Originally Posted by Pretoria News
By Staff Reporters and Sapa
The chief executive officer of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Zakes Mayeza, is leaving the organisation and the commissioner of Civil Aviation, Gawie Bestbier, is relinquishing his post in the middle of the Nationwide airline crisis.
This comes as the CAA and the airline reached agreement on what was required to get the airline back in the air.
The agreement between Nationwide and the CAA was confirmed by both parties on Tuesday, but was overshadowed by confirmation that Mayeza was leaving the helm of the CAA after his contract ended.
All Nationwide's aircraft were grounded by the CAA a week ago after the authority found administrative shortcomings in the airline's maintenance records.
The CAA's investigation into the loss of the Boeing 737-200's engine allegedly revealed the administrative shortcomings.
A lengthy meeting on Monday brought agreement on outstanding issues and the two parties have agreed to fully co-operate to have these resolved, said CAA spokesperson Phindiwe Gwebu.
She said the CAA would not comment on the details of the agreement, including what the outstanding issues were.
Gwebu also confirmed that Mayeza would be leaving and that Bestbier would stay with the organisation, but fill another post. Mayeza's contract expired on Monday.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, CAA board chairperson Duke Moroosi said the two men were stepping down after a decision had been made to merge the two positions.
A Nationwide spokesperson, who declined to be named because of contractual obligations, said the airline was happy with the agreement reached with the CAA.
"Once Nationwide is back in the air, it will be the safest airline, because it would have been subjected to the most stringent, intensive oversight inspection ever demanded in this country," he said.
"It may have been inconvenient in the short term, but now surely the airline's safety would be unquestionable," he said.
Meanwhile, an independent aviation specialist has described the grounding of the Nationwide fleet as an "overblown paper chase", slamming the CAA's insistence on being given documentation that they had already been given in the past.
The editor of World Air News, Tom Chalmers, said the reason that Nationwide was suspended had nothing to do with the engine incident.
"The CAA is claiming that the grounding was done because their paper work was not in order. From my knowledge everything is in order," said Chalmers.
"The CAA want paperwork and information about a 767 dating back years to when the aircraft was owned and operated by Air Canada," he said.
Chalmers said the CAA inspector who had reservations about whether Nationwide's engine bolts were genuine after an engine fell out did not know that the serial numbers were only visible under a special light.