Corruption in aviation sector will be dealt with, vows Mbalula
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has reassured South Africans that the country's aviation sector is back to normal.
This comes after the following the grounding of 44 aircraft on Tuesday and Wednesday.
About 25 SAA aircraft, 12 Comair aircraft and seven Mango aircraft were grounded following findings made by the aviation authority.
The findings revealed that unqualified personnel released or signed off maintenance work on affected planes and maintenance checks on flights data recorded, and voice recorders had not been done correctly.
The CEO of South African Aviation Authority (SACAA), Poppy Khoza, says the grounding of the planes was done as a precautionary measure by airlines.
"So, this was not done by the South African Aviation Authority, but we applaud them," says Khoza.
Khoza was speaking at the state of the aviation industry in the country at O.R Tambo International Airport on Thursday morning.
The chairperson of SACAA, Ernest Khosa, says aviation in the country is safe and grounding of planes is not unusual.
"Why this raised eyebrows this time is because it happened at a scale larger than normal," says Khosa.
According to the aviation authority, 40 planes are back in services while four are still grounded.
Mbalula has also called for those who are found to have acted corruptly to be dealt with.
Khosa, meanwhile, have an assurance enforcement action is taking place in the background to deal with the findings.