Award-winning journalist Hopewell Chin’ono said that the 32 choppers bought by the Government from Russia are overpriced and the purchase of the planes is a manifestation of misplaced priorities.
Posting on Twitter, Chin’ono said each Kazan Ansat chopper costs US$2.5 million but the Zimbabwean Government paid US$10 million for each. Wrote Chin’ono:
Now that we know a brand new Kazan Ansat helicopter like the ones ZANUPF Government brought from Russia costs US$2.5 million, and that ZANU PF said it paid US$10 million for each of the 32 choppers totaling US$320 million, do you now see what I meant when I said that this was looting of public funds!
Opposition politicians, please go and do your work, the data is here, and whilst at it, find out whether this was not a donation after all.
If it wasn’t a donation, find out if these choppers are brand new.
If there are brand new, it means US$240 million was LOOTED.
US$240 million would run all of Zimbabwe’s central hospitals for 5 years, it would buy 120 radiotherapy cancer treatment machines, it would build 6,486 maternity theaters.
Zimbabwe doesn’t have a single working radiotherapy cancer machine, its biggest hospital only has one working maternity theater built in 1977 by Ian Smith’s regime.
Its central hospitals don’t have IV paracetamol and the whole caps Itai city has less than 15 dialysis machines that are working.
A dialysis machine costs as little as US$2000, the loot of US$240 million would buy 120,000 dialysis machines!
What was that Statutory Instrument for, by the way, the illegal one that didn’t want you to know the price of hospital equipment including ambulances?
Air ambulances, oh, I see!
According to Team Pachedu, Russia “dumped” the helicopters in Zimbabwe as is no more engine support for Ansat helicopters which the southern African country bought. Said Team Pachedu:
Russia dumped helicopters in Zimbabwe. Pratt & Whitney (Canada) stopped supplying Russia with PW207K engines due to sanctions & Russia is now replacing them with Russian VK-650V engines.
There is no more engine support for Ansat helicopters and these are what Zimbabwe got.
According to ZimLive, the Ansat is built to a classic single-rotor design with a four-blade main rotor and a two-blade tail rotor.
It has a top speed of 275 km/h and can fly non-stop for 505 kilometers at a maximum height of 18,000 feet (5,500 meters).
More: Pindula News