Opposition parties finger MEC over Polokwane airport mess

Limpopo MEC for roads and community safety Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya is in hot water, with opposition parties calling for her head amid contentious decisions by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) to downgrade the Polokwane International Airport.

Last week Sacaa downgraded the Polokwane International Airport from category seven to category two. Now the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Democratic Alliance (DA) have blamed Lerule-Ramakhanya for the downgrade, claiming she failed to play her oversight role.

Airlink announced last week it had suspended flights to Polokwane with immediate effect because the airport had been downgraded.

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It was allegedly unable to provide the minimum level of emergency services required to maintain its aerodrome licence category.

Airlink said it was advised by Sacaa that the Polokwane airport had been de-categorised to CAT2, which was below the minimum level required for scheduled commercial air services.

“The status of the airport presents as an operational safety concern and it would be illegal to operate scheduled services at the airport,” said Airlink.

The downgrading has set tongues wagging in the agricultural and mining province, with opposition parties accusing the MEC of having failed the airport. The parties pleaded with Treasury MEC Seaparo Sekoatiand Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha to take action against her.

“Lerule-Ramakhanya is irresponsible. She has refused to take action against the management and the board at Gateway Airport Authority Limited [Gaal] and for that she must face the music,” said EFF Limpopo chair Jossey Buthane yesterday.

“We advised her before the storm but, as always, she chose to ignore our advice and opted to support Gaal to appeal Sacaa’s downgrading decision.

“Our demand is that Premier Stan Mathabatha must take action against her for failing the airport. It is our conviction that the MEC is clueless about her responsibilities. She is a liability and for that she must be replaced.”

DA Limpopo provincial leader Jacques Smalle said in a statement: “We believe business rescue is necessary to prevent the boards of Gaal from running deeper into financial woes.”

In a report compiled in September last year by the research and evaluation unit of the Limpopo legislature revealed damning information on the state of Gaal’s financial affairs.

The report indicated that Gaal was expected to generate its own revenue, but incurred a net loss of R11.44 million in the 2018-19 financial year.

A well-placed source in the office of the MEC, who asked to speak on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the MEC was innocent in what is happening at the airport.

“She just came in now to replace another MEC after reshuffling. When she got there,there was no management and only three board members were left. So the airport had long been dysfunctional. Hands off our MEC,” the source said.

Media liaison Mike Maringa refused to comment on the matter, but did say: “The downgrading of Gaal was raised formally as a motion in parliament on Tuesday and the department will first respond to all the issues raised at the legislature before responding to the media.”

Yesterday Mathabatha said all necessary efforts were being employed to return the airport to effective and efficient operations.

“I appeal for calm … and discourage any action to politicise this matter,” he said. “Finger pointing and political mudslinging are not the solution.”

news@citizen.co.za.