Mafikeng Airport chief reads the riot act over inefficiency

THE FUTURE of Mafikeng International Airport now appears to lie in the hands of North West Transport MEC Phenye Vilakazi who has announced that "heads are going to roll" in his department through inefficiency, and that the airport operations will be "turned about" by May 1 to meet Civil Aviation Authority demands.
"Officials in the transport department have been sleeping on the job. You can"t get telephone calls answered because people have been removed already. Not only will heads be rolling but an endless list of people in the department have been disciplined," he says.
"I am riding the tiger of criticism of poor standards at the airport and I am dealing with the people who have caused this mess."
An independent airport operator is to be appointed by May 1, the day on which he will announce one of the number of airlines which made the short list for the resumption of flights to and from Johannesburg, and which he insists must be resumed after being suspended last December.
The CAA temporarily suspended the airport licence after finding shortcomings in many of the facilities, including vehicles and equipment, fire-fighting, rescue and emergency medical support services, systems, manuals and operating procedures as well as staff training and management. This threatened the future of the airport with the possibility of the licence being revoked altogether
Vilakazi has pointed out as an example a fire tender which is leaking, and which could fail in a high pressure emergency. Officials in the directorate responsible for operations will have to bear the brunt for the deficiencies, he says. A team of evaluators has now been established who are making daily reports to him.
"Our target now is to have everything turned about by the end of this month to ensure that the CAA demands are being met, and to see that the airport becomes a fully upgraded facility capable of meeting all requirements," he says.