NewsDay reports, President Emmerson Mnangagwa opted to fly to Guinea aboard a luxurious jet operated by Comlux which has is headquarters in Switzerland.
According to sources which spoke to NewsDay, Mnangagwa could have used Air Zimbabwe to travel to Guinea. The source said:
Air Zimbabwe was all the years been depending on presidential trips but since the coming in of President Mnangagwa, it has become very difficult to secure those deals. He opts to fly with a more luxurious aircraft. But this comes with a cost as the Swiss airline is paid in foreign currency while Air Zimbabwe would have been paid using the real time gross settlement process without stressing the national purse.
NewsDay could not get a comment from Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba who was said to have accompanied the President to Guinea. NewsDay reports Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza was not picking up his phone.
More: NewsDay
Does this article imply that Air Zimbabwe actually has surplus capacity for presidential charters? In the past our flights as ordinary people were unreliable, with the excuse often being that the then president had taken the plane.
Please before you write some of this nonsense can I invite you to understand what is called a State Visit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_visit
As you can see a state visit is funded by the host Government and they can chose whatever way they want to fund the trip. Why take Airzim isu tisina extra Ndege when Zimboz want to use the same jet. Stop hurting your country
David you have a good point, and that’s what I too am trying to put across. We require constructive criticism in order to achieve Vision 2030. Not criticism for the sake of criticising. We want robust debate that is from informed positions. My question remains the same – are we saying that Air Zimbabwe now has extra capacity to enable them to divert a jet to other countries for days and still be able to maintain their flight schedules? In the past I have seen the press criticise the president for inconveniencing Air Zimbabwe passengers. Now this press is criticising the president for not inconveniencing passengers.
The article states that “Mnangagwa could have used Air Zimbabwe to travel to Guinea”. Could have and should have are very different scenarios. Even if George Charamba did not comment, I do not see why his comment is required here. You want him to justify why he did not inconvenience Air Zimbabwe’s passengers?