Manufacturer overshoots deadline
The government is contemplating legal action against Airbus Military to
get back its deposit of R2.9 billion after the cancellation of a heavy-lift
freight-plane order.
Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said in answer to a parliamentary question
yesterday that the government was still waiting for its money despite a
January deadline for a refund.
The government cancelled the contract with Airbus in November amid concern
over delays and the spiralling cost of the deal. However, it said, it was
still well below the R47bn suggested by former Armscor CEO Sipho Thomo.
He told MPs that the cost of the eight freight planes had ballooned from
R17bn to R47bn - one of the reasons behind his suspension in January.
Sisulu said the refund had been due by January 5. This had not happened and
Armscor had already put Airbus "on terms" to repay the pre-delivery
down-payment of R2.9bn.
"Armscor may resort to legal action for the recovery of the funds," Sisulu
said.
"The project has been de-registered and the inspector-general (of the SANDF)
has been requested to perform an audit in support of a provisional closure
report."
Yesterday, Sisulu's spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya said the government was "still
engaging with Airbus in terms of the conclusion of the contract". He
referred further questions to Armscor.
The state arms procurement company's executives could not be reached for
comment.
In the meantime, it has emerged that Airbus Military is making a
last-ditch effort to get its foot in the door for any future tenders.
Asked for comment, Airbus Military's South Africa spokesman Linden Birns
disclosed that it had reopened "a dialogue" with Armscor this month - not
only on settling the bill, but also to find out what plans the government
had to fill the gap that the cancellation of the Airbus contract left.
Sisulu is on record as saying that the military "badly" needed
heavy-lift airlift airfreight capacity *1
to fulfil its peace missions in Africa. She said a thorough tendering
process would underpin any future deals.
Birns said talks between the government and Airbus Military on the closure
of the contract began "a few days ago".
Pressed on whether another offer could be on the cards, Birns said: "I
cannot say anything more than that we are in discussion."
Yesterday, Sisulu also said that the deal between Airbus and the state-owned
entity Denel Saab Aerostructures would not be affected by the cancellation
of the contract.
Denel recently lost part of a contract to manufacture parts for the new
generation of Airbus planes. The government had invested millions in Denel's
capacity to take part in the programme in the hope of boosting South
Africa's aerospace industry capability.
A private South African company, Aerosud, is also helping to manufacture the
planes.
With acknowledgements to
Christelle Terreblanche and Cape Argus.
The country needs a heavy airlift capability
that it can afford.
The A400 M Loadmaster is a luxury it cannot afford.
The DoD Joint Operations command has concluded as such after a thorough
formal study and report that was done for and provided to the MoD at the
time.
The MoD rejected the first report and demanded a second version within a few
days of the first which had the conclusions and recommendations removed.
Lekota et cie used the good points of the A400M, which undoubtedly there
are, to unilaterally and outside regular acquisitions processes enter into a
contract with EADS which would probably bankrupted the SAAF.
This contract was probably ultra vires from the SA perspective, but being
international would have been binding - that is until EADS defaulted in
terms of both timescales and costs.
Now these slippery Franco-German-Pongos won't even return the wonga which
has surely been splodged on the usual suspects who made this deal happen in
the face of unequivocal recommendations to the contrary.