And just to divert from the TA saga:
A former SA Airways pilot convicted of buying licence examination papers again failed to arrive at the Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on Thursday morning to be sentenced.
It was suspected that Issayah Dominicus Nombo, 42, had fled the country, probably using false travel documents, state advocate Glynnis Breytenbach said.
Nombo's bail was finally estreated on Thursday. A warrant for his arrest was authorised two weeks ago when he first failed to turn up for sentencing.
Last year Louis Maloma, who was convicted on similar charges, also fled the country before he could be sentenced.
Magistrate Mario Jungbluth last month convicted Nombo on charges of fraud and corruption relating to the buying of Airline Transport Pilot's licence (ATPL) examination papers, and acquitted him on three more charges.
Brandon Harris, formerly an official at the Department of Transport, testified he had sold the examination papers for the ATPL, which a pilot needs to serve as a captain on an international airline, to Nombo in 1997 for
R7 000.
This was at the request of Maloma.
Harris also ensured that Nombo wrote that same set of papers, and when he failed one of them, sold another to him for R500.
The scam surrounding the selling and buying of ATPL examination papers surfaced in March last year when Maloma made a statement mentioning the names of eight pilots, including Nombo's.
A number of pilots, as well as Harris, another Civil Aviation Authority official and CAA chief executive officer Trevor Abrahams were arrested on similar charges.
Maloma pleaded guilty on charges of fraud and corruption last year, but fled before he could be sentenced. He is still at large.
Harris was convicted on such charges in August after pleading guilty. He was sentenced to three years' correctional supervision, a year's imprisonment or a R20 000 fine.
A further six-year jail sentence was suspended for five years.
All charges against Abrahams were withdrawn on Thursday. No reason was given for the withdrawal. - Sapa