South Africa – The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) spent almost R2.4 billion on chartered flights over five financial years, prompting fresh questions from opposition parties about transparency and financial oversight at the Department of Defence.
According to a parliamentary reply by Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga, the department spent R2,395,521,275 on chartered flights between the 2021/22 and 2025/26 financial years, IOL reported.
The figures show expenditure rising sharply from R15.5 million in 2021/22 to R753.8 million in 2022/23. Spending then stood at R622.8 million in 2023/24, R629 million in 2024/25 and R374.9 million in 2025/26.
Motshekga said chartered aircraft were required for a range of military and government operations, including access to remote areas, medical evacuations, peacekeeping and regional missions, disaster relief, VIP transport, military training and urgent operational deployments.
Annual figures
According to SABC News, The minister also cited the non-availability of commercial flights and sensitive security movements as reasons for using charter aircraft.
However, the expenditure has come under scrutiny after the Democratic Alliance (DA) said the minister had failed to provide Parliament with a detailed breakdown showing how many flights were undertaken, their individual costs and which procurement mechanisms were used.
The DA also identified a R540,000 discrepancy between the annual figures supplied by the department and the stated five-year total. The annual figures add up to R2,396,061,275, compared with the department’s stated total of R2,395,521,275, Sowetan reported.
DA spokesperson on Defence and Military Veterans Chris Hattingh accused the minister of failing to provide adequate answers.
“The people of South Africa deserve answers, not evasion,” Hattingh said.
He said the department’s explanations did not provide enough information to determine whether any of the spending was irregular and demanded verified figures and a deadline for completing the reconciliation of the records.
Accurate attribution
The department has said it is reconciling its records to ensure accurate attribution and avoid double-counting, particularly where individual flights may have served more than one operational purpose.
The issue has also drawn attention from Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans. In May, committee chair Dakota Legoete referenced the spending while raising broader concerns about the department’s financial and administrative systems.
“We can spend R2.4 billion on chartered flights, surely, we can spend less than R10 million on putting systems in place to monitor sensitive defence equipment,” Legoete said.
Meanwhile, defence and national security analyst Ricardo Teixeira, speaking to eNCA, said the lack of detailed information raised basic accountability concerns.
“It’s just basic record-keeping and some financial accountability,” Teixeira said.
The DA has indicated that it will submit further parliamentary questions seeking the verified expenditure figures, a firm deadline for the outstanding information and details of the official responsible for completing the reconciliation.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
