Acsa denies discrimination allegations, urges travellers to cooperate with security

Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) says it does not discriminate against any individual travelling through its airports across the country.

This follows online media reports alleging that some passengers were discriminated against during airport searches.

On Sunday, Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport said in a Facebook post that as part of security measures, people wearing any kind of headgear including hijabs, niqabs, peak caps and headwraps among other items would undergo a physical search.

“This includes providing an appropriate space to conduct a physical search,” the Eastern Cape airport said.

Acsa’s group executive for security Mzwandile Petros has since called on travellers to cooperate with security personnel at the country’s airports.

No discrimination

“We would like to categorically state that Acsa does not have any policies or procedures that discriminate against any passengers or airport users on the basis of gender, race, cultural beliefs, religion, or place of origin

“South Africa is a constitutional democracy that accords equal regard to all individuals regardless of their faith, race, gender, or cultural background. Acsa, as a state-owned company, subscribes to all principles as espoused in the Constitution, which ensure a free and equal society. Furthermore, we are always ready to observe and defend the rights of all persons at the facilities we manage,” Petros said.

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Aviation legislation

Petros said Acsa would continue to adhere to all national aviation legislation and regulations.

“We know that physical searches may cause discomfort to our passengers, and in view of this, our security personnel have been instructed to ensure that all searches are conducted in a respectful and courteous manner.”

Flights after IT outage

Meanwhile, Acsa said flights will take off as planned following an IT global outage.

The outage linked to cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike hit computers around the world on Friday morning, affecting airlines, hospitals, retailers and other businesses.

At the heart of it, there have been two issues in quick succession involving widely used Microsoft systems, and some users may have been affected by both of them.

Acsa said its airports management teams continue to monitor systems at airports across the country and urged travellers to contact their respect airlines for any updates to their flight schedules.

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