Deanw
24th Jun 2004, 11:18
Another employment/graft/nepotism/ etc opportunity :}
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SA to beef up security at airports
New post of head of civil aviation security to be created among other steps in wake of 9/11 attacks
Political Correspondent
TRANSPORT Minister Jeff Radebe is expected to approve a R100m aviation security plan within the next two weeks, Civil Aviation Authority GM Mongezi India said yesterday.
The plan is in line with an international review of security at airports, following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US three years ago.
The Airports Company SA (Acsa) has set aside R100m for the implementation of the plan over the next two years.
India said the aim of the plan was to implement a "more conclusive" and "robust" national security plan.
The provisions of the plan would, however, require an amendment to the 1981 Safety Regulations Act and a civil aviation security chief would also have to be appointed, he said.
India said the plan was finalised this month after extensive redrafting and consultation.
He said beside modern security technology, the aviation authority needed to increase the aviation security department's oversight capacity by restructuring top management and increasing the number of aviation security inspectors.
"A national aviation security committee representing all appropriate agencies and government departments has also been constituted, with their main task being to advise the minister on security aviation," said India.
India said he was confident the plan would conform to best international practice, with SA having ratified all the International Civil Aviation Organisation's aviation security-related conventions.
The composition of the committee had been revisited to ensure it fully represented the appropriate agencies and government departments which affected the country's aviation security, India said.
Acsa said airport security worldwide was seen as presenting "extraordinary and exceptional difficulties".
Acsa said in its 2003 annual report that airports were busy international frontiers "across which millions of foreign and local citizens moved annually".
"They are in effect large and busy metropolitan nodes with varied activities employing large numbers of people 18500 people at Johannesburg (International Airport) for example; and huge quantities of valuable freight pass through their portals," said the report .
Acsa said as part of an integrated approach to security, it cooperates with the South African Police Service, the transport department, Civil Aviation Authority , National Intelligence Agency and South African Secret Service.
In a bid to improve security at the country's airports, Acsa had introduced measures such as an intensive security audit among employees, an upgraded permit system, the establishment of a high-power internal investigation team, security incentive schemes and an anonymous tip-offs telephone hotline.
The Acsa report stated that increased closed-circuit television installations allowed staff to monitor airline operations, customs, baggage-handling and nonaviation activities, such as traffic and pedestrian movement.
India said a pilot system for biometric recognition technology, or profiling, had been identified and budgeted for at Johannesburg International Airport for this financial year.
"It is fair to highlight that biometrics, although currently at the cutting edge of security technology, requires us to be sensitive to the unproven best practice and potential discrimination (against) certain ethnic groups," India said.
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SA to beef up security at airports
New post of head of civil aviation security to be created among other steps in wake of 9/11 attacks
Political Correspondent
TRANSPORT Minister Jeff Radebe is expected to approve a R100m aviation security plan within the next two weeks, Civil Aviation Authority GM Mongezi India said yesterday.
The plan is in line with an international review of security at airports, following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US three years ago.
The Airports Company SA (Acsa) has set aside R100m for the implementation of the plan over the next two years.
India said the aim of the plan was to implement a "more conclusive" and "robust" national security plan.
The provisions of the plan would, however, require an amendment to the 1981 Safety Regulations Act and a civil aviation security chief would also have to be appointed, he said.
India said the plan was finalised this month after extensive redrafting and consultation.
He said beside modern security technology, the aviation authority needed to increase the aviation security department's oversight capacity by restructuring top management and increasing the number of aviation security inspectors.
"A national aviation security committee representing all appropriate agencies and government departments has also been constituted, with their main task being to advise the minister on security aviation," said India.
India said he was confident the plan would conform to best international practice, with SA having ratified all the International Civil Aviation Organisation's aviation security-related conventions.
The composition of the committee had been revisited to ensure it fully represented the appropriate agencies and government departments which affected the country's aviation security, India said.
Acsa said airport security worldwide was seen as presenting "extraordinary and exceptional difficulties".
Acsa said in its 2003 annual report that airports were busy international frontiers "across which millions of foreign and local citizens moved annually".
"They are in effect large and busy metropolitan nodes with varied activities employing large numbers of people 18500 people at Johannesburg (International Airport) for example; and huge quantities of valuable freight pass through their portals," said the report .
Acsa said as part of an integrated approach to security, it cooperates with the South African Police Service, the transport department, Civil Aviation Authority , National Intelligence Agency and South African Secret Service.
In a bid to improve security at the country's airports, Acsa had introduced measures such as an intensive security audit among employees, an upgraded permit system, the establishment of a high-power internal investigation team, security incentive schemes and an anonymous tip-offs telephone hotline.
The Acsa report stated that increased closed-circuit television installations allowed staff to monitor airline operations, customs, baggage-handling and nonaviation activities, such as traffic and pedestrian movement.
India said a pilot system for biometric recognition technology, or profiling, had been identified and budgeted for at Johannesburg International Airport for this financial year.
"It is fair to highlight that biometrics, although currently at the cutting edge of security technology, requires us to be sensitive to the unproven best practice and potential discrimination (against) certain ethnic groups," India said.