Jet scare highlights criminals in the SAA workshop
● An investigation of what caused a Mango Boeing to nosedive during a flight between Johannesburg and Cape Town has added to SAA’s woes. It comes as the Hawks are probing widespread corruption and looting at SAA, which owns Mango.
The nosedive has been blamed on a defective part in the Mango Airlines’ Boeing 737, fitted at maintenance subsidiary SAA Technical.
SAA admitted this week it had been infiltrated by an international crime syndicate that had looted hundreds of millions of rands through questionable tenders which include the supply of possibly suspect parts.
SAA’s legal, risk and compliance executive, Vusi Pikoli, said this week that the Hawks and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had revived organised crime and serious corruption investigations at the airline. These stem from nine audit reports that were previously suppressed.
A preliminary report by the Civil Aviation Authority on last month’s Mango incident highlights a defective replacement motor with a service history that “could not be determined with certainty”.
None of the 147 people on board the early morning flight on September 2 were injured and the aircraft made a safe emergency landing in Johannesburg.
A senior Mango Airlines manager said the incident was minor — a “jolt” — but aviation experts said the incident underscored the urgency to clean up the airline and that revitalising SAA Technical was vital to maintaining SA’s air safety record.
SAA Technical does all major maintenance for SAA. It also provides major maintenance for a number of European, African and Middle Eastern airlines.
There is no indication that the replacement part, highlighted in the aviation authority report, is linked to irregular procurement, but its missing service history has prompted criticism of SAA Technical on the country’s leading online aviation forum, Avcom.
Pikoli told the Sunday Times a “massive” investigation involving international law enforcement and aviation regulatory authorities was under way into a sophisticated syndicate “which includes senior SAA procurement executives”.
Hawks and SAA sources said those under investigation included US and French aviation supply and maintenance companies, including their staff in SA.
Since 2014, the syndicate is said to have targeted SAA’s procurement, maintenance, corporate and group servicing divisions’ budgets.
A document in the possession of the Sunday Times reveals that aircraft parts worth R25m disappeared from SAA Technical stores while forensic investigators were finalising their report. “The way this was conducted, it shows that there was an inside job [involving] certain members of management,” said an internal memo.
SAA is in a crisis, with state enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan announcing last week that the airline will not meet its deadline to submit financial statements to parliament because of “serious financial problems” and that it was unable to be classed as a going concern.
This week SAA human resources general manager Vuyi Raseroka was placed on precautionary suspension. The airline is also without a permanent CFO and CEO after Vuyani Jarana’s resignation in June.
The threat of a strike by pilots over “critical operational and technical deficiencies” is also hanging over the airline.
SAA told the Sunday Times this week it was addressing “systemic performance issues” at SAA Technical, including a full “workshops repair and overhaul capability review”.
Spokesperson Tlali Tlali said progress had been made in “material supply issues externally and within our own inventory”.
Rival airline Comair said it had terminated its relationship with SAA Technical. “The well-documented problems with maintenance scheduling and parts inventory at SAA Technical had a direct impact on [our] ontime operations, financial performance and customer relations,” the airline said.
Comair jets are now maintained by Lufthansa Technik.
A Hawks source close to the SAA probe said numerous government departments and entities were involved. “Detectives, prosecutors and SAA authorities are taking this very seriously,” said the source.
Pikoli said that when he started at SAA in February he was alerted to nine corruption reports. “A large number related to SAA Technical.”
He said Hawks head Lt-Gen Godfrey Lebeya had “injected urgency” into the investigation “and has assigned specialised organised crime, serious anti-corruption and commercial crime unit detectives”.
“The Asset Forfeiture Unit and the Special Investigating Unit [SIU] are also involved, with the NPA assigning specialised organised crime and commercial crime prosecutors,” said Pikoli.
Hawks spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi said there were “numerous” active investigations of fraud and serious corruption at SAA, some dating back to 2017 and others that were opened this year.
SIU head Andy Mothibi said a proclamation had been prepared. “The proclamation will allow us to subpoena the documents we need for the investigation, including all the necessary financial and cellphone records and e-mails, and will allow us to interview witnesses under oath.”
Pikoli said although preliminary findings were alarming, these did not affect SAA’s safety record.
South African Airline Pilots’ Association chair Grant Back said SAA Technical had improved under new CEO Adam Vos. Several senior pilots said although SAA Technical expertise had deteriorated over the past decade, standards remained high and SA’s airline safety record still compared favourably to those of other countries.
Mango operations manager Noelan Rungasamy described the “nose down-pitch” incident as minor.
“Our crew noted that no significant loss of height was experienced. However, the jolt would have been noticeable by guests as flying conditions on the day were smooth. As is procedure, the crew communicated with guests and advised them of the situation and explained that a turn-back would be required.
“This matter has been handed over to respective maintenance and the Civil Aviation Authority. We are satisfied that the component in question has been replaced on our aircraft.”
Aviation authority spokesperson Kabelo Ledwaba said the authority would “not allow any unsafe aircraft to take to our skies — no matter who the manufacturer is”.
“We would also not allow any licence holder, such as a maintenance organisation or maintenance engineer, to touch any aircraft if there was evidence that indicated there were non-compliances that could jeopardise safety.”
However, aviation publisher and commentator Guy Leitch said the installation of a replacement motor with questionable provenance raised serious questions.
“Airlines have been grounded for less. I await the [aviation authority and SAA Technical] explanation with interest,” Leitch said on an aviation forum.