Defence Minister defends use of Gupta jet

“The matter of whether the aircraft belonged to a company owned by the Guptas is neither here nor there,” the Minister told reporters at Waterkloof Air Force Base.

“Execujet was under no obligation to disclose to us who owns the aircraft.”

She said the cost of chartering the plane would have been only slightly more than what the air force would have paid to use its own aircraft.

Mapisa-Nqakula said earlier that no SA Airforce plane is available to carry Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to Japan.

“With none of the SAAF aircrafts available or suitable, the next option is to charter an aircraft,” she said.

The chartering could be done only via a National Treasury charter contract or an open tender process.

(File photo: Gallo Images)