South Africa cancels Airbus contract
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's government says it has canceled a contract to buy eight Airbus military aircraft that had set off a debate about public spending.
Government spokesman Themba Maseko told reporters Thursday that the decision was made because of delivery delays and "extensive cost escalation." Reports that costs had ballooned from 17 billion rand when the deal was signed five years ago to 47 billion rand (about $6 billion) had caused a political storm.
The governing African National Congress says the interests of South African tax payers would not have been best served by going ahead with the contract.
The opposition Democratic Alliance says it welcomed the cancellation, but wanted an investigation to determine what went wrong.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Most Popular News
-
A.R. Rahman, Jennifer Hudson headline state dinner
It's an all-star lineup for Tuesday's first state dinner of the Obama White House: Oscar-winners Jennifer Hudson and A.R. Rahman headline the entertainment list.
-
Jet-winged adventurer ditches in Atlantic, unhurt
A Swiss adventurer trying to soar from Morocco to Spain on jet-powered wings ditched safely into the Atlantic on Wednesday after hitting turbulence and clouds so thick he could not tell if he was flying up or down.
-
Authorities: Hanged Ky. census worker killed self
When an eastern Kentucky census worker was found naked, bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree with "fed" scrawled on his chest, suspicion fell on the hardscrabble Appalachian area where bad news seems like a way of life.
-
Vicki Kennedy describes husband's cancer battle
The widow of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy told Oprah Winfrey in an interview broadcast Wednesday that even as her husband knew he was dying of brain cancer he had been "in training" to make sure he had enough strength to attend President Barack Obama's inauguration.
