Government spokesman Themba Maseko has revealed that the order of 8 Airbus A400M transport planes that were going to cost us R40-billion plus has been cancelled.

South Africa scrapped plans to buy the airlifters after production glitches and exchange rate fluctuations increased the purchase price from 837 million Euros ($1.2 billion), or 6.4 billion rand, in 2004 to 40 billion rand today, government spokesman Themba Maseko told reporters in Cape Town.

For South Africa, the deal would have placed an “unbearable burden” on taxpayers, Maseko told reporters today.

My, what a big plane you have! The A400M (c) Airbus Military An “unbearable burden” indeed.

Good to see that a sense of sanity has prevailed in this case, but we really shouldn’t let the incident be swept under the rug and forgotten now that the deal is off.

There is still the very worrying issue of how the initial order made it through parliamentary approval without a formal tender and order process being followed. There still needs to be a full investigation into who authorised this deal in the first place.

A little Marie Antoinette style head-rolling would not be out of line here, I think. Especially considering “that other” recent arms deal fiasco.

At the very least, the guilty parties should be made to fly economy class for the rest of their lives.

Airbus Loses South Africa Military Transporter Order (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.

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