‘We're bleeding but not finished': Motshekga defends struggling air force
Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga says South African skies are protected despite the challenges facing the South African Air Force (SAAF).
The minister was addressing the National Council of Provinces during the Peace and Security cluster question-and-answer session on Tuesday, where she was grilled about the operational readiness of the SAAF – among other defence-related issues.
'Sleep peacefully'
'You can sleep peacefully; your skies are safe, and we'll be able to do any obligations internally that we need to do for the safety of our country,' Motshekga said.
This was in response to FF Plus member Tamarin Breedt's question about the extent to which the current state of affairs in the national air force is affecting South Africa's ability to meet its international and regional obligations.
Grounded planes and lack of funding
Motshekga had earlier admitted the SAAF is currently experiencing challenges, including grounded planes and lack of adequate funding.
She said her department is engaging with Treasury and the Presidency to make sure they can salvage what the force already has.
'We have a number of planes that are off, but we also have a number of planes that have gone for servicing. So, we are struggling with the air force; we're bleeding, but we're not finished,' Motshekga said.
She said the air force's ability to fly helicopters to areas affected by the recent floods was indicative of its capabilities and capacity, although not up to the desired level.
ALSO READ: Why South Africa can't defend itself anymore
The department is doing everything in its power to stop the decline of the SAAF from continuing, Motshekga said.
'We are in the process of procuring other capabilities, repairing capabilities, so there is progress and there is a process to make sure that we can arrest the decline…'
VIP fleet spending
DA member Nicholas Gotsell asked the minister why the department is prioritising the R415 million that is needed to maintain the presidential aircraft and the Falcon fleet used by VIPs, while key air defence transport remains grounded.
In response, Motshekga said it's disingenuous to compare the capabilities of the SAAF to the capacity of the president's travelling means.
Because it means we have to ground the president and get him [to fly] commercial,' Motshekga said.
She declined to entertain Breedt's suggestion that President Cyril Ramaphosa must fly commercial 'like the rest of us do and like I believe he used to do in 2018 and 2019'.
Motshekga said just as she and Breedt don't take buses to meetings, Ramaphosa will not be flying commercial.
Measures for maintenance backlog
With regard to measures put in place to minimise the maintenance backlog, the minister emphasised that the department has prioritised fixing and servicing the current aircraft before procuring new ones, which are going to be extremely expensive.
'We are looking at different means to get more money to ramp up the performance,' Motshekga said.
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