South Africa’s (SA) Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga says the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) spent just under R2.4 billion ($144.10 million) on privately chartered flights over the past five years.

In a parliamentary reply, Motshekga says the flights were procured to access remote areas and support medical evacuations, peacekeeping and regional missions, disaster relief, very important person transport and military training.

She adds that other grounds for using privately chartered flights was for urgent operational deployments, non-availability of commercial flights and sensitive security movements for critical military operations.

–SABC–