Phumzile's 'costly comfort '

2006-01-18 23:04

Waldimar Pelser

Johannesburg - If deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka wasn't so fussy about an "ordinary" seat in business class to Abu Dhabi, she could have saved the taxpayer R530 000.

She used the air force's Falcon 900 jet at a cost of between R400 000 and R700 000 for a "holiday"to the United Arab Emirates.

Beeld calculated the difference between this cost, for which the government had to foot the bill, and what it would have cost Mlambo-Ngcuka, her family, even a friend, and her bodyguards to fly with South African Airways.

The deputy president may, according to cabinet rules, take along her family and certain members of staff on foreign visits.

For security reasons, the state is responsible for her travel and security costs during private and official visits.

Half an hour in front of a computer with a credit card at hand would have saved the taxpayers an enormous amount of money.

Flying in relative comfort

Four return tickets to Abu Dhabi and Dubai from Johannesburg for Mlambo-Ngcuka, husband Bulelani Ngcuka, and two of their children in business class on the SAA's partner, Emirates, would have cost them R20 046 a person (if they booked early).

Another seven seats on the same flight (economy class) for her staff, her assistant's two children and Thuthukile Mazibuko-Skweyiya, wife of Welfare Minister Zola Skweyiya, would have cost R13 116 a person. The total: R171 996.

If the Falcon flight cost R700 000, that was R528 004 extra.

On Emirates, the deputy president's family would not have been packed in like sardines with grey chicken on their plates.

The airline's Boeing 777-300 ER offers soft seats that can recline and are electrically operated, small lights which shine like stars against the aircraft's ceiling, and a glass of ice-cold champagne on take-off.

It even provides a socket in the seat for a laptop for those on business trips.

- Beeld