By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African Airways (SAA) flight to collect vaccines in Belgium in late February was not only unnecessary, it may also have been illegal in terms of public finance laws.
The Citizen newspaper is reporting that the chartering of the S340-600 at an estimated cost of R5 million was unnecessary because the vaccine maker, Johnson & Johnson, provided the vaccines on a ‘not-for-profit’ basis.
This covers the cost of transport.
Now, the Democratic Alliance (DA) wants to charge Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan over the fiasco.
In deciding not to take advantage of that offer, the department of public enterprises – which chartered the SAA plane – allegedly violated the stipulations in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) which outlaw “fruitless and wasteful expenditure”.
Flight SA 4272 has already been mired in controversy when it emerged recently that the crew had an in-flight emergency just after takeoff from OR Tambo International Airport, caused by their alleged miscalculation of the plane’s takeoff weight.
This resulted in a near stall and a crash was only averted when the automatic safety systems on the Airbus increased power and put the nose down to recover its flying attitude.
The flight has already been slated as a “publicity stunt” to prove that the bankrupt SAA is still a viable airline.
The DA’s Alf Lees says: “It would seem to have been a complete and deliberate flouting of the procurement PFMA.
“I believe Minister Pravin Gordhan obfuscated about the adherence to the provisions of the PFMA when asked [about the SAA charter flight] at the standing committee on public accounts meeting, precisely because he probably was fully aware that these provisions were not adhered to.”
The department of public enterprises said on 26 February that the SAA charter was intended to relaunch the carrier’s cargo business.
In the past decade, SAA has drained the fiscus of about R20 billion, plus an additional R7 billion recently injected to resuscitate it.
According to reports, the business rescue process has racked up a R200 million bill for taxpayers.
Lees added: “The DA is of the view that criminal charges should be laid against Pravin Gordhan, the director-general of public works and any other person who may have played a part in authorising the use of the SAA services to fetch the vaccines from Brussels”.