ARMY PAYS E320 000 FOR MOZ CHOPPERS

MBABANE – In response to an undisclosed emergency, the Ministry of Defence spent E320 000 on hiring two helicopters from a company in Maputo, Mozambique.

However, the ministry does not want to reveal to the public regarding why the two aircraft were hired.
They have cited security reasons.
Andreas Mathabela, Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Defence, could not disclose the nature of the emergency or urgency when this newspaper asked him about the issue.
According to Government Tenders for 2014/2015, the helicopters were hired from Makond Air Link and Tourism, a company dedicated to aero medical, VIP (Very Important People) and tourism.
The Times SUNDAY could not establish what type of aircraft was hired.

However, investigations revealed that Makond Air Link has a series of helicopters such as JetRanger, LongRanger and a Bell 212, which can be used in flood rescue efforts.
Sources close to the issue claimed the hiring of the helicopters was necessitated by the fact that the country’s army helicopters had developed mechanical faults at that time.

Due to the urgency attached to the hiring of the aircraft, there is no tender number for this deal as reflected in Government Tender Documents for 2014/2015. It could not be ascertained how long the helicopters were in the country and for what reasons they were hired.  PS Mathabela confirmed the acquisition of the helicopters but declined to elaborate on the matter because of security reasons.

Asked how many aircraft the country had, Mathabela said the army would not divulge this information as it was kept confidential by the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force (USDF). He did mention, however, that something very urgent warranted the hiring of the helicopters from Mozambique. “Your question on how many helicopters we have will not be answered. If we answer you, you will ask another one, enquiring about the number of guns we have. We can’t disclose that kind of information,” he said. Lieutenant Colonel Madoda Mkhatshwa, USDF Public Relations Officer, said the Ministry of Defence could not be in a position to shed light on the issue because it involved finances. However, he said, they generally made recommendations to the ministry on what they needed but everything pertaining to the procurement of equipment was done by the Defence Ministry.
The Minister of Defence is Chief M’gwagwa Gamedze, who is responsible for its affairs in Parliament. Gamedze is the substantive Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Bheki Mamba, the President of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), has said there was no security threat to the country that could warrant the hiring of the helicopters, especially on an urgent basis.

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