15 May 2000
The issue of alleged fraudulent activities surrounding Airline Transport Pilots exams has been brought to the Minister of Transport's attention at the time of the CM receiving written allegations to this effect. The Minister has since met with the Chaimnan of the board and CEO of the CAA on this matter to ensure that adequate mesaures are taken to address this serious issue.
The Minister has been briefed on the progress of the investigation. He has been informed that the CAA will be concluding its investigation shortly. A number of steps have already been taken to enhance the security around the exams system at the CAA. This was communicated to the public via a CAA Press Release on 3rd May 2000. The Minister has been assured that this investigation will identity the appropriate measures which, need to be taken to ensure the ongoing integrity of South Afnca's pilot licensing system.
The CAA as part of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as part of its Global Aviation Safety Program, was recently audited by the and received a marked improved report on a similar assessment done by ICAO on South Africa in 1997. A number of relatively administrative issues, most, of which the CAA will have attended to by the time the ICAO report is published later this year. Only regulatory Issues identified in the ICAO audit will be resolved later, due to the length of the Civil Aviation Regulatory Committee (CARCOM) processes. CARCOM is a committee, which involves industry participants in developing and refining South Africa's Civil Avation Regulations.
The Civil Aviation Authority was established in October 1998 with a huge backlog in its oversight responsibilities, which arose due to the acute staff shortages in the old DCA. The CAA hence has an enormous challenge in ensuring that South Atrica is compliant with its ICAO treaty obligations. One of the key challenges is to kind the appropriately qualified staff to execute this mandate.
Not withstanding these challenges, the issue of corrupt and fraudulent behaviour will not be tolerated in the CAA or the aviation industry and the Minister of Transport is committed to ensuring that ail necessary actions are instituted when such cases are encountered.
The minister has been assured that the CAA continues to perform its functions according to institutional principles. The minister will ask for a further independent audit should it become necessary
Issued by Mike Mabasa
Media Liaison Officer to the Minister of Transport
Pretoria
083 680 7048