SACAA Annual Report 2022_23

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SLOW PROGRESS IN TRANSFORMING THE AVIATION INDUSTRY The SACAA has aligned its five-year strategy with the outcomes of the Department of Transport, thereby facilitating service delivery. One of the focus areas for the Department in the next five years in terms of aviation is accelerating transformation towards greater economic participation. I have noted a slight increase in the country’s overall aviation personnel over the last financial year, with improvement across all demographic groups. I note the efforts of various aviation entities and operators to assist with the transformation drive; however, I lament the sluggish pace at which it is taking place. As we stand together and coordinate our efforts, we will likely see even better figures in terms of transformation, which will bear fruit as we require more skilled aviators in the future. CONCLUSION In conclusion, I welcome the excellent results delivered by the SACAA that testify to the stability of the entity at a Board and management level. I would like to thank the SACAA Board, the Executive Management, and the staff of the SACAA for another year of stellar performance. May the entity continue to prosper and fulfil its mandate to regulate the aviation industry with the excellence that is characteristic of the SACAA. I look forward to even more achievements from the Regulator as we enter into the next financial year.

I would like to also congratulate ICAO for ensuring gender equality and representation on such a global platform. SOUTH AFRICA’S PERFORMANCE IN INTERNATIONAL ASSESSMENTS As a signatory to the Chicago Convention and a member state to the Chicago Convention, South Africa is committed to complying with international civil aviation Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). The ICAO uses the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA) audit processes to oversee every member state’s safety oversight capabilities. South Africa was previously audited in 2017, where the country achieved an Effective Implementation (EI) safety compliance rating of 87.39% against a global average score of 67.5%. South Africa was again audited from 22 March to 3 April 2023, where according to the preliminary results, the country achieved a score of about 91.7%. We are eagerly awaiting the final results to be published in September 2023. Significantly, this was also the 1000 th ICAO USOAP CMA audit. In this regard, ICAO Council President, Mr Salvatore Sciacchitano, specifically congratulated South Africa for “its strong commitment to the USOAP programme and to ICAO compliance.” Furthermore, my predecessor the then Minister Mr Fikile Mbalula, announced the final outcome of the International Aviation Safety Assessment by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States, which found that South Africa had retained its Category 1 status. This means that South African operators can continue to fly directly into the United States with no restrictions, which greatly benefits South African businesses, especially since South Africa also has permanent recognition of its cargo aviation security system by the Transport Security Administration of the US.

------------------------------------ Ms Sindisiwe Lydia Chikunga Minister of Transport

General Information I Annual Report 2022/23 I 15