SAPS ‘gravy plane’? Thabo Bester jet-setting to the very end

Jaws dropped when Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach shone the spotlight on the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) use of a private jet to repatriate Thabo Bester and his accomplice girlfriend, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, from Tanzania on Thursday 13 April.

Bheki Cele: Private jet ‘part of negotiations’

During the Parliamentary inquiry into “Facebook rapist” and murderer Bester’s prison escape, Police Minister Bheki Cele attributed its use to “part of the negotiations” with Tanzanian authorities.

According to TimesLIVE, the luxury aircraft — a Dassault Falcon 900B ZS-DFJ — was chartered from Zenith Air by the National Airways Corporation (NAC) to fly a delegation of senior police, home affairs and justice department officials to Tanzania.

Bester — who escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre, in Bloemfontein, on 3 May 2022 — was arrested alongside Magudumana and a Mozambican national, named Zakaria Alberto, 10km from the Kenyan border in Tanzania on Friday 7 April.

WATCH: Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha touch down in private jet at Lanseria Airport

ALSO READ: Thabo Bester is so scared for his life, he hasn’t eaten since re-arrest

‘Complete waste of taxpayers’ money’ – Glynnis Breytenbach

Consequently, the Democratic Alliance (DA) MP and Shadow Minister of Justice took aim at the private jet trip in a Newzroom Africa interview, labelling it as an “absolute disgrace” and a “complete waste of taxpayers’ money”.

ALSO READ: Glynnis Breytenbach: The pitbull prosecutor who could make Chuck Norris cry

Cele and police ministry’s ‘expenditure rap sheet’

SAPS’s “expenditure rap sheet”, however, is well documented.

While ordinary South Africans fork out thousands of rands for home and private security services, SAPS has persistently been accused over the years of poor expenditure management.

Last year, Cele and his office came under fire for spending more than R2.8 billion on hotel accommodation, entertainment and catering since he took office in May 2019 until June 2022.

The shock statistics were revealed in National Commissioner of Police Fannie Masemola’s written reply to questions posed by the DA’s Jahno Engelbrecht in Parliament.

ALSO READ: Thabo Bester: ‘Dr Nandipha said she was being held against her will’

Jet-setting around for photo opps?

The sky-high costs of the police ministry’s jam-packed flight schedule have also been raising eyebrows.

In January this year, Masemola’s reply to parliamentary questions from DA MP and Shadow Minister of Police Andrew Whitfield showed that R8.2m of taxpayers’ money footed the bill of numerous aircraft used by top officials to travel around the country since 2018.

In an IOL report, Whitfield said Cele’s frequent trips merely served as an opportunity for the police minister to “gallivant in front of cameras”.

“Cele seems to be everywhere. That’s why I asked those questions. Every time he stands up, he flies to a crime scene and invites the media. What benefit to the victims of crime is this R8m? And the answer is nothing,” Whitfield told the publication.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Thabo Bester – DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach rips into G4S report