Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), the management company that runs the majority of domestic and international airports in South Africa, would like to appeal to all passengers to assist and cooperate with security personnel in performing their duties.
In the interest of keeping everyone safe, ACSA will continue to adhere to all internationally recognised standard operating procedures as well as compliance to National Aviation Legislation and regulations that strives to ensure the security and safety of passengers.
This includes random physical searches that are performed for all passengers after a certain number of people have passed a secured point at the airport, in line with the security manual of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a United National agency. These random searches will be conducted for all travellers even when there wasn't a trigger by the security equipment. All international airports are subjected to periodic audits by ICAO. Please note that when processing through security screening process you will be required to remove any headgear such as caps, hats, kippah, kufi, buba/gele and hoodies.
Physical searches will include examining passengers' fixed headgear, headwraps, hijabs, burkas, doeks, izicholo or niqabs. At all times, the physical searches will be conducted with due sensitivity to recognised religious and cultural practices. This includes providing an appropriate space to conduct a physical search, should the passenger so prefer.
ACSA acknowledges that physical searches may cause discomfort to our passengers. Our security personnel has been instructed to ensure that all searches be conducted in a respectful and courteous manner.
"We categorically state that ACSA does not have any policies nor procedures that discriminates against any passengers or airport users on the basis of gender, race, cultural beliefs, religion or place of origin. There is absolutely no truth to these allegations", states General Mzwandile Petros, Group Executive: Enterprise Security.
South Africa is a constitutional democracy that accords equal regard to all individuals regardless of their faith, race, gender, or cultural background. ACSA as a state institution subscribes to all principles as espoused in the Constitution of the country to ensure a free and equal society, and we are always ready to observe and defend the rights of all persons at the facilities we manage.
We urge all airport users to report any incidents to the ACSA freecall hotline number: 0800008080 or alternatively email us on acsa@thehotline.co.za
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