“We asked any company that could give us an aeroplane that could carry 14 people and would be able to get landing rights and documentation without help from the state in less than 24 hours, because South Africans were eager to know whether this deportation was taking place.
“There were companies who responded [and] the one we took was the cheapest at R1.4m.”
The Dassault Falcon 900B aircraft was chartered from Zenith Air by the National Airways Corporation (NAC), which, according to National Treasury documents seen by TimesLIVE, is an approved government airline charter provider.
“We never asked anyone for a luxury flight, as everybody is saying,” he said.
“The Tanzanian [officials] said under no conditions do they want to be blamed or accused of rendition, so they couldn't hand Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana over to the army or the police and they couldn't use their transport modes; that's why they insisted home affairs find the mode of transport.”
Police minister Bheki Cele said this was part of negotiations with Tanzanian officials.
He said the negotiation team that left on April 9 advised the Tanzanians would be more comfortable using a private aircraft.
“So we had to respect that,” Cele said.
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'We took the cheapest flight' — government spent R1.4m to deport Bester and Magudumana
Image: flyzenith.com
It cost the state R1.4m to charter a flight to bring back “Facebook rapist” and murderer Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana from Tanzania.
Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi confirmed this to parliament's portfolio committee on home affairs on Tuesday, saying it was the “cheapest" option.
Bester escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May 2022. He was captured in Tanzania with his lover Magudumana and brought back to South Africa.
Motsoaledi said the R1.4m flight was the most practical choice which also met the deportation requirements of Tanzanian authorities.
“Members of the committee know we hire buses for neighbouring countries, but for far away countries we are forced to charter a flight and we have a database in National Treasury which is already pre-qualified and we just have to ask them [for] a database of companies that own chartered aircrafts.
Luxury jet for Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana's deportation
“We asked any company that could give us an aeroplane that could carry 14 people and would be able to get landing rights and documentation without help from the state in less than 24 hours, because South Africans were eager to know whether this deportation was taking place.
“There were companies who responded [and] the one we took was the cheapest at R1.4m.”
The Dassault Falcon 900B aircraft was chartered from Zenith Air by the National Airways Corporation (NAC), which, according to National Treasury documents seen by TimesLIVE, is an approved government airline charter provider.
“We never asked anyone for a luxury flight, as everybody is saying,” he said.
“The Tanzanian [officials] said under no conditions do they want to be blamed or accused of rendition, so they couldn't hand Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana over to the army or the police and they couldn't use their transport modes; that's why they insisted home affairs find the mode of transport.”
Police minister Bheki Cele said this was part of negotiations with Tanzanian officials.
He said the negotiation team that left on April 9 advised the Tanzanians would be more comfortable using a private aircraft.
“So we had to respect that,” Cele said.
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
READ MORE:
Dr Nandipha Magudumana & father in the dock on Monday: 7 more stories to read about the Thabo Bester saga
Tanzanian team requested luxurious jet that brought Bester, Magudumana back to SA: Cele
WATCH | Video of Thabo Bester 'dancing' in his prison cell goes viral on social media
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