Deputy President Jacob Zuma and his entourage have flown on official government aircraft to destinations around South Africa 126 times in less than two years, at a cost to taxpayers of a whopping R11,2-million.

Of these flights, 73 were to his home city, Durban, a fact which the Democratic Alliance is questioning.

Details of Zuma's use of the air force's three VIP jets were contained in answers to a written question in parliament from the DA.

DA member of parliament Gareth Morgan said that in analysing the answers provided by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, he calculated that of the 73 domestic flights Zuma had taken to Durban on the VIP aircraft since January last year, 40 were in and out of Durban on the same day, with "some on consecutive days".

The total cost of all 126 of Zuma's domestic flights during that time was R11,2-million for him and his entourage.

"I think this is excessive for domestic flights,"said Morgan. "I don't think the deputy president should be using these aircraft for domestic flights. Based on a sample of the Durban flights, the use of domestic airlines instead would have saved the taxpayer almost 50 percent if Zuma and his entourage flew business class."

KwaZulu-Natal is Zuma's home but he has no official provincial position at the moment.

Lekota declined to give reasons for the flights on the VIP planes, a Falcon 900, a Falcon 50 and a Citation II.

He said that "since the SA Air Force is tasked as a carrier for the authorised dignitaries and their delegations on official business", reasons were not given for the flights.

"On such assignments, the air force is not privy to details surrounding the business-related purpose of the visit," Lekota said.

Morgan said a follow-up parliamentary question would be posted to the president urgently to determine the reason for Zuma's "suspicious amount of one-day trips to Durban".

Lakela Kaunda, Zuma's spokesperson, said she could not answer questions about the purpose of the visits as she needed dates and details. She referred queries about Zuma's entitlement to the use of the jets to the defence ministry.

But defence spokesperson Sam Mkwanazi said the department could not determine the agenda and only provided the transport.

Morgan said that even if Zuma had limitless use of the jets for official business, this should be in the realm of "reasonableness".

Morgan said Zuma used the VIP jets for a number of international flights, mostly to Burundi where he was helping broker peace and on occasion had used the presidential jet. But he was most concerned about the "high percentage" of domestic flights to Durban.

"All flights originate at Waterkloof in Pretoria where he has his official residence and obviously he has a home in Durban. But the average cost per passenger per domestic flight is R12 000.

He flies with a minimum of six people on each flight and an average of eight. Obviously he is entitled to support staff and security. But the political point is that, considering these destinations are connected by domestic carriers, this cost could be lowered to R3 000 a person on average even if they flew business class."

Morgan said he had factored in the catering costs, which amounted to R166 756 for all 126 flights on the VIP jets, an average of R180 a passenger per average two-hour flight.

Morgan also noted that former president Nelson Mandela used the VIP jets almost as frequently as Zuma.

"I assume that former presidents are entitled to certain privileges, but I intend following up Mandela's use of the planes in another question," he said, adding that he would also query first lady Zanele Mbeki's occasional use.

In August the DA also raised alarm about figures released for the presidential Boeing 737, when defence figures showed that President Thabo Mbeki took senior ANC officials with him several times ahead of the April election, apparently on campaign trips. This was in addition to allegations by Morgan that the escalating cost per person on the R600-million aircraft was "excessive".

In its first six months last year, the total cost for 32 flights - 15 international and 17 domestic - was just under R13,5-million. This year, until June, the presidential jet made 81 trips at a total operating cost of R21,7-million.

The latest list shows 19 trips between July and early October at a total cost of just over R5-million. Last month's government medium-term expenditure framework makes provision for an increase in total operating costs for the presidential jet to about R24-million from next year.

With acknowledgements to Christelle Terreblanche and the Cape Argus.