Date: 22/08/2003
Source: Ministry of Public Enterprises
Title: Radebe: SAA graduation ceremony


REMARKS BY JEFF RADEBE, MP, MINISTER OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES AND ACTING MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, ON WOMEN IN AVIATION - SAA GRADUATION, Kempton Park, 22 August 2003

This year we celebrate the centenary of modern, powered flight, harking back to when the Wright brothers took to the air for the first time in a strange looking contraption. Since that windy day in 1903, the history of aviation has taken a number of incredible turns, to a situation today where children take for granted the ideas of satellites and astronauts, of rockets and huge airliners such as those that grace SAA's modern fleet today. Gone are the days when we often stop to take notice of aircraft overhead, except of course if we happen to be among the unfortunate who only watch the vapour trails of huge unseen bombers carrying their loads of destruction to some destination of a normally poor country.

We tend to take for granted, too, the revolution in technology that has allowed the modern aviation world to emerge. For modern flight is premised on a whole range of scientific and physical engagements with new composite technologies to make planes stronger, lighter and more durable. The control systems of modern aircraft represent some of the most amazing combinations of information technology systems as well. But all of this would still not be able to take to the skies without the critically important operation of efficient support systems that are the hidden face of the aviation world: air traffic control and navigation systems, of the work of civil aviation authorities, and of course the critical back-up that is needed to make a modern commercial airline such as SAA work at its best. SAA's task is not only to fly aircraft safely and well: its primary task is to transport hundreds of thousands of people backwards and forwards to a range of destinations for a variety of purposes. But as we all know, the success of the operation depends on a whole chain of activity, from the drawing up of timetables and schedules that enable people to make choices before they engage the booking system. Upon arrival at an airport, there is the need to check in on the correct plane, go to the correct gate knowing that your luggage is on the same aircraft as yourself, and comfortable that, all other things considered, you are going to get where you want to, pick up your luggage and go about your business with as little pain as possible. Probably unknown to most passengers - or customers as the new language of the airline business calls us! - is the amount of information technology that is required to ensure that the aircraft itself "knows" how heavy it is, how the weight of the cargo and people is placed, how the aircraft will adjust its balance and centre of gravity in flight, and so on.

Without any of the things I have just mentioned, modern civil air travel would be a non-starter. And this is where today's celebration comes into its own. For today's graduation of 38 women from the SAA Aviation Academy course provides the airline and South Africa with a cadre of aviation specialists in their own right, whose contribution to the smooth operation of a highly sophisticated enterprise will be invaluable. So, right at the outset, let me congratulate you all on your wonderful achievement and thank you for considering the aviation industry as an area you want to work in.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we know that in some quarters there is a nervousness about the role of technology in society, or what Manuell Castells has called a "raging debate" between those who believe that technology is the panacea for all our woes, and those who believe that technology and its application divides the world even further between poor and rich.

We approach the matter somewhat differently. If we are serious about the process of building capacity and expertise in the fields of management and leadership, then we need to ensure that the leaders produced are at the forefront in the 21 century. SAA is no different to this challenge. Our success rests on creating a culture of passionate and competent people who are committed to growing the company through their own emancipation. Notably our business is about people, as well as the customer, the personnel, the shareholders and the alliances. We may acquire the best state of the art equipment and indeed we have, but if we do not have the best skilled staff to manage, operate and maintain such equipment, SAA will not be able to live up to the economic, social and political challenges placed before us.

SAA recognises this and has embraced the challenge to bridge this gap with motivated, committed, competent and skilled women. This is not an exercise to just comply with legislation; it is about what makes business sense. The Women in Aviation Programme is an initiative in contributing to the transformation of SAA and our country in reflecting a true picture of all our people. "It is part of our efforts to bring about a truly non-racial and non-sexist country, while at the same time, this programme should help us to attract the best amongst our people to serve our country."

The Women in Aviation Programme is therefore a strategic initiative to this end. The objective of the Women in Aviation is to develop a cadre of high calibre female managers that may serve as a conduit to SAA's executive leadership in the future. This programme is a critical intervention by SAA to correct traditional imbalances and to promote women to deal with the complexities of the Airline business.

Whilst we applaud the efforts that are being made by SAA and other institutions to correct the wrongs of the past and to promote the role of women in the industry, we need also to be fully aware of the extent of the challenge that still confronts us all.

Within SAA, the promotion of equity is beginning to reach the targets we expect in the leadership echelons. However, it is notable that equity levels at the senior and middle management echelon remain unsatisfactory. Today, SAA's total staff by gender is some 62% male and 38 female, where white employees account for 48% of the total, Africans 37%, Coloureds 11% and Indians 8%. But there are critical areas of SAA's activities that we must do our level best to improve - and this relates mainly to the aviator categories we have. It is pleasing to note on the one hand that the intake of black pilots has increased to 15% at the end of June this year, ensuring that we now have 15 black male, 8 coloured male, 1 coloured female, 11 Indian male and 2 Indian female, and 9 white women first officers. But we must note that there were no black senior captains, only 1 black male, 1 Indian male and 3 white women captains, 4 black male and 3 Indian male and 4 white women senior first officers, and only 1 Indian male in-flight engineer to date. I am aware of the plans that SAA is implementing to correct these imbalances, and we urge them to continue on this road.

Let me hasten to add that the phenomenon of imbalances is not unique to SAA in this regard either. We have similar challenges in the CAA and the ATNS sectors as well, including the aviation and aerospace sector of Denel. The SAAF likewise faces major challenges in this area. At Air Traffic and Navigation Services, we still await the appointment of the first African women in an executive position. To date, only two coloured women (now one due to Wrenelle Stander taking up the appointment as Transport DG) have occupied executive positions. Although the overall figures for ATNS reflect a positive approach to employment equity, a look at the numbers for professional air traffic controllers, ATC trainees and professional engineers reveals a different picture. Thus of the professional ATCs, only 12% are African, 5% coloured, and 11% Indian, with females in these categories represented as 4%, 0% and 2% respectively. White women fill only 19% of professional ATC positions as well. In the ATC category, 17% are African, 17% coloured and 22% Indian, with women represented as 5%, 2% and 11% respectively, with white women filling 15% of the positions. The engineering areas are even more distorted with no white women at all, 5% African women, 1% coloured women and no Indian women either. These figures are offset in some way by a 100% African male component in the trainee engineer category.

The CAA has progressed further along the road of transformation in this regard, but here too, challenges remain. There are no women at all in executive positions, only 5 white women and 4 African women out of 28 managers, and only 31 women out of 97 technical personnel.

I have concentrated on these areas precisely because they fall within the ambit of the state enterprises and should in many ways be the role models for the whole of the industry itself. However, I should also stress that the issue about women in aviation, let alone industry as a whole, is not simply about numbers. It is also about culture and ethos in the workplace. In our South African situation, gender issues have always tended to play second fiddle to race issues, and although much has been done to address the challenge of the changing nature of race in the workplace, not the same effort has been put into addressing how correcting the gender balance will impact on the culture of the workplace.

There are some so called traditional occupations that men have dominated in all of the time. The almost totally male domain of aviators, or pilots, is a case in point. It is a fact that women coming into these areas may face tension and even opposition until such time as a critical mass if created. At the same time, the occupants of these positions may feel threatened and fear job security into the future. It is essential therefore that human resource departments address these questions as well, and ensure that the changing nature of the workplace takes into account gender issues more directly than they may have up until now.

Anyone who has participated in discussion about transformation knows the difficulties and the common arguments about there being a lack of properly trained black people, let alone women, in these occupational areas. However, we should not allow these legacies of apartheid and a male dominated society to stand in the way of thorough transformation. We must take greater advantage of the SETA environment, Boards of Directors of the SOEs must take a closer look at the implementation strategies of transformation and equity plans, and all must understand that transformation in the entity actually contributes to the transformation of the sector and our country at large.

I have taken advantage of today's graduation ceremony for the 38 special SAA people to address a range of concerns as they affect the aviation industry in South Africa generally. At the end of the day, the women who graduate today must be under no illusion that their success presents them, and us, with the challenge of deepening the gains that have been made in the area of gender rights in our democratic South Africa. For decades, major battles were fought around equal pay for equal work between black and white, and only later between men and women. The special circumstances of black women in South Africa located the struggle for women's rights in a very specific battle against a range of discriminations. We are confronting those today. But we must ensure that through equity transformations, through initiatives such as the women in leadership programmes adopted by SAA and other entities, the rights of women, and the gains that are made, become irreversible.

The 'Women in Aviation" must assist all of us to grasp the full meaning of this historical transformation. We must ensure that we understand fully the multidimensional nature of this transformation and that we have the skills to take us forward in leading roles.

So, my simple message to the graduates today is this. Be proud of your achievement; be proud and aware that your success occurs in the context of the continuing struggle for women's rights in a democratic South Africa. You are part of a strong company, which the government has every confidence in. Next week we will officially release SAA's financial results but I can indicate right now that SAA's operational performance last year was superb. SAA's performance is indeed solid and sound, and something that we can all be proud of. The little hiccup of the hedging issue mentioned in detail in recent press reports is not a major issue from our perspective and will not derail any of the initiatives that we have undertaken. SAA has government's support every inch of the way in their continuing endeavour to be one of the world's finest international airlines.

Let me conclude with anonymous words of profound wisdom:

You cannot teach
A person anything
You can only help
Them discover it
Down inside
Themselves.

I thank you.

Issued by Ministry of Public Enterprises
22 August 2003