www.thesouthafrican.com
15 - 22 July 2014
Issue 574
Is South African airport security safe enough? | With the US and UK adding further security checks requiring mobile phones to be charged before boarding international flights and the UK remaining suspicious of SA arrivals, is South Africa’s airport security up to scratch?
by sertan sanderson Having spent billions of rands on elegant upgrade work in time for the 2010 World Cup, Johannesburg’s OR Tambo certainly meets international expectations of a world-class airport. But when it comes to security concerns, it is not up to the SA government to pick and choose its benchmarks. The US and the UK jointly issued a new set of safety guidelines last week, which demand that all electronic devices held in carry-on baggage must be charged up before boarding planes in order to demonstrate their function if required. South Africa managed to adapt these guidelines swiftly and rolled out additional screening steps at airports immediately, staying on top of the new rules, but can we always keep up with the game? This new rule is to ensure that items such as mobile phones and laptops are used for their intended purposes and not adapted to be used by terrorists. A mobile phone battery could easily fire up an explosive device; a laptop could house the contents of a weapon. The new guideline has been implemented on all inbound flight to the United States from South Africa already and is being rolled out on all UK-bound flights. The new guidelines came in after the US Department of Homeland
| LONDON GOES SA: South African performer Juanita du Plessis, well-known for her hits such as Skarumba, will be sharing the stage with Theuns Jordaan, Riana Nel and Bok van Blerk at the London Goes SA show at Hammersmith Appollo on 1 and 2 August. Read our interview with Juanita on page 9
Security issued a warning for increased terror threats, without qualifying in what form these treats might materialise. The threat, however, was described as “substantial”. The devices most likely to be addressed by the new security measure are Apple iPhones
and Samsung’s Galaxy range of mobiles. All countries have to abide by international aviation standards if they want to stay in the game. These have largely been dictated by American safety concerns since the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent
onset of the war on terrorism. Many travellers can hardly remember the days now when liquids weren’t banned, shoes not taken off and nail clippers not confiscated. The British government said the new mobile phone checks would Continued on page 2flights to apply to unspecified
and from the UK but would not elaborate on the routes affected. Could South African be among the list of ‘suspicious’ destinations? How does SA measure up against these airport security expectations, especially against the backdrop of ongoing suspicions against lacking South African border controls allowing extremist groups such as Boko Haram and al Shabaab to infiltrate the country, as was the case with Samantha Lewthwaite, the so-called white widow involved in the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya? Lewthwaite had managed to obtain falsified SA identity documents to fund large parts of her terrorist activities from South Africa, directing a great deal of criticism to the SA Department of Home Affairs. Meanwhile Britain’s approach to South African immigration matters often appears to be based on suspicion, as escalating changes in immigration law over the past decade prove an uneasy relationship between the two states in a bid to curb immigrant numbers. But there have not been any issues with travel restrictions on account of security controls thus far. South Africa has managed to abide by the bulk of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) guidelines issued to date, keeping both the US and the UK at bay.
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