Aging scanners won’t put airport security at risk, says GAAL
Scanners at the Polokwane International Airport are working but due to aging, the airport does experience some downtime.
POLOKWANE – This was the official answer from the Gateway Airport Authority Limited (Gaal) last week following an enquiry to whether the scanners at the airport were operational.
Two separate sources told BONUS the scanners at the airport do not work and has not been working for two years already.
One of the sources alleged the scanner at the international side does not work. The other alleged that, to test the scanners, she walked through with a big knife concealed close to her body, and it was not picked up.
Mokgadi Matli, acting CEO of Gaal, responded to the query, saying that, in the case of downtime, the Aviation Security Officers conduct a physical search, and therefore it would not be accurate that a person can walk through the scan area with a knife and go unnoticed.
” There are two ad-hoc audits and one comprehensive audit conducted by a regulatory body on an annual basis,” Matli said.
In the meantime, during a visit to the airport recently, at the time of the arrival of an airplane, no security workers could be spotted at the airport. It transpired that security workers were not paid at the end of February and they threatened to strike.
Matli said on 1 March that it was correct that Gaal has not paid the security company at the end of February. “According to the Public Finance Management Act and the service level agreement between Gaal and the service provider, invoices should be paid within 30 days of invoice date. Gaal is still well within the 30-day payment period. Gaal is not responsible for the payment of salaries of the security officers, as they are employed by the service provider.”
An SMS was sent to the employer to enquire about the non-payment of the security staff on 1 March, but no response was received but by 2 March the majority of security personnel were paid.
