ATNS crisis: Staffing shortages, outdated systems, and financial misconduct

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has stepped in to fix Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS).

Years of neglect, mismanagement and governance failures have left the entity stripped of skilled workers and scrambling to ensure that aircraft operate on time and safely.

The intervention follows a December 2024 report on the staterun provider to Creecy.

Investigation outcomes

The team appointed to investigate the company identified severe shortages of air traffic controllers and flight procedure designers, outdated flight navigation procedures, unreliable communication systems and weaknesses in safety governance as cause for concern.

The investigation outcome underlined a series of reports by The Citizen in October and November last year.

At the time, ATNS was purportedly operating with less than half its required staff capacity, forcing controllers to work longer with minimal support.

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This led to aircraft missed clearances, failed handovers between controllers during flight stages and increased aborted landings.

Additionally, ageing systems and poor maintenance meant controllers were said to rely on manual vectoring calculations and use cellphones for the math, increasing safety risks.

ATNS CEO suspension

Creecy last week ordered the precautionary suspension of ATNS chief executive Nozipho Mdawe and instructed the board to appoint an independent law firm to investigate her conduct.

The Citizen reported in November that Mdawe faced allegations of nepotism, mismanagement and appointing unqualified associates, bypassing standard vetting and removing officials who questioned her credentials.

She allegedly inflated salaries for favoured appointees, misused company resources and failed to address critical infrastructure issues, including staffing shortages and faulty radar systems.

Financial misconduct

A report received by The Citizen from a whistle-blower also alleged that three directors, Siyabonga Kudumela, Suleman Badat and Khulile Boqwana, were implicated in alleged financial misconduct, including VAT miscalculations on billing and over-invoicing of board fees amounting to almost R2 million.

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According to the whistle-blower, despite the evidence and a report provided to ATNS and Creecy’s predecessor, no action was taken and the implicated directors remained in their positions.

Boqwana, was reappointed to the ATNS board in January 2023 by the same minister.

This was despite a Labour Court ruling in 2019 exposing severe allegations of misconduct during his tenure at the Social Housing Regulatory Authority.

Collen Msibi of the department of transport said they were not aware of Boqwana’s history.

“Nor is it aware of an independent investigation in 2023 purportedly finding the three directors guilty of misconduct.”

Outdated flight procedures

Operationally, critical flight procedures, which caused delays and airport closures last year due to lack of maintenance, should have been updated every five years, but were not.

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Of the 300 procedures, 66 are outdated. The department is prioritising an extension for flight procedures at major airports, the minister said.

Creecy noted that the failure to maintain the entire air traffic management ecosystem was clear.