Red tape grounds aid flights
Aid to remote areas cut as authorities ban group’s air deliveries
Covid-19 mercy flights that deliver food and medical supplies to about 10,000 people in SA’s remotest regions have been grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The volunteer pilots of Covid Flight are being investigated by the Hawks for allegedly breaching disaster management regulations by failing to get clearance to operate the flights.
But the organisation said numerous applications for permission from the transport department were ignored. “It’s not like we just flew. We alerted the authorities to every flight,” said operations director Felix Gosher.
Since April, 50 pilots have delivered 150t of supplies to farming communities, orphanages and old-age homes in the Northern Cape, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga.
CAA spokesperson Kabelo Ledwaba said Covid Flight had violated the Disaster Management Act and lockdown regulations and the authority had asked the Hawks to investigate. “After reports were received of the flights, the pilots were contacted on April 20,” he said.
Sue Smit, CEO of the Acorn Foundation, which runs poverty alleviation programmes with grassroots organisations, said the grounding was a disaster. “How is feeding the destitute in the time of a disaster not essential? People are begging for help, but we can’t because we are apparently breaking the law.”
Helicopter pilot Charles Fuller said Covid Flight had helped dozens of communities. “These people are desperate for any kind of help,” he said.
● A lifeline to nearly 10,000 people living in SA’s remotest regions has been cut by government aviation authorities.
Covid Flight — a group of volunteer aviators working with anti-poverty NGOs to deliver food and medical supplies — has been shut down by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
It is now being investigated by the Hawks “for breaching disaster management regulations”, because it did not have the necessary clearance to operate the flights.
The organisation had an essential services permit as well as approval by the Mpumalanga police air wing commander for flights to be conducted in that province, but says numerous requests to the transport department for permission to fly went unanswered.
Covid Flight operations director Felix Gosher said this was ironic, as “senior department officials were on our community group acknowledging the work we were doing and congratulating us for what we had done”. He added that while they were in the wrong, they had tried to do the right thing.
“It’s not like we just flew. We alerted the authorities to every flight. The police were aware of our operations. All the [transport] department and the CAA had to do was to facilitate our operations, which were legitimate, above board and done with bona fide humanitarian organisations.”
In April, 50 pilots joined Covid Flight to deliver food and medical supplies to rural communities cut off by the lockdown.
The organisation, flying for the Acorn Foundation, which runs poverty alleviation programmes across SA with grassroots organisations, delivered 150t of supplies to farming communities, orphanages and oldage homes in the Northern Cape, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga.
Dr André Hattingh, Covid Flight Mpumalanga co-ordinator and founder of Pediatric Care Africa, said that before being grounded at the end of May they had flown supplies to an old-age home which had been robbed of its food and medicines, and to homeless and children’s shelters.
Referring questions to the CAA, transport department spokesperson Collen Msibi said they had not approved a permit for Covid Flight.
CAA spokesperson Kabelo Ledwaba said Covid Flight had violated the Disaster Management Act and lockdown regulations and they had requested the Hawks to investigate.
“After reports were received of the flights, the pilots were contacted on April 20,” he said.
“They indicated they participated in the charitable exercise on the basis of approvals having been obtained by the co-ordinator. Department of transport officials were contacted. It was verified the relevant flights were not authorised.
“We have been advised the initiators of these operations have now approached the transport department for a permit — in other words, after we had contacted them.”
He said the pilots had all been issued with warning letters, “valid for six months”.
Gosher said he was unaware of a Hawks investigation. “With the lockdown we realised that communities, especially in remote areas, would be cut off. We put out a call and 50 pilots volunteered to help. They flew for free,” he said.
“We delivered 150t of food, as well as medical supplies and medicines. All of our deliveries were done with the transport department’s knowledge.”
Acorn Foundation CEO Sue Smit said the grounding was a disaster. “The pilots helped the poorest of the poor. They delivered medical and food supplies to almost 10,000 people. Because of the remoteness of the areas and poor road infrastructure, aircraft were required to deliver supplies.
“How is feeding the destitute in the time of a disaster not essential? People are begging for help, but we can’t because we are apparently breaking the law.”
Helicopter pilot Charles Fuller said they had helped dozens of communities in Mpumalanga. “We delivered aid to over 1,000 people in just one day. These people are desperate for any kind of help, especially the parents of young kids,” he said.
Limpopo helicopter owner Flip Hennop said that with the help of several farmers they had delivered game meat, maize and food parcels to farm workers and destitute people living in remote villages. “If we had not helped I don’t know if they would have survived.”
Jonathan Barnes, a community leader in Oppermansgronde, near Koffiefontein in the Free State, said the canning of the flights had endangered the community.
“Our area is a poverty node. It means 99% of the 2,000 inhabitants rely solely on grants for survival.”
He said arrangements were put in place with Covid Flight to fly food supplies from Lanseria Airport to a local mine’s airfield.
“The food eventually arrived, but it took more than a week to get here and had to be brought by road. It only came after a truck company donated vehicles to help us.
“Not all the food could be delivered because lots of the fresh produce rotted in the warehouse at Lanseria. The delays and food loss really hurts. It means people went hungry when they could have been fed.”