'Penalties designed to tighten loopholes' – Acsa

Acsa spokesman Solomon Makgale disagreed with the contention that his company had acted unilaterally in the implementation of its new permit system. “Permits had to be issued to 17 000 people at the airport. All stakeholders were given a timetable of when they could send their staff and the majority of those who came on time did not have major hassles. There were one or two who had to wait in long queues but we weren’t aware of anyone waiting for as long as 12 hours “We would need to investigate exactly what happened if that was indeed the case. Obviously it would not be fair for anyone to wait 12 hours,” he said. Commenting on the high penalties for card loss, he said that this underscored the importance of not allowing permits to fall into the wrong hands. “We have to be strict with the regulations.” The penalty for loss of a permit first time round is R68, second time R136 and third time the permit won’t be reissued. New permits cost R122 and renewals cost R144. Makgale said punitive measures were in place for employees who had resigned or been dismissed. “If they don’t return the permit the company will be charged R2 500. The penalty for visitors’ permits not returned is R3 000, and if through a reconciliation Acsa establishes that there are permits not in use that have not been cancelled, the penalty will be R10 000.”