FIRST Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has joined her husband in
hiring pricey private jets - which cost taxpayers thousands of United States
dollars.
The First Lady returned home from Dubai on Tuesday last
week aboard a private jet Airbus A318-112 (CJ) Elite chartered for her and her
travelling party. She had gone to Dubai for a meeting hosted by the Merck
Foundation for purposes of dealing with the stigmatisation of women with
infertility problems. Ten other first ladies attended the meeting.
The First Lady chartered the aircraft, registered as A6-CAS
and operated by Constellation Aviation of Dubai. It spawned questions why she
did not just hop into the first class cabin of a regularly scheduled Emirates
flight operating between Dubai and Harare daily.
This comes as her husband, President Mnangagwa, is
coming under sharp criticism from members of the public for the expensive
practice. Apparently, the plane chartered by the first lady is the same
aircraft flown into Harare a fortnight ago to fly her husband from Harare to
Bulawayo, a trip the president could have embarked on using a military Mil Mi
Russian-built Air Force of Zimbabwe helicopter.
Reached for comment, deputy Information minister Energy
Mutodi said: "What the first lady does is her own private business. She is
a free citizen, free to travel and do as she pleases. The public and media
should leave the first family alone on their private business; it has nothing
to do with the State or government."
Mnangagwa has defended his penchant for big-ticket private
planes, with his spin-doctors saying it was the only mode of transport that
could easily accommodate his busy schedule. Mnangagwa's spokesperson George
Charamba brushed off criticism of his boss' excessive foreign travel as trivia.
Charamba said
Mnangagwa is not so much fond of flying but is rather working around the clock
to restore the country's lost glory. Since coming to power in November 2017, Mnangagwa has
travelled over 25 trips.
He has been to countries such as Russia, Rwanda, Belarus,
Guinea, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Switzerland, Angola, Zambia,
Namibia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritania, Tanzania, Botswana, the
United States, the Democratic Republic of Congo and China, among others.
His office has been chartering the Comlux Boeing 767-200ER
(Boeing Business Jet or BBJ), which charges in the region of US$50 000 per hour
in flight time. On average, the trips are about five hours per leg for his
foreign trips on these large VIP jets.
Charter companies, which the first lady is now also using,
charge for flights on an hourly basis, based on what they call Total Time,
which is basically the period during which an aeroplane flies with actual
passengers other than just the crew.
Nonetheless, his immoderate expenditure, including his
wife's now, is ironic given his government's austerity mantra.
While the rest of Mnangagwa's Cabinet use commercial
flights, government now has to grapple with the new cost of the first lady's
travel that now attracts competitive charter rates. Daily News
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