AG's investigation into Lindiwe Sisulu's Gulfstream jet flights is being obstructed by the DoD
2 September 2014
The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqaklua, will have to explain why for more than five months the defence department have not handed over documents to the Auditor-General concerning Lindiwe Sisulu's flights on ultra-luxury privately owned Gulfstream executive jets.
On 17 March 2014 I requested the Auditor-General, Mr Kimi Makwetu, to investigate the scandal surrounding the use of Gulfstream executive jets by the former Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, including:
- how many flights and ferry flights were actually undertaken by the Minister; and
- whether in respect of each flight the applicable guidelines, set out in the Ministerial Handbook, relating to Chartered Air Services, were complied with by the Minister.
On 10 April 2014 the Auditor-General, Mr Kimi Makwetu, replied to my request as follows:
"We have forwarded your letter to the Department of Defence for input/comment and upon receipt thereof the matter will be submitted to the Auditor-General for further consideration".
The Auditor-General subsequently requested certain documents from the Department of Defence.
However, for more than five months the defence department have failed to hand over any documents to the Auditor-General.
The Department of Defence appears to me to be obstructing the Auditor-General's investigation into the scandal surrounding Lindiwe Sisulu's flights on the Gulfstream executive jets.
The investigation relates to my more than two year-long battle to get to the bottom of the number of flights and the cost of the flights undertaken by Lindiwe Sisulu on Gulfstream executive jets while she was Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.
The current Minister claims she undertook 203 flights. The former Minister claims she undertook 35 flights. The cost of the flights has never been disclosed.
This matter has now escalated into a bitter cabinet-level feud between the two Ministers.
In the end, I will not allow the former Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, off the hook for wasting millions of rands flying on ultra-luxury privately owned Gulfstream executive jets.
I will, therefore, be submitting parliamentary questions to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, probing:
- why the Department of Defence have not handed over documents to the Auditor-General relating to Lindiwe Sisulu's flights on Gulfstream executive jets; and
- who is responsible for obstructing the investigation by the Auditor-General and what action will be taken against the person obstructing the investigation by the Auditor-General?
Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, September 2 2014
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