The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, must take political responsibility and order a full inquiry into how it is that former President Nelson Mandela was transported on an aircraft owned by a company reportedly linked to tax evasion, smuggling and racketeering.

The Department of Defence is responsible for the transport of VVIPs such as former President Nelson Mandela. The fact that former President Nelson Mandela was transported on an aircraft owned by a company reportedly linked to smuggling, fraud and racketeering risks compromising his security and diminishing his integrity.

Former president Nelson Mandela was reportedly transported from Johannesburg to Umtata on a McDonnell Douglas DC 9 operated by a company called Phoebus Apollo Aviation.

Reports indicate that the company is owned by Hennie “Highway Hennie” Delport who has faced 7200 charges of cigarette smuggling, fraud and racketeering laid by the South African Revenue Service in 2007. The case has reportedly been thrown out of the criminal court but is being pursued in the civil court by the South African Revenue Service.

How is it that the company was not “security vetted” before the aircraft was used to transport former President Nelson Mandela?

The minister must take full political responsibility for what is clearly a monumental bungle by the defence department.

The fact is that this is a bungle in a series of bungles by the South African Air Force’s Squadron 21 (VIP Squadron) which include:

an emergency landing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo involving Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in 2009;
an emergency landing in New Zealand involving Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in 2011;
mechanical failure of a chartered aircraft resulting in the scrapping of one leg of a state visit to Finland, Sweden and Denmark involving Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in 2011;
the use of a controversial former mercenary pilot to fly a chartered aircraft to the United States involving President Jacob Zuma in 2011;
a flawed R800 million tender to lease two Embraer Lineage 1000 business jets for the South African Air Force in 2011; and
the use of so-called shadow planes– a Bombadier Global Express XRS and an Airbus A340 (200 Series) – that were used to backup President Jacob Zuma’s Boeing Business Jet during a recent visit to the United States.
There is something seriously wrong with the South African Air Force’s 21 (VIP Squadron) which is responsible for the transport of VVIPs such as former President Nelson Mandela.

I will, therefore, be writing to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, requesting that she ensure that the Chief of the South African Air Force, General Carlo Gagiano, immediately orders a Full Board of Inquiry into the transport of former President Nelson Mandela on an aircraft owned by a company reportedly linked to smuggling, fraud and racketeering.