Polokwane International Airport: No soul in sight

There was not a soul in sight this week at the Polokwane International Airport, which has turned into a ghost city overnight after it was downgraded by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) last week.

As you enter Polokwane and drive through the city towards the airport, the rusted and sun-bleached abstract artwork by Jack Botes along Landdros Mare Street stands almost unnoticed among the uncut grass and littered papers and bottles.

On your way towards the airport, the sad figure of an abandoned and vandalised aeroplane stands in a field of long grass behind a broken palisade fence.

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The boom gates to the airport were not working, either, and airport staff controlled the access to the airport with traffic cones and issued handwritten parking tickets on small torn-off pieces of paper.

When you exit the airport, the security guard at the gate checks the handwritten ticket to calculate the time spent on his or her watch before deciding how much money to charge for parking.

According to the security guard at the gate, the first 15 minutes of parking is free and they charge anything from R6 to R15 or more for an hour’s parking.

In March last year, when a group of South Africans was quarantined at The Ranch Resort near Polokwane – after being flown in on an evacuation flight from Wuhan in China – The Citizen photographer Jacques Nelles also visited the airport.

He said at the time the boom gates were working and printed out tickets that customers had to pay at the kiosk at the entrance to the airport building.

A year later, the same parking lot has noticeably fewer cars parked, with barely a soul in sight. An employee at one of the car hire franchises noted the boom gates may be out of order due to a lack of electricity.

On the inside of the airport building, there are only two retail shops, a cafe and a clothing boutique, which have allegedly been closed for months.

The sound of birds chirping echoing through the empty airport building is the only sound you hear, while a handful of airport employees sit at the stations with no customers to serve.

Next to the airport building is a warehouse that is being rented out for wrestling, boxing, and action cricket. The owner of the wrestling club, who did not want to be named, said they have no issues with the airport, from which they rent a section of the warehouse.

“We get here at 3pm and train the kids until 7pm, then we leave.”

He said he and his son, who also couches wrestling alongside him at the club, discussed how expensive it was to fly to Johannesburg from Polokwane when they heard the news of the downgrade.

“Only the rich could afford those prices. It is much cheaper to drive there,” the owner said before excusing himself.

marizkac@citizen.co.za