenditure was irregular. Providing the records is essential to answering those questions,” the Hattingh statement reads further adding more written questions are coming. These will include providing verified expenditure figures, “a firm deadline” for outstanding cost deviations as well as identifying “the official responsible for completing the reconciliation”.
On reconciliation, the latest Motshekga reply has it charter flight transactions are being reconciled against what is termed the “supply chain management (SCM) deviation register”, procurement documentation, approval records, financial records and DoD irregular expenditure records. This will establish whether any individual charter flight transaction was subsequently identified or classified as irregular expenditure it continues noting the previous Ministerial reply on charter flights did not identify any as fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
Hattingh did manage to get some detail on the Chief of the SA Army’s visit to Russia between 23 and 31 July 2026. Lieutenant General Lawrence Khulekani Mbatha’s trip was authorised by Motshekga to strengthen military cooperation and discuss military training. The trip, which also included Chief Army Force Preparation and support staff, cost R982 640, according to a written reply by Motshekga.
Regarding the outcomes of the trip, “specific areas of defence cooperation and close military collaboration were discussed with the aim of strengthening the current existing military to military cooperation,” Motshekga stated. “Agreements were reached on future cooperation regarding military to military training assistance and exchange of students. The tangible operational or strategic benefit from this visit by the SANDF will be the possible future training of SANDF or SA Army members which will address the professional military competence and tapping into the Russian Federation’s Army’s experience.”
