DA to seek legal opinion from Parliament over Minister’s spurious claims of “National Security”
13 September 2016
The DA will seek a legal opinion from Parliament’s legal services to determine whether Defence Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, is justified to block replies to parliamentary questions relating to the President’s VVIP travel under the cloak of it being a matter of National Security. Especially considering that the Minister herself has divulged some of the information in the public domain despite its alleged sensitivity.
In replies to DA parliamentary questions, in which we inquired what amount was spent on in-flight catering for all passengers on flights transporting the President in the current and previous two financial years, the qualifications of South African Air Force staff members transporting the President and the amount spent on such chartering; Mapisa-Nqakula responded that this information“relates to the movement of the VVIP, and for security reasons, the response to this question can only be presented to a closed session of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence.”
The DA believes that the President’s in-flight catering and other information such as staff members’ qualifications has no bearing on National Security and should therefore be disclosed. During Thabo Mbeki’s term as President, information regarding the use of Inkwazi was made available. In fact, detailed information such as the routing of flights, flying hours, landing fees and catering costs were disclosed. Under President Zuma, however, this information remains secret.
It is for these reasons that we seek legal clarity on the provisions in law that allow the Minister to summarily defer previously well-known information to the Joint Standing Committee of Defence which is effectively a ploy to conceal what ought to be in the public domain.
The DA believes that this is nothing more than a desperate attempt to prevent the public from knowing just how much the President is wasting on luxurious travel.
The DA will also be submitting further parliamentary questions following the Minister’s revelation that Inkwazi would be replaced within the next 18 months. We will inquire as to whether the proposed R300 million budget includes the retrofitting of the plane’s cabin. A commercial aircraft’s interior will have to be stripped and replaced with a VIP business configuration, a very expensive exercise. Additionally, the DA will submit a parliamentary question as to what will become of Inkwazi once it is replaced.
President Zuma continues to put himself ahead of ordinary South Africans and remains committed to self-enrichment and the capture of state assets for his personal benefit. Parliament has an obligation to get to the bottom of this, and we will not rest until it does so.
Issued by Kobus Marais, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, 13 September 2016
