PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki’s often-criticised international travel is getting tougher all the time. The latest development: he cannot land his presidential jet at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria because the runway is in too shabby a condition.

This latest revelation about Waterkloof AFB, once the jewel in the South African Air Force’s crown, follows the theft this week, from a safe at the base, of more than R1m intended for landing fees for the president’s overseas trips.

On Tuesday unknown criminals used a crowbar to open two security doors and cut open the safe in which the travel money was kept. The incident has provoked a raft of criticism that security at Waterkloof is horrible.

The inability of Waterkloof to accommodate the presidential jet means that when a tired president returns from a trip, he has to take to the highway in his motorcade to get to his residence in Pretoria, because the aircraft is now being operated from OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, an air force spokesman confirmed.

Democratic Alliance MP Andries Botha asked Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota a host of questions about Waterkloof AFB, and received the following reply: “Air Force Base Waterkloof currently is not fully operational, as larger-type aircraft including the presidential aircraft cannot be accommodated on the runway.”

This has been the case since late last year.

“The cause of AFB Waterkloof not being fully operational is the fact that the runway reached the end of its economic life and cannot safely accommodate larger type aircraft anymore,” Lekota said, adding that it was the department’s intention to bring the base back to full operational status.

He said a tender for the repair of the runway had been issued and work would start on July 1.

It was expected that the job would be completed by September next year.

With acknowledgements to Wyndham Hartley and Business Day.