Deputy President Jacob Zuma, already at the centre of the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial in Durban, has now attracted fresh controversy – this time for his frequent use of the state’s VIP jets.

Zuma and his entourage have flown on air force aircraft to destinations in South Africa 126 times since last January, at a cost to taxpayers of a whopping R11,2 million *1.

Of these flights, 73 were to his home city, Durban. 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 Democratic Alliance.

DA MP Gareth Morgan said from the answers provided by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, he had 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.

“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, using domestic airlines instead would have saved the taxpayer almost 50%, even if Zuma and his entourage flew business class.”

Lekota declined to give reasons for the flights on the VIP planes, a Falcon 900, a Falcon 50 and a Citation II. “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 put to the president to determine the reason for Zuma’s “suspicious amount of one-day trips to Durban”

Lakela Kaunda, Zuma’s spokeswoman, said she could not answer questions about the purpose of the visits as she needed dates and details.

Morgan said that even if Zuma was entitled to limitless use of the jets for official business, this should be in the realm of “reasonableness”. He was most concerned about the “high percentage” of flights to Durban.

“The average cost per passenger per domestic flight comes to R12 000. He flies with a minimum of six people on each flight and an average of eight. He is entitled to support staff and security.

“But these destinations are connected by domestic carriers – this cost could be lowered to R3 000 a person average, even if they flew business class.”

Morgan said he had factored in the catering costs, which came 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 former presidents are entitled to certain privileges, but I intend following up Mandela’s use of the planes with another question,” he said.

In August, the DA also raised alarm about figures released for the presidential Boeing 737, which showed that President Thabo Mbeki took ANC officials with him several times ahead of the April election, apparently on campaign trips.

In its first six months last year, the total cost for 32 flights on the 737 – 15 international and 17 domestic – was nearly R13.5 million.

This year up until June the presidential jet made 81 trips at a total operating cost of R21,7 million. The latest list shows 19 trips from July to early October at a total cost of just over R5 million.

With acknowledgements to Christelle Terreblanche and the Sunday Tribune.

*1 R11,2 million of tax-payers money makes R1,2 million of Nkobi Holdings's money and R1,0 of Thomson-CSF money look quite tame.

But Mr Morgan should actually be far more concerned about the regional flights than the domestic flights.